Commandants-Continued Army Medical Service School. Ordnance School. The Provost Marshal General's School, U. S. Army. U. S. Army Quartermaster School. Signal School. Transportation School. Finance School, U. S. Army. The Infantry School. APPENDIX D Chronology of correspondence relating to GAO's access to Department of the Date Feb. 11, 1952 Comptroller General.... Secretary of the Army.. Proposed establishment of liaison between Inspector General and GAO to "・・ maintain a channel of direct personal communication between the two agencies for the purpose of exchanging timely information. Feb. 27, 1952 Secretary of the Army... Comptroller General.... Acknowledgment of letter of Feb. 11 and designating GAO liaison offi cers. Advising of our proposed audit of the Ordnance Tank-Automotive Command and requesting all official documents be made available to GAO. Acknowledgment of our letter of Oct. 9 and advising that Army should not be asked to make available internal audit reports and advising that all requests for such should be directed to his Office. Secretary of the Army... Comptroller General.... Advising that certain arrangements Secretary of Defense. Feb. 28, 1957 .do. proposed by Army are unsatisfactory to GAO. Transmitting copy of letter of Feb. 7 to Secretary of Army and requesting consideration of our views and the need to establish a more clearly defined policy in the Department of Defense. Comptroller General.... Secretary of the Army... Acknowledgment of our letter of Feb. EXHIBIT VIII-B 1957 ARMY GUIDELINES RE GAO AUDITS Memorandum for the Chief of Staff. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D. C., August 20, 1957. Subject: General Accounting Office expanded audit program. In my memorandum of December 19, 1956, I referred to my correspondence with the Comptroller General of the United States on this subject intended to clarify the relationships between the Department of the Army and the General Accounting Office. In an effort to fully respond to the cooperative attitude of the General Accounting Office and facilitate their work as well as to gain maximum benefit to the Army from the expanded audit program, I have agreed that requests for the release of internal audit reports and working papers at the field level will be honored and such release effected at that level. In addition, I have agreed that internal audit reports, may be released prior to the formulation of an Army position and the establishment of a program for corrective action as I had previously requested. We have, however, agreed that, in recognition of the principle that the internal audit report will be of limited value until such time as responsible operating officials have reviewed it thoroughly and an appropriate program of corrective action has been devised, internal audit reports upon which the Army position has not been established will be made available upon request but that the Army position thereon will be furnished the General Accounting Office at a subsequent date. The guidelines relative to General Accounting Office comprehensive audits are enclosed and I desire that they be disseminated to all commands, installations, and activities. WILBER M. BRUCKER, GUIDELINES RELATIVE TO GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE COMPREHENSIVE AUDITS 1. The General Accounting Office has broad authority for conducting audits and investigations in the executive departments and agencies. The purpose of this authority is to enable the Comptroller General, as an agent of the Congress, to determine how each agency under audit discharges its financial responsibilities. In this connection, the financial responsibilities of an agency are to be construed as including the expenditure of funds and the utilization of property and perennel in the furtherance only of authorized programs or activities and the conduct of programs or activities in an effective, efficient, and economical manner. 2. Section 313 of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 provides that: "All departments and establishments shall furnish to the Comptroller General such information regarding the powers, duties, activities, organizations, financial transactions, and methods of business of their respective offices as he may from time ot time require of them; and the Comptroller General, or any of his assistants or employees, when duly authorized by him, shall, for the purpose of securing such information, have access to and a right to examine any books, documents, papers, or records of any such department or establishment ** 3. The General Accounting Office is departing as rapidly as practicable from the centralized and detailed examination of vouchers and is performing as many audits as possible at the sites of operations. These audits, which are on a comprehensive basis, are performed by personnel from the various General Accounting Office regional offices and the Defense Accounting and Auditing Division in Washington, D. C. The regional offices are in 19 locations in the United States and in overseas areas. 4. General Accounting Office audits are designed to cover Government agencies and their activities as a whole. The extent of detailed examination work in such audits is determined by the adequacy of the management control exercised by the agency under audit. In order to evaluate internal management controls, General Accounting Office personnel examine the history, purpose, authorities, organizations, activities, policies, and procedures of an agency and its component activities, and then review the operating results in the light of the intended purpose and authorities. In making an evaluation of internal control, auditors from the General Accounting Office will necessarily perform various audit steps such as reviewing, analyzing, and testing accounting and operating data property records, budgetary statements, and other supporting evidence covering business operations. The results of comprehensive audits will be covered by reports which will be made available to the head of the agency involved. This procedure is in keeping with the General Accounting Office policy to correct deficiencies through cooperation with the agency staffs rather than by solely reporting such deficiencies to Congress. 5. The Comptroller General, in his letter to the Secretary of the Army dated October 9, 1956, has indicated his "audits will be conducted in full recognition of all internal review activities, and will evaluate their effectiveness and eliminate the necessity for duplicating much of their efforts." The General Accounting Office intends, within the terms of this statement, as a part of its comprehensive audit procedure, to review the internal audit work accomplished within the Department of the Army. This review will serve to enable the General Accounting Office to give "due regard to *** consideration of the effectiveness of *** internal audit and control" and thereby minimize the effort devoted by the General Accounting Office to detailed review of installation activities. From this point of view, considerable benefit may be realized by the Army from a te lease to the General Accounting Office, upon request, of reports of internal audit and associated working papers. To the extent that the internal audit program has been the successful and effective aid to management, which it is designed to be, a corresponding reduction in the disruption of normal operations at the installation or activity by the General Accounting Office should result. As a corollary, the General Accounting Office auditors will be able to devote more time to furnishing assistance to all levels of Army management in areas in which such assistance will be more beneficial. 6. Comprehensive audits will be directed only to the nontactical operations of the Army. Primarily, the effort by the General Accounting Office auditors will be for the purpose of evaluating the results of financial management within the Department of the Army. 7. It is incumbent upon officials of all levels within the Army to cooperate fully with General Accounting Office auditors in order to facilitate their work and reduce to a minimum the disruption of normal operations. Care should be taken to assure that proper working space and facilities are provided for the auditors as well as timely assistance in making necessary information, records, and personnel available. 8. Budget for any future fiscal year will not be released. Reports of nonArmy agencies (including FBI reports) should not be released unless the written consent of such agency has been obtained. Summaries of the facts set forth in investigation reports of Inspector General of Criminal Investigation Division reports should, upon request, be prepared and furnished. If any question should arise concerning access to the reports themselves, the matter will be immediately referred to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (FM). 9. Internal audit reports of the Army Audit Agency and associated working papers should be made available to the General Accounting Office auditors by the regional office of the Army Audit Agency as requested. To the extent possible Army Audit Agency reports when made available should be accompanied by a statement summarizing the official Army position with respect to each of the several recommendations of the report together with as appropriate a statement of the planned program of corrective action. The period required for review and study of an Army Audit Agency report and the formulation of an action program to correct deficiencies shown to exist should under normal circumstances not exceed 90 days from the date of issuance of the report. Should the General Accounting Office request a report prior to the establishment of the Army position with respect to the several recommendations, the transmittal letter forwarding the report to the General Accounting Office will clearly identify this fact and, as soon as possible thereafter, the established Army position with respect to the several recommendations will be furnished separately to the General Accounting Office. EXHIBIT IX COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, The honorable the SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE. DEAR MR. SECRETARY: The Defense Accounting and Auditing Division of this Office has begun a review of the research and development program of the Air Force. The basic objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of Air Force policies, procedures, and management as they pertain to research and development activities. In order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the research and development activities, we have met with the Assistant Secretary (Research and Development); the Deputy Chief of Staff, Development; the Commander, Air Research and Development Center; and with members of their staffs. We have selected the ballistic missiles program for our initial review in the research and development field and our representatives are presently at the Ballistic Missiles Division in Inglewood, Calif. We understand that a report was recently prepared by the Inspector General covering a survey of management of the ballistic missiles program. In view of our current survey in the management aspects of the ballistic missiles program, we believe it would be mutually advantageous for our representatives to review this report and thereby minimize duplication of work performed by the Inspector General's staff. Your cooperation is requested in providing a copy of the Inspector General's report on the survey of management of the ballistic missiles program covering the period January 14 to February 21, 1958, to the Defense Accounting and Auditing Division of this Office for use in connection with their current review at the Ballistic Missiles Division. Mr. Harold H. Rubin, Assistant Director Defense Accounting and Auditing Division, may be contacted to arrange for receipt of this report. Sincerely yours, JOSEPH CAMPBELL, Comptroller General of the United States. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, The honorable the SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE. Information is requested as to when this report will be available. Sincerely yours, JOSEPH CAMPBELL, Comptroller General of the United States. Senator HRUSKA. They contain, I might say, the memorandum to which we referred, and also a copy of the Guide Lines of the Army of August 20, 1957, and other related matters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator O'MAHONEY. Any other questions? Senator HRUSKA. That is all so far as I am concerned. Senator O'MAHONEY. Mr. Slayman, do you have anything to add? Mr. SLAYMAN. May I ask a couple of questions and get some things put into the record, Mr. Chairman? Senator O'MAHONEY. Yes. Mr. SLAYMAN. Mr. Keller, do you have anything subsequent to this memorandum that Senator Hruska has just referred to that we ought to include in the record? Do you have a memorandum on that Inspector General's report referred to in connection with the ballistic missiles program? Could that be made available to the subcommittee? Mr. KELLER. I am not sure, Mr. Slayman, just what memorandum you are referring to now. Is it the memorandum as to our legal position? Mr. SLAYMAN. Yes. Mr. KELLER. I would be glad to insert it. (The document referred to follows:) U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE, OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL, Washington, D.C., November 4, 1958. MEMORANDUM ON RIGHT OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL TO ACCESS TO A REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE AIR FORCE ENTITLED "SURVEY OF MANAGEMENT OF THE BALLISTIC MISSILES PROGRAM" The basic statutory authority of the Comptroller General for access to records of departments and agencies is set forth in section 313 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, 31 U.S.C. 54. Section 313 provides: "All departments and establishments shall furnish to the Comptroller General such information regarding the powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions, and methods of business of their respective offices as he may from time to time require of them; and the Comptroller General, or any of his assistants or employees, when duly authorized by him, shall, for the purpose of securing such information, have access to and the right to examine any books, documents, papers, or records of any such department or establishment. The authority contained in this section shall not be applicable to expenditures made under the provisions of section 291 of the Revised Statutes." It will be noted that the only exception in section 313 relates to expenditures made under section 291, Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 107), which authorizes the Secretary of State to account for certain confidential expenditures in connection with intercourse or treaties with foreign nations by certificate where, in his judgment, he may think it advisable not to specify the details of such expenditure. Since that is the only exception stated and following the legal maxim that the specific setting forth of one type of exception precludes others from arising, it seems clear that the Comptroller General may require, and the departments are required to furnish, documents, etc., as to any other transaction or activity. Also, the language of section 313 itself [except as to the expenditures under 291 R.S.] in requiring the departments to furnish such information as the Comptroller General “may require of them" and its requirement that he be given access to any documents of the departments clearly gives him access to all such documentation. If he has access to any document, he has access to all. The legislative background of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, makes no qualification as to what records can be required; the provision itself apparently being considered sufficiently specific. The legislative reports do bring out that one of the principal functions of the Comptroller General is to enable the Congress to be kept advised as to expenditures of the Government, and that the |