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Open Recommendations (8 total)

Counterterrorism: Action Needed to Further Develop the Information Sharing Environment

GAO-23-105310
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism should take steps to ensure the presidential responsibilities related to the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) within the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, as amended, including the designation of a Program Manager for the ISE, are fulfilled. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism did not respond to this recommendation. We continue to believe that the presidential responsibilities related to the ISE should be fulfilled, including the designation of a Program Manager, and will monitor efforts to address it.
Executive Office of the President The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism should take steps to ensure that the Program Manager, once appointed, reviews and assesses agencies' progress implementing the Information Sharing Environment, consistent with responsibilities in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, as amended, and in coordination with other appropriate agencies. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism did not concur with this recommendation. We continue to believe the recommendation is valid because it will provide information on agencies' progress implementing the ISE. We will monitor efforts to address it.

Tribal Broadband: National Strategy and Coordination Framework Needed to Increase Access

GAO-22-104421
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President The Executive Office of the President, through the National Economic Council, should develop a national strategy with clear roles, goals, and performance measures for closing the gap in broadband access on tribal lands as part of a broader national broadband strategy. (Recommendation 1)
Open
Executive Office of the President took the lead on coordinating federal tribal broadband efforts in 2021, but these efforts were not guided by a national strategy with clear roles, goals, and performance measures. In June 2022, GAO recommended that the Executive Office of the President develop a national strategy with clear roles, goals, and performance measures for closing the gap in broadband access on tribal lands as part of a broader national broadband strategy. In May 2023, the Executive Office of the President emphasized the importance of tribal engagement as part of developing national broadband strategy. In January 2024, we requested an update but did not receive a response. Without a national strategy, broadband access for people living on tribal lands will continue to lag behind the rest of the country, perpetuating the digital divide.

Broadband: National Strategy Needed to Guide Federal Efforts to Reduce Digital Divide

GAO-22-104611
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President Executive Office of the President, through NEC, should develop and implement a national broadband strategy with clear roles, goals, objectives, and performance measures to support better management of fragmented, overlapping federal broadband programs and synchronize coordination efforts. This strategy may identify key statutory provisions that limit program alignment and offer legislative proposals to address the limitations. (Recommendation 3)
Open – Partially Addressed
As of April 2024, the Executive Office of the President continues to lead broadband coordination across multiple agencies, through the administration's Internet for All Initiative. The Internet for All Initiative website documents the administration's overarching goal of universal access to reliable and affordable high-speed broadband internet service. The Internet for All Initiative website also lists key broadband funding programs across agencies, identifies federal broadband funding awards by state and territory, and tracks the challenge process of the $42.45 million Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, among other things. In April 2024, EOP defined its own role as and the roles of the leadership committee and a federal interagency group. EOP officials also described how agencies have taken steps to coordinate overlapping broadband programs, through a multi-step process and shared mapping. For example, according to its website the National Broadband Availability Map uses data from multiple federal agencies, states, and the private sector-to better inform broadband funding decisions. These actions address some elements of GAO's recommendation, but EOP has not developed a strategy that includes all actions to implement the recommendation. For example, the shared policy objectives that EOP identified are not framed as measurable actions, and EOP has not developed related performance measures. A holistic national strategy is needed to ensure that coordination efforts accomplish identified goals.

Climate Change: Information on Potential Economic Effects Could Help Guide Federal Efforts to Reduce Fiscal Exposure

GAO-17-720
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President The appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President, including the Council on Environmental Quality, Office and Management and Budget, and Office of Science and Technology Policy, should use information on the potential economic effects of climate change to help identify significant climate risks facing the federal government and craft appropriate federal responses. Such responses could include establishing a strategy to identify, prioritize, and guide federal investments to enhance resilience against future disasters. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of June 15, 2023, the Executive Office of the President has not fully implemented this recommendation. Some emergent efforts are underway across the government to characterize climate-related financial risks, but these have yet to be clearly linked to climate resilience investment decision making.

Food Safety: A National Strategy Is Needed to Address Fragmentation in Federal Oversight

GAO-17-74
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President To guide the nation's efforts to improve the federal food safety oversight system and address ongoing fragmentation, the appropriate entities within the EOP should, in consultation with relevant federal agencies and other stakeholders, develop a national strategy that states the purpose of the strategy, establishes high-level sustained leadership, identifies resource requirements, monitors progress, and identifies short- and long-term actions to improve the food safety oversight system.
Open
As of March 2024, the Executive Office of the President had not acted on our recommendation. In March 2024, OMB did not provide an update on the status of our recommendation. In December 2022, OMB told us they had no plans to create a government-wide national strategy for food safety.

Climate Information: A National System Could Help Federal, State, Local, and Private Sector Decision Makers Use Climate Information

GAO-16-37
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President To help federal, state, local, and private sector decision makers access and use the best available climate information, the Executive Office of the President should designate a federal entity to develop and periodically update a set of authoritative climate change observations and projections for use in federal decision making, which state, local, and private sector decision makers could also access to obtain the best available climate information.
Open
As of June 15, 2023, the Executive Office of the President has yet to take action in response to this recommendation.

Climate Information: A National System Could Help Federal, State, Local, and Private Sector Decision Makers Use Climate Information

GAO-16-37
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Executive Office of the President To help federal, state, local, and private sector decision makers access and use the best available climate information, the Executive Office of the President should designate a federal entity to create a national climate information system with defined roles for federal agencies and nonfederal entities with existing statutory authority.
Open
As of June 15, 2023, the Executive Office of the President has yet to take action in response to this recommendation.
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