Title: GAO Looks to the Future and a New Era of Auditing
 
Description: A lot has changed in the last couple of years. Our government has changed—not just politically, but also in what policymakers expect from federal agencies. They are looking for greater efficiency, as well as faster results in addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation. We sat down with the head of GAO—Acting Comptroller General Orice W. Brown to ask her about how GAO plans to meet this demand, what changes are we making, and what does GAO’s future look like.

Related work: GAO.gov

Released: September 2026

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[Orice W. Brown:] This is what we do. And this is what we are 100 percent dedicated to doing for the Congress and the American people.

[Holly Hobbs:] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report. Your source for fact-based, nonpartisan
news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm your host, Holly Hobbs.

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[Holly Hobbs:] A lot has changed in the last couple of years. Our government has changed—not just politically, but also in what policymakers expect from federal agencies. They are looking for greater efficiency as well as faster results in addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation.

On today's podcast, we'll sit down with the head of GAO, Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, to ask her about how GAO plans to meet this demand, what changes we are making, and what does GAO’s future look like. Thanks for joining us.

[Orice W. Brown:] Thanks for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] GAO works for Congress. What is Congress looking for from us?

[Orice W. Brown:] They are looking for us to provide fact-based, nonpartisan information. And they expect us to live our core values. They want us to be reliable, they want us to operate with integrity, and they want us to be accountable. And I think that's what Congress wants from us. 
They want us to provide them information across the federal landscape. Wherever the federal dollars go, Congress expects GAO to go. They want us to provide that information quickly. So, we need to be able to answer Congress’s questions and get them the information that they need when they need it. So, timeliness is critically important.

[Holly Hobbs:] That's a lot. 

[Orice W. Brown:] It's a lot. 

[Holly Hobbs:] How are we meeting that demand?

[Orice W. Brown:] We are meeting it by staying true to our mission. Working hard to live our core values. We are looking for ways to improve the efficiency of our institution. Because GAO recognizes that because we live in a glass house, we expect other agencies to be accountable and efficient. We have to do the same thing. So right now, we are focused on being as efficient as possible and getting information to Congress as quickly as possible, including leveraging emerging technology.

[Holly Hobbs:] What would you say to people who say, “faster isn't better. If you want quality work, it takes time”?

[Orice W. Brown:] What I would say is that I think it's possible to do both. So it's not an either or. I think it's possible to produce quality products in a timely manner. And we've proven that we can do this. We have done it with the financial crisis and the oversight we provided of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as TARP. And we did it more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic when we were asked to provide reports every 60 days about the status of the programs that were implemented to respond to the pandemic.

So, we can follow all of our processes and get information to Congress that answers the questions that they need answered in a timely manner.

[Holly Hobbs:] Some federal agencies are using artificial intelligence, AI, to create efficiencies. Are we doing that at GAO?

[Orice W. Brown:] We are. We are beginning to leverage AI, and we're hoping to be able to use it as a force multiplier. It's never going to replace the analysts and the auditors that we have—our boots on the ground that go out and look at programs to ensure that they are functioning as intended, real-time.

But AI can be leveraged to help our analysts do their jobs more quickly. If there are lower-level administrative tasks that we have to do, and those types of activities exist in any audit, we are looking for places to leverage AI to help us do those so our analysts can really focus on the higher order thinking that's necessary for the work that we do, and providing Congress the information that it needs.

[Holly Hobbs:] What topics or issues is Congress looking for us to do work on right now?

[Orice W. Brown:]  Right now I would say fraud is having its moment. It is something that GAO has been focused on for a really long time, and especially the aspect of looking at fraud from the prevention perspective, because that really is key. If you can prevent fraud before it happens, it's much more effective than chasing fraud after the dollars are out the door.

But in addition to fraud, we also have really been stressing that you also have to pay attention to waste and abuse, because both of those two categories have the potential for far more dollars being at risk than fraud alone. And we have had a recent estimate where we looked at how much the federal government could lose a year in potential, fraudulent payments. And it's hundreds of billions of dollars a year, we estimate, could be potentially lost to fraud.

[Holly Hobbs:] Every 2 years, with a new Congress, we like to highlight issues that are the most pressing policy areas facing Americans. Among those, what stands out to you?
	
[Orice W. Brown:] I would say the most pressing issue facing the nation, really, is our unsustainable fiscal path. This is the issue that has the potential to impact all other policy areas. We are approaching $1 trillion in interest payments to service the debt that we hold. The debt held by the public is as large as the nation's economy. This is not sustainable, long-term. If you look at the federal budget, the majority of the federal budget goes to mandatory spending. So these are programs that are really on autopilot. So we're talking about things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. All of those programs take up about 59% of the budget.

There's another 26% of the budget that is appropriated annually. So these are agency appropriations, non-mandatory programs that are funded on an annual basis by Congress. And of that portion, half of that amount is dedicated to defense spending, and the other half is non-defense spending. And, I mentioned the almost trillion dollars of interest payments, net interest is now 14% of the federal budget.

So, all the other policy issues that Congress has to grapple with—this is the context and the backdrop that they are having to have those conversations and debates about. And if changes aren't made, if we don't change the trajectory, these issues can have real world impact on Americans.

[Holly Hobbs:] Orice, you're Acting Comptroller General. What does that mean?

[Orice W. Brown:] It means that the GAO currently doesn't have a permanent, Senate confirmed head. What it doesn't mean is that we are an agency that's standing still, waiting for our next confirmed Comptroller General. GAO has existed for 100 years. We have gone through
a number of evolutions in our life cycle, and I believe we're in the middle of our next evolution. 

So, we are not standing still. I'm not standing still as the Acting Comptroller General. I think it's important to understand that while acting often means a caretaker role, caretakers can still take action. It doesn't mean that we do nothing and we just wait. We don't have the luxury of just waiting. There are too many things that we have to tackle. The Congress is looking for us to deliver information for them in a timely fashion, and that's what we're doing.

[Holly Hobbs:]  What do you want Congress and GAO staff to know about the direction the agency is headed?

[Orice W. Brown:] What I want people to know and understand is GAO is 100 percent committed to providing fact-based, nonpartisan information. We are here to support the Congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities and ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government for the American people. This is what we do. This is what we show up to work every day to do. And this is what we are 100 percent dedicated to doing for the Congress and the American people.

[Holly Hobbs:] Orice, thanks for your time.

[Orice W. Brown:] You're welcome.

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[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts,
subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And make sure to leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the Congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at GAO.gov.