[Questions Concerning Propriety of Reimbursement for Meal Expenses at Headquarters]

A U.S. Customs Service officer requested an opinion concerning the propriety of reimbursing the meal expenses of a customs patrol officer who was on an extended, unscheduled surveillance assignment at his permanent duty station. GAO has held that the government may not pay, in addition to an employee's regular compensation, subsistence expenses to civilian employees at headquarters without specific authority of law, even though they may be working under unusual conditions, unless danger to human life or destruction of federal property is involved. Since there was no indication that the assignment involved the type of emergency situation necessary to allow for an exception to the general prohibition, GAO held that the patrol officer could not be reimbursed for any meal expenses.