State Department: Millions of Dollars Could Be Generated by Selling Unneeded Overseas Real Estate

GAO discussed the State Department's management of more than $10 billion in U.S. overseas real estate. GAO noted that: (1) State has made substantial progress in correcting its real estate management problems, but State's retention of unused or excess property remains a problem; (2) State's list of potential real estate sales properties is incomplete; (3) State has not expeditiously disposed of closed properties or established an effective process for identifying and selling unneeded overseas property; (4) State and the embassies are unable to settle excess property issues because of the parties' parochial interests and the lack of incentives to sell excess property; and (5) State does not have a system to account for sales proceeds and ensure that they are spent for high-priority needs.