Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Defense (2024) : Government Accountability Office (GAO) , July 8 , 2024
Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Defense (2024) : Government Accountability Office (GAO) , July 8 , 2024
From the report: "Dear Secretary Austin and Deputy Secretary Hicks:
The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) implementation of GAO’s recommendations and to call your continued personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority.1 We positively note DOD’s recent focus on closing recommendations. However, its implementation rate continues to lag behind the government-wide average.
In November 2023, we reported that, on a government-wide basis, 75 percent of our recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented.2 DOD’s recommendation implementation rate was 69 percent. As of June 2024, DOD had 1,447 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve agency operations.
GAO issues both unclassified and classified products with recommendations to DOD that, if unaddressed, could have serious consequences. For example, we have made recommendations related to improving program and portfolio management in such areas as preparedness for biological and chemical threats, strategic nuclear forces, and the defense cyber and information environment."
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