Special Access Programs: DoD Criteria and Procedures for Creating Them Need Improvement
Abstract
GAO examined the criteria used to establish and maintain Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition programs as special access programs and the process and procedures for creating these programs. GAO'S classified report, designated as special access, was provided to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services and to the Subcommittees on Defense of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on April 1, 1988. This unclassified summary is being released because of widespread interest in DOD's management of special access programs. There are three broad categories of special access programs: acquisition, intelligence, and military operations. The distinctions between these categories, however, are imprecise. For its review GAO selected a generally representative sample of about 30 acquisition special access programs from the DOD military departments and defense agencies and assessed the process used by DOD to establish such programs, the justifications to establish the programs as special access, and the growth in special access program funding and numbers between fiscal year 1980 and March of fiscal year 1988. Public Law 100-180, the fiscal year 1988 defense authorization bill, required that GAO conduct a study of criteria used to establish special access programs. GAO conducted its audit work from June 1987 to March 1988. A second report will address special access program management and oversight issues.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- AD1150553
Entities
People
- Frank C. Conahan
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office