Remarks At The Release Of GAO's 2005 High Risk Update

This speech was given by the Comptroller General at the release of GAO's 2005 High Risk Update on January 25, 2005. GAO began issuing its High Risk List in 1990 under the leadership of my predecessor, Chuck Bowsher. GAO began bi-annual updates of the list in 1993. In the early years GAO's High Risk List focused more on areas that were subject to increased risk of fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement. In addition, the list focused on actions required by the Executive Branch to address the applicable high-risk areas. In recent years and under my tenure as Comptroller General of the United States, GAO has added a number of key transformation issues that present a range of economy, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability challenges. In addition, the High Risk List now includes items that may require action by both the Congress and the Executive Branch in order to achieve success. The purpose of GAO's High Risk list is to bring light to areas that need special attention. History has shown that with light comes heat and with heat comes action. And action is what it will take to get the real and sustainable results necessary to have an item removed from our High Risk list. GAO's 2005 High Risk List update involves good news, bad news and an emerging challenge. On the good news front, some progress was made on every high-risk area although the degree of progress ranged widely.