Fred Thompson in Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson
On Government Reform:
Ludicrous waste & fraud: you wonder if anyone is even trying
Because of its size and scope, and the terrible way it is managed, the federal government wastes billions and billions of your tax dollars every year. Obviously we will never completely eliminate fraud, waste, and error in an operation as large and
complex as the federal government. Some of the ludicrous situations we uncover, however, make you wonder if anyone is even trying. In this report, I hope to illuminate some of the root causes of the mismanagement that persist in the federal government
This report does not attempt to capture all of the serious management challenges that the government faces. Rather, we are focusing on four of the core problems that agencies face--workforce management, financial management, information technology
management, and overlap and duplication. The only thing we really need to solve these problems is leadership. If the President and the leadership in Congress make a priority out of solving these problems, they will get solved.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.1, p. 1
Jun 3, 2001
On Government Reform:
Boston’s Big Dig #1 on Top Ten Worst Mismanagement
The Federal Government’s Top Ten Worst Examples of Mismanagement - THE BIG DIG--Boston’s Central Artery--is the most expensive federal infrastructure project in the nation’s history. Its cost continues to rise and is now estimated at
$13.6 billion; an almost 525% increase from the original $2.6 billion.
- ABUSING THE TRUST OF AMERICAN INDIANS--We do not know what happened to more than $3 billion held in trust for American Indians.
- DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
- MEDICARE WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE--almost $12 billion every year on improper payments.
- SECURITY VIOLATIONS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
-
IRS FINANCIAL MISMANAGEMENT
- VETERANS AFFAIRS PUTS PATIENT HEALTH AT RISK
- BILKING TAXPAYERS OUT OF STUDENT FINANCIAL AID
- UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FRAUD
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.1, p. 2
Jun 3, 2001
On Government Reform:
Federal civil service system is broken
The civil service system--the process the federal government uses to hire and promote workers--is itself broken. The complex and outmoded federal civil service system takes too long to hire people. It fails to hold employees accountable for their
performance. It shields poor performers and does little to encourage and reward conscientious and hard-working employees. Too many good workers don’t get enough responsibility and support, so they become demoralized and leave.
Too many poor or marginal workers slide by for 20 or 30-year careers, and even advance, without any real accountability. One expert observed that the civil service system “is slow in the hiring, almost useless in the firing, overly permissive in the
promoting, & out of touch with actual performance.”Apart from its day-to-day problems, the basic federal civil service model--built around a cradle-to-grave career from entry level to retirement with virtually guaranteed job security--is outdated.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.1, p. 11-12
Jun 3, 2001
On Homeland Security:
DoD cannot account for where spending goes
Most Americans balance their checkbooks on a regular basis--they know how much money is coming in, how much money is going out, and where that money is going. This is not true of the federal government. In 1999, the Department of Defense made about 15
million individual purchases totaling about $140 billion in goods and services. This means that the officials at DOD are making more than 57,000 purchases a day! Unfortunately, these same officials can’t tell us what they bought or whether they even
needed what they got. When you’re talking about such a large organization and so much money, it’s hard to grasp the breadth of the problem. But in example after example, DOD’s poor financial management has resulted in spectacular waste. Federal agencies
have a big problem with overpayments, which often result when agencies lack good information about their debts and their debtors. The fact is, no private sector firm could stay in business if it had the same financial problems as the federal government.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.1, p. 24-27
Jun 3, 2001
On Government Reform:
Government invests billions on systems that don’t work
From the experience of the federal government thus far, it is clear that the design and implementation of financial management systems is difficult. Time after time, government agencies have invested millions--sometimes billions--on systems that
don’t work. Agencies should evaluate their progress throughout the year to ensure that the processes in place are working, that agency activities are efficient and effective, and that taxpayers’ dollars are not being wasted.
Accordingly, agencies should do the following: - Report the amount wasted each year.
- Communicate and coordinate payments with other agencies. For instance, the
IRS often gives tax refunds to individuals who are delinquent in paying their student loans.
- Recover the money to recoup overpayments.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.1, p. 34
Jun 3, 2001
On Technology:
Government unable to protect its computer data from attack
Part of the mismanagement of agency information technology systems results from the government’s inability to protect its systems and data from internal or external attack. Disruptions could be caused by sabotage, natural disasters, or widespread
system faults. Executive agencies and departments should: - Emphasize early oversight and planning
- Avoid reinventing existing technology
- Size projects to manageable levels
- Encourage innovation
-
Create incentives for contractors to perform better
- Communicate lessons learned
- Review existing large computer systems acquisitions
With regard to security issues, executive agencies and departments should: -
Examine the security risks
- Implement risk reduction approaches
- Educate users on reducing security risks
- Monitor the effectiveness of the risk reduction approaches
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.1, p. 45-50
Jun 3, 2001
On Jobs:
USDA problems: info security and Forest Service finances
Repeated studies by both the GAO and the Agriculture Department’s own Inspector General have documented over 15 core management problems that plague the Department. Two of the problems--information security and Forest Service financial management--are on
GAO’s “high risk list” of those federal activities that are most vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The following is a brief description of eight of the most serious core management problems at the Agriculture Department.
These problems are: - Weak oversight of federal crop insurance programs;
- Food stamp fraud and error;
- Abuses in the Child and Adult Care Food Program;
- Fragmented food safety programs;
-
Rural rental housing fraud and abuse;
- Delays in handling civil rights complaints;
- Financial mismanagement; and
- Poor use of information technology.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 1
Jun 3, 2001
On Homeland Security:
FEMA faces systemic and long-standing management problems
The Federal Emergency Management Agency faces a number of systemic and long-standing management problems. On December 1, 2000, the Inspector General provided Chairman
Thompson with an assessment of the most serious management challenges facing the agency. The most serious challenges identified are listed below and discussed in the following sections: - Financial management;
-
Information technology management;
- Grants management;
- Disaster response and recovery;
- National Security Support Program;
- Flood Insurance Program; and
- Mitigation Program.
In addition to these systemic problems, other studies have identified cases of either criminal or inappropriate behavior on the part of individuals.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 40
Jun 3, 2001
On Health Care:
Medicare loses $11B per year to errors and fraud
Each year, the Medicare program loses a significant portion of its total budget to erroneous payments. These include payments to people who are not eligible for Medicare, payments for goods or services that are not covered by Medicare, or higher payments
than allowed for covered goods or services. The $11.9 billion lost in 2000 due to errors was 6.8% of the entire fee-for-service budget for that year. - In the “rent-a-patient” scheme, organizations pay for individuals to go to medical clinics for
unnecessary diagnostic tests and cursory examinations, and Medicare is billed.
- In the “pill mill” scheme, a pharmacy sells medication to pill buyers on the street, who then sell the drugs back to the pharmacy.
- In the “drop box” scheme,
a private mailbox facility is used as the fraudulent health care provider’s address to submit claims and receive payments from Medicare and Medicaid.
These criminals seem capable of cheating the government with frightening ease.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 47-49
Jun 3, 2001
On Health Care:
Medicare drug payment methods are fundamentally flawed
Medicare’s payment methodology for drugs is fundamentally flawed. Medicare bases its payments on a drug’s “average wholesale price.” However, the “average wholesale price” that Medicare uses is essentially meaningless since it bears little or no
resemblance to actual wholesale prices available to physicians, suppliers, and other large government purchasers. The Medicare reimbursement rate for a particular drug sometimes also includes payment for dispensing and administering a drug.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 50-51
Jun 3, 2001
On Civil Rights:
No end in sight to problems with Indian Trust Funds
The Interior Department’s worst problems include violating the trust of Indians. The Department is legally obligated to ensure that American Indian resources and lands are properly managed, protected, and conserved. As trustee for the tribes, they manage
$3 billion on the tribes’ behalf. However, the Department “cannot assure trust account holders that their balances are accurate or that their assets are being properly managed.” As far back as 1993, GAO wrote, “Over the years, countless audit reports and
internal studies have cited a litany of serious problems in [the Bureau of Indian Affairs’] oversight of these accounts.“ Among the problems were ”missing lease and accounting records; and the inability to verify that all earned revenues
were collected and disbursed to the proper party.“ Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to the problems with the Indian Trust Funds. The Bureau of Indian Affairs wrote in 2001 that ”trust reform is slowly, but surely imploding at this point in time.“
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 62-63
Jun 3, 2001
On Drugs:
DEA has no meaningful performance goals on illegal drugs
The GAO has reported on a number of performance and management problems at the Justice Department. One overriding problem is that DOJ does a poor job of explaining what is it trying to accomplish and what it actually is accomplishing with the tax dollars
entrusted to it. GAO could not determine what Justice achieved because of DOJ’s lack of meaningful performance measures. For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration is the federal agency primarily responsible for combating illegal drugs, which
cost our society about $100 billion annually. To help it do this job, Congress substantially increased the agency’s funding and staff. The DEA’s budget (over $1.5 billion for 2000) has more than doubled since 1993. However, DEA has not developed
meaningful goals and measures that can be used to judge its performance and hold it accountable. Therefore, there is no way of knowing whether the agency, with all its staff and funding, has made any difference in reducing the entry of illegal drugs.
Source: Government at the Brink, by Fred Thompson, Vol.2, p. 69
Jun 3, 2001