Federal Daily - June 1, 2009

CRS: Charge Cards Rife With Abuse, Lack of Oversight

Agency oversight of employee travel card abuse has not kept pace with the explosive growth in the use of the charge cards, allowing for abuse and fraud which costs millions of dollars each year, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) on May 28 posted on its Web site a copy of the report, which examines usage of the cards. According to the report, over the last 10 years, the dollar volume of travel card transactions has increased 89 percent—growing from $4.39 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 to $8.28 billion in FY 2008. The number of travel card transactions has risen 45 percent in the same period, growing from 31.6 million in FY 1999 to 45.8 million in FY 2008. However, oversight of the cards has not kept up with their increased use, CRS said, and many agencies have failed to implement adequate safeguards against card misuse. The report cited examples in which a Federal Aviation Administration employee charged $3,700 for laser eye surgery to his travel card, and a DoD employee requested and received reimbursements totaling almost $10,000 for 13 airline tickets that he did not purchase. The report cited ineffective monitoring of cardholder transactions as a primary weakness in the system. An audit of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s travel program, for example, found that 6.3 percent of all travel card purchases were improper—a consequence “largely due” to inconsistent transaction monitoring. Legislation pending in the Senate (S. 942) and House (H.R. 2189) seeks to clear up these weaknesses, POGO noted. To see more, go to: http://pogoarchives.org/m/go/crs-report-20090513.pdf.

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TRICARE Announces New Beneficiaries’ Advisor

TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) on May 28 announced that Army Sgt. Maj. Robert D. Wojtaszczyk has been named the new senior enlisted advisor to DoD health affairs and TMA. As Senior Enlisted Advisor (SEA), Wojtaszczyk will represent 9.4 million beneficiaries on the issues affecting the delivery of health care to servicemembers and their families, serving as the voice of servicemembers addressing matters related to force health protection and medical readiness, TMA said. Previously, Wojtaszczyk served as the SEA at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He also served as first sergeant of the 502nd Dental Company, and as the detachment sergeant for the 21st Combat Support Hospital at Fort Hood, Texas, and in Balad, Iraq. To see more, go to: www.tricare.mil/pressroom/news.aspx?fid=531.

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New ‘Consumer’s Guide’ to Intelligence Community Debuts

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on May 28 posted a new, consumer-friendly report that lays out the responsibilities and organizational layout of the various agencies that together make up the nation’s intelligence community. The report, “2009 National Intelligence, a Consumer’s Guide,” provides basic details on the major intelligence agencies, departmental and service components and other contributing agencies, levels of oversight and lists of intelligence-related acronyms and terms. In a brief foreword to other intelligence colleagues, ODNI Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Policy, Plans, and Requirements David R. Shedd cites the necessity to “partner with intelligence consumers to meet the need for more timely and unique intelligence.” The office, he said, has “published this handbook with this very thought in mind …” To see the handbook, go to: www.dni.gov/reports/IC_Consumers_Guide_2009.pdf.

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