From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Our Priority Recommendations for the State Department Description: For the Department of State, our priority recommendations include those that would improve the vetting process for security assistance, an approved embassy construction planning, and cyber security of the State Department's computer networks. We talk to GAO's Jason Bair to find out more. Related GAO Work: GAO-21-457PR, Priority Open Recommendations: Department of State Released: May 2021 [Intro Music] [Jason Bair:] While State continues to make progress in addressing our recommendations, we think the personal attention of the secretary should be focused on the 11 that remain. [Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report. Your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, celebrating 100 years of fact-based, nonpartisan government oversight. I'm Holly Hobbs. Every year GAO sends letters to federal agencies, highlighting our recommendations from past reports that we think agencies should prioritize. These priority recommendations would have an immediate high impact on the most pressing challenges facing agencies and their programs. For the Department of State, our priority recommendations include those that would improve the vetting process for security assistance, an approved embassy construction planning, and cyber security of the State Department's computer networks. Today we'll find out more from Jason Bair, an expert on State Department management, and a direct in our international affairs and trade team. Thank you for joining us, Jason. [Jason Bair:] Thanks Holly. It's great to be with you. [Holly Hobbs:] So Jason, what areas do our priority recommendations for the State Department cover? [Jason Bair:] Great question. We've actually got 75 total recommendations that we're waiting on the State Department to address. But what we did is we went through a process to really identify which of those are the most important. And this year, our letter identifies 11 of those recommendations that we believe State should be prioritizing and should receive the personal attention of the secretary. So we took those 11 recommendations and we actually grouped them into 6 major areas for improvement. They include: security assistance vetting, data quality, workforce management, embassy construction and planning, cybersecurity, and complying with congressional reporting requirements. [Holly Hobbs:] So you highlighted the vetting process for providing security assistance to foreign nations. Can you tell us a little bit about what the concern was, why we prioritized it, and what we recommended? [Jason Bair:] So as many of your listeners probably already know, the U.S. provides billions of dollars in Security Assistance to other countries every year in order to help them bolster their military forces. These are countries all over the globe who receive assistance. They include Israel, Egypt, Jordan, as well as partners and allies in the Americas and Africa and across Asia. And this assistance can include equipment including aircraft and tanks and missiles. We thought State could do a better job of ensuring that that equipment that we're providing isn't transferred to any of the military units that have committed any human rights violations. And what we recommended is that they developed some time frames for establishing some vetting procedures for the recipients of that equipment. So this is the only actual remaining open recommendation that we have from the 5 recommendations that we identified back in 2016 related to human rights vetting. We think that State is close to addressing this one. They've told us they've drafted some procedures and they're in the process of getting them internally reviewed. So we're optimistic, but we think it's important to make sure that everything gets done. [Holly Hobbs:] We've also made priority recommendations about the State Department cybersecurity. Can you tell us a little bit about the issue there? [Jason Bair:] There I think all of us know in our private lives and the work that we do, cybersecurity is a huge issue and it's a huge challenge. And we've identified cybersecurity as something that is a key area of high risk for the entire federal government. And unfortunately, just in the last couple of weeks even we've seen the consequences and vulnerabilities with the attack on the oil pipeline. For the State Department specifically, we've got 3 recommendations that we think are a priority. Two of them we actually carried over from previous years to reinforce the importance of them. And they're really intended to help State focus on their cybersecurity workforce and some of their risk management processes. We also added a new one this year. As the State Department attempts to reorganize itself and focus on cyber diplomacy issues--which are more about international cybersecurity efforts--we think they need to do a better job of coordinating with other key stakeholders, especially the other federal agencies that help them work in the international arena to address cyber security more broadly. [Holly Hobbs:] And Jason, GAO has done a lot of work on diversity issues at the State Department, but we've made some of our suggestions about addressing these issues priority recommendations. What's causing the lack of diversity at State, and what did we recommend? [Jason Bair:] Yeah, so we've identified race in America as a critical issue that Congress and the American people really need to pay attention to, writ-large. Specifically with regard to the State Department--it has been a long standing issue. In the context of the State Department maintaining a workforce that is as diverse as America is a priority because, quite literally, the State Department and diplomats overseas represent the United States to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, what we found was that-- even though there have been some improvements in recent years--racial or ethnic minorities are underrepresented at the State Department, especially in some of those senior ranks. So as a result, we've recommended that the State Department do some additional work to identify remaining potential barriers to equal opportunity, because they've really got to understand what those barriers are in order to be able to address them and make some long term durable improvements. We are optimistic because the State Department did recently appoint a chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. The first one in its history. And from the Secretary of State on down, it's quite clear that they are saying and doing many of the right things with regard to diversity, and it is a top priority for the new administration and the State Department. So we're going to be monitoring their progress on the issue and closely watch what steps they're taking to see whether they've addressed the heart of our recommendation. [Music] [Holly Hobbs:] So it sounds like the State Department faces a number of challenges, included internal management challenges like diversity and cybersecurity, as well as program-related challenges like those facing security assistance vetting. But that we've highlighted recommendations that would have an immediate high impact on these issues. Jason, tell us a little bit more about the letter we've sent the State Department. What does it say and what's the benefit of sending it to them annually? [Jason Bair:] So at this point, we've got 11 recommendations that were flagging for the personal attention of the secretary. We think that continuing to focus on these really important issues can go a long way in helping the State Department confront both some longstanding, as well as some emerging foreign policy challenges on behalf of the American people. Whether it's improving the management of State Department's very talented workforce, or enhancing its planning for the billions of dollars that we spend every year on embassy construction projects, or better securing the State Department's computer networks, or any of the other areas that we highlight in our priority recommendation letter--we think that State needs to really focus its efforts and prioritize making improvements in those areas. We've got, again, several dozen recommendations that State has yet to address. And while we'd like for the State Department to address all of them as soon as possible, we do recognize it's really necessary for them to set priorities and to update those priorities regularly, which is why we send them this annual letter. [Holly Hobbs:] And last question, what's the bottom line of this report? [Jason Bair:] The bottom line is that while State continues to make progress in addressing our recommendations, especially priority recommendations, we think the personal attention of the secretary should be focused on the 11 that remain. [Holly Hobbs:] That was Jason Bair talking about GAO's priority recommendations for the Department of State. Thank you for your time, Jason. [Jason Bair:] Thank you, Holly. [Jason Bair:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and more, and make sure you leave a rating review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office visit us at GAO.gov.