From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Interview with Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, 2010-present
Description: Current Comptroller General Gene Dodaro (2010-present) shares his experiences leading GAO.

Released: December 2021

[ Question : ] What drew you to the job of Comptroller General?

[ Gene Dodaro : ]   What drew me to the job as Comptroller General was the same thing that drew me to GAO initially, which is two fundamental factors. One is an opportunity to give public service. My grandfather was an immigrant from Italy. He's my namesake and I saw what this country can do for people who came from a poor region in Italy and built a new life for themselves here. And so I always wanted to give back to the country. Secondly, was the ability to make a difference in government, to not just be someone who complained about government but would get engaged, would focus on how to make things better to improve government for the benefit of the American people. 
And so those two things I had the opportunity to also work on, and the other thing that kept me at GAO for a long period of time as I've been, is the diversity of the work that we do across the entire breadth and scope of the federal government's activities. So the ability to make a difference, to get back to your country, to work on diverse matters is really the fundamental reasons why I pursued the job as Comptroller General. 
In terms of my background in undertaking the role for the job, I was very well positioned. I had extensive knowledge of the Congress and its operations in both, you know, also working with the executive branch across many administrations. I knew GAO processes. I'd been through the entire range of responsibilities as I started out from an entry-level position to work myself up to the Chief Operating Officer. I was the number two official for nine and a half years. I knew the people, I was involved in recruiting many of them and promoting most of them. And so I felt I was very well positioned to take on the responsibilities as Comptroller General.

[ Question : ] How have the three Comptrollers General you served under influenced you?

[ Dodaro : ]   I was very fortunate to be able to work under three Comptrollers General before assuming the post myself and I was influenced by all three. With Elmer Staats, what I took away from his tenure, which I served about half of his 15 year term with him, was a need to continue to evolve GAO, to meet the current needs. He was at the head of the effort to bring performance auditing and GAO program evaluation and to expand GAO beyond its traditional focus on financial management issues. He also emphasized the importance of strong bipartisan relationships with the Congress, and he took GAO into the international sphere, joining the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, creating the fellowship program by which we train people from other national audit offices. That definitely has had an influence on my involvement in international matters, as well as continuing to try to evolve GAO in the future. 
Chuck Bowsher's focus was on financial management, and I happened to be the Assistant Comptroller General for the Accounting and Information Management Division, so I got to work very closely with Chuck, setting up the structures of CFOs across the entire federal government, performing the first ever audits of federal departments and agencies and the government wide audits of financial management was a big emphasis of Chuck. And then to some extent it was a need to, to go back to not only without losing anything in the performance auditing area, but to strengthen our traditional role and the role of government in assuring better accountability over funds through the preparation of financial statements and independent audits. Chuck also was very focused on building the capacity of GAO's senior executives. Under his leadership, the senior executives at GAO were then able to testify before Congress, that hadn't happened earlier, and so we were able to broaden out our reach across the Congress and testimonies and having a great impact because the pace of our work had picked up. And we were more in sync with the congressional priorities and calendar at that point in time. 
From Dave Walker, he brought important new ideas to GAO, including the congressional protocols which helped cement and make transparent our policies to deal with Congress on a nonpartisan basis and to be very focused on making commitments, honoring those commitments, treating everybody equally across the Congress. And I think those were very important reforms, which I have kept and I've made some further refinements too based on experience. But those have served us very well as an organization. Dave also brought in a focus on strategic planning, not just within individual areas, but as GAO as a whole and focusing and enhancing our role in the foresight area and thinking ahead. I definitely have taken those ideas and used them to further enhance GAO's strategic planning and foresight capabilities.

[ Question : ] When you took over, what were GAO's strengths and weaknesses?

[ Dodaro : ]   When I took over responsibilities as Comptroller General, I thought GAO had many strengths that I wanted to build upon. The first was our solid bipartisan relationship with the Congress. Second was our quality assurance framework for producing on a repeatable basis, high quality, objective, reliable information for the Congress that was on a nonpartisan basis. And third was our people. I spent a great deal of my career previously in GAO, especially during a Chief Operating Officer, nine years that I had, of strengthening the senior executive service at GAO and our entire workforce to prepare us for the future. So we were in, from a relationship standpoint, a process standpoint and a people standpoint, we were in a good position, but we need to always make continuous improvements. 
Additionally, I felt it was important to change the culture to bring our commitment to our people on a par with our commitment to our core values of accountability, integrity, reliability, our commitment to quality products that are nonpartisan and professional, objective and reliable. The people, commitment to the people-side was a little more uneven than I wanted, so I wanted to bring it on a par. And so we created people values to be on a par with our core values. And that's to make sure everybody's valued, respected and treated fairly. And we use that along with our unwavering commitment that I've had as Comptroller General to diversity, equity and inclusion issues to really build GAO as a workforce that's representative of the American people and the elected representatives that we serve. And so it has strengthened us as an organization because it not only brings the different expertise from a technical standpoint, but it brings different perspectives and views and a richer understanding of all of the issues that we deal with across GAO in doing our work. And so those are the areas that I've focused on, trying to make additional improvements beyond what I inherited after assuming the job initially. 

[ Question : ] Can you talk about some memorable audit reports from your time as Comptroller General?

[ Dodaro : ]   Since I've been Comptroller General, we've issued thousands of reports, and so there are many that I consider very timely and groundbreaking, but I'll just give you a few examples. 
First, are the reports that we've done on the national emergencies during a global financial crisis and more recently with the COVID-19 crisis. Those reports were done on a real-time auditing basis. They were issued every two months on a bi-monthly basis. And even now, under the COVID-19 responsibilities, we're giving monthly briefings to select Congressional Committees. So those are very timely, very important. They've all included recommendations for midcourse corrections and dealing with our national emergencies. And so I think that they've been very important and they've been groundbreaking in the sense that, you know, that we've moved the auditing more into a real time basis in those endeavors rather than, you know, a post after the fact auditing. 
But we've also, you know, been focused on foresight issues as well. And then the foresight area, a couple of things I'm very proud of that we did are memorable, are reports on military readiness, I think, our report that highlighted some of the basic challenges facing the Department of Defense helped spotlight an additional focus by the Congress and others on the importance of building military readiness. I've also testified on reports talking about the retirement security area in the country and the need for comprehensive attention to that area as our society is aging and the pillars of which our retirement security were made have all frayed over time. And so we've made recommendations in that area as well. 
And there are additional reports that we've issued in the technology arena, in the science and technology area. We've done technology assessments on artificial intelligence and its use, for example, and the faster development of drugs to bring those innovations to market faster over a period of time. And 5G technologies, we've done the Spotlight series, which are new series on explainers for science and technology issues, for example on hypersonic weapons and infectious disease modeling and other issues. 
And we've also done some memorable reports that are not traditional, they're special reports on best practices in order to help influence better management across the federal government, even when we're not doing audits, for example, cost estimating, which we routinely find as a problem. We've issued guidance on how to do a good cost estimate, how to make sure that you mature technologies before putting it into production, which is another recurring problem. And so all these reports try to influence the improvements of government in a different means, and those are the ones that immediately come to mind. 

[ Question : ] How is GAO helping the nation prepare for emerging challenges?

[ Dodaro : ]   It's very important in terms of strategic planning for GAO to anticipate trends that are shaping the environment and the type of decisions that the Congress and the country will face. We look at, you know, international developments, domestic developments that both affect national security and Homeland Security changes in the landscape regarding demographic changes, science and technology innovations, developments and trends and many other factors concerning natural resources. The environment and all these things are very important for us to consider and highlight as to what are these forces that are going to have to be confronted as we go forward into the future so that we can plan and do work to be in a position to advise Congress on a timely basis. 
Now, in order to do this, we, in addition to using our deep reservoir of institutional knowledge, we go out and we have outside advisers, we do an environmental scan, set of scans, both domestically and internationally. To identify all these issues, we develop a plan. We meet with a lot of the committees in the Congress on a regular basis. Our strategic planning process starts with the Congress, understanding their issues and then we end with sharing with them a draft of our strategic plans. Recently, we've also created a strategic foresight forum that has a lot of futurists and other very accomplished professionals on this again, to strengthen our views of outside people, to help us round out the views that we have institutionally within GAO. It's very important that we identify the most important national issues affecting our country so that we can effectively use our resources and maximize our impact to helping the Congress and the country. 

[ Question : ] What were some of your GAO accomplishments before you became Comptroller General?

[ Dodaro : ]   There are a number of significant accomplishments that we were able to achieve during my tenure as head of the Accounting and Information Technology Division at GAO. First, in the financial management arena, we were able to work with OMB and Treasury and the IGs to set up a CFO structure across federal government, as envisioned by the legislation Congress has created and to put in place an accounting standard setting body to set independent accounting standards for the federal government, to get a financial reporting process in place, to regularly produce financial statements and to have those independently audited by the inspector generals as either themselves or through contracts with public accounting firms. And then GAO would rely on their work. 
In addition to doing some audits, which we do of IRS, including all the revenue collection for the government and all the public debt by the Treasury Department, we would do the audit of consolidated financial statements of federal government. This is the first time in our country's history that we had that kind of accountability and transparency available in managing the finances of the federal government. And so that was a very significant accomplishment. Now, in doing that work, it led to other significant reforms. For example, we identified through those first set of financial audits a great deal of improper payments in the federal government, which are payments that should not have been made or made in the wrong amounts. That led to legislation requiring agencies to identify improper payments to estimate them and to have plans for reducing them. And so that's a very significant development. 
Also, through the information technology systems work we did as part of the financial audits, we first learned of the weaknesses in computer security and agency systems through the financial audits. That led us to expand that work across all the government systems and took us into the computer security area across the federal government in a big way. And so we expanded that work. So in the information technology area, we picked up on the computer security issues, expanded that work, designated that as a high risk area across the federal government, 1997, Critical Infrastructure Protection, 2003. Those are very important developments, highlighting issues that needed to be developed. Now, in the information technology area, similar to what we did in the financial management area, we work with the Congress to create legislation to establish for the first time chief information officers in the federal government to give them sets of responsibilities. More recently, the Federal Information Technology Reform Act strengthened and reemphasized the important role of CIOs in the government, and better management practices in the information technology arena. And those are very important reforms. 
We also during this period of time highlighted ahead of time the vulnerabilities to the federal government from the Y2K conversion process and as a result of GAO's efforts highlighting this, executive branch stepped up its efforts, and we were actually able to make a transition to the year 2000 computing challenge without any significant major problems occurring across the federal government. So those challenges and opportunities were very important. While we were doing this, we were also in that division, building that capacity to do more work on the federal government's budget and develop a system and a model whereby we could project long term trends or simulate long term trends. It's to highlight what the future could be for the federal government if discipline wasn't brought to the process in focusing in on deficit and debt issues. So those are a few of the accomplishments. 

[ Question : ] Can you talk about your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as a top priority at GAO?


[ Dodaro : ]   Central to my core beliefs and management philosophy is a commitment to people, to make sure that everyone who works at GAO feels valued, respected and treated fairly. This involves a significant effort to focus on this, as well as reemphasize the importance and continually emphasize the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion issues in GAO. I have an unwavering commitment to this during my entire time at GAO especially as Comptroller General. And then what we needed to do is to drive that throughout the agency. So we had some training. We made this more of a priority among our managers and senior executives and other leaders throughout the organization. We empowered the teams and employees throughout GAO to create communities of practice, to talk about these issues, to express their ideas, to have opportunities to dialog with these issues, to give them a safe place to talk about the important issues that they were feeling and they wanted the organization to address. So we've been very responsive to that effort. We've created mentoring programs. We've revamped all our training programs to help make sure that everybody in the GAO has an opportunity to reach their full potential. This is very important to them as individuals and professionals, but it's also very important to the performance of GAO and that having a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion makes us a stronger organization. It makes us more thoughtful about how we approach a wide range of issues that we tackle and providing advice to Congress. So it's been pivotal in our success as a best place to work, and our commitment to our people always needs to be on a par with our commitment to doing quality, objective, nonpartisan, independent audit work for the Congress. They go hand in hand. 

[ Question : ] What steps are you taking to better position the agency for the future?

[ Dodaro : ]   We've largely been able to restore the staffing levels that we lost on authorized basis during the 2013-14 sequestration period of time. And so we've been able to even add a little bit further through this. So we've been very successful so far. But the steps that I'm taking moving forward is to continue to underscore to the Congress the return on investment that they get from GAO every year, and a financial return on that investment in financial savings. The last few years alone has been $165 for every dollar invested in GAO on average. And also, all the advice they get on legislation and oversight, resource allocation, et cetera. 
So it's important to continue to enhance understanding in the Congress of the importance to invest in GAO, and I plan to continue to submit budget requests that would allow us to grow modestly in important areas that we need, particularly in the science and technology area, computer security and other critical areas to replenish our workforce to ensure we're always in a strong position to tackle the issues throughout the Congress. We do work on a regular basis for over 90% of congressional committees. So it's very important for us to have a workforce that enables us to have in-depth expertise across the full breadth of the federal government's responsibilities.


[ Question : ] Can you talk about the impact of the big reform initiatives you've worked on with Congress? Where are further improvements needed?

[ Dodaro : ]   All the reforms you mentioned have had a very positive impact. But there's some additional opportunities for better and more effective implementation that could be sustained across time. First, the DATA Act was a tremendous leap forward in improving transparency in federal government spending by creating a website, standards where data could be compared and consistent across the federal government, and that it was available on downloadable, machine readable forms so people could use the data to then do analysis and develop other opportunities by using the information from a commercial standpoint. But the data needs to become increasingly more reliable and accurate and complete. We've made improvements along those lines and there has been some improvement, but more needs to be done. Secondly, there needs to be a data governance structure in place to make sure that the future standards are kept up to date and are indeed consistent as well over time. 
In the FITARA, Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, there's been additional emphasis given to CIOs to make sure they have the responsibilities, but you know very few still have the full complement of responsibilities, so that needs more work. There's been billions of dollars saved by consolidating data centers, which is a huge accomplishment. There needs to be more focus on attention on disciplined I.T. management practices. I.T. operations and acquisitions remains a high risk area across federal government on GAO's High Risk List, and there are hundreds of open recommendations that need to be implemented. 
On the fraud front, The Fraud Reduction Data Analytics Act put the federal government using the framework that GAO developed in a more proactive approach to managing fraud across federal government's programs and activities, rather than just be reactive to occurring after there was a problem. It's off to a good start. However, much more needs to be done to focus attention on ingraining it as a means of changing the culture of federal programs and activities over time. 
The Chief Financial Officers Act has had tremendous impact across the federal government. We now have a regularly annual process that produces reliable financial statements across all major departments and agencies, except for the Defense Department. So when we first started out, it was 6 of 24, now it's 22, 23 on a regular basis of 24. And so that is a huge accomplishment. There have been hundreds of internal control weaknesses that have been identified and corrected, so it's had a great impact in improving the discipline of financial management across the federal government. But there's opportunities here as well. We need better information to integrate cost and performance data. There needs to be more uniform responsibilities among the chief financial officers and the deputy chief financial officers across the government. That would provide better succession planning. Since most of the CFOs are presidential appointees, you're going to have some vacancy time that's going to occur and having a deputy's position to move in, having had the full complement of training and responsibilities would ensure continued focus to move in the proper direction long term and then continuing to improve financial management. 


[ Question : ] What else has occurred under your watch as Comptroller General that you are most proud of?

[ Dodaro : ]   There are a number of things here that I would mention. For example, guiding GAO through some very challenging times, the Global Financial Crisis, the Great Recession. Currently, the pandemic, COVID-19, which has affected both the work that we do for the Congress and the country, but also has affected GAO's operations and our people. And so we need to keep them safe and healthy. Also, managing during the sequestration period was very difficult as well, and I'm pleased that we were one of the few federal agencies to go through that process without furloughing or laying off any of our people at all, not even for an hour. So I'm very proud of how we've handled all of these challenging situations with regard to GAO's budget and the operations and what we've been asked to do in national emergencies. 
I'm also very proud of creating the Science, Technology and Analytics team in GAO-that team is up and running now. We've expanded the STAA team to give it more resources. It's garnering additional expertise. It's having a huge impact and not only doing technology assessments, but short term turnaround assistance to the Congress. And so I expect it to continue to perform and to mature over time to meet the needs of the Congress going forward. We'll need to add additional resources there as well. 
I'm also proud of our return on investment. In seven of the last eight years, it's been over $100 there for every dollar invested in GAO. The last few years been over $165 for every dollar invested in GAO. We've set records in GAO in financial benefits. And so I'm very proud of that as well. I'm also very proud of our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and the fact that we've been a best place to work every year during my tenure as Comptroller General and for many of those last few years running ranked number one in diversity, in terms of our commitment over time. 
So I'm very proud of that and I'm also very proud of our people. We have a dedicated, talented group of people that will do whatever is necessary to provide the very best in public service. They are committed, they are dedicated, resourceful and have tremendous expertise and apply it for the benefit of the Congress and the country. 
Lastly, I'll mention some accomplishments on the international front that I'm particularly proud of. I've created an Audit Center for Excellence in GAO to allow us to provide technical assistance and training and help to audit organizations in other countries, particularly in developing countries where they are trying to move into performance auditing and to strengthen their organizations. This benefits the United States because we provide many of these countries with foreign assistance to help in their social and economic development and having greater accountability and transparency for that amount of money, but also for the amount of money that they use themselves is very important. Also, I've been able to provide some leadership as part of an effort to work with the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and the donor community worldwide, such as the World Bank, USAID, a lot of the development banks around the world, a number of foreign aid organizations in other countries to create a partnership and a cooperative effort in order to provide assistance to developing countries' national audit offices to strengthen their capabilities. So that is very important because we all benefit by having governments have greater accountability, transparency and commitment to good management practices.

[ Question : ] How has GAO's role in government evolved?

[ Dodaro : ]   GAO's most fundamental responsibility is to support the Congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities. This involves both in legislating, crafting laws, allocating resources through the appropriation of budgetary processes and providing oversight over the executive branch activities so that the checks and balances that were envisioned by our Constitution and our laws are kept in good standing. And so we provide a lot of support. We support on a regular basis over 90% of the congressional committees of the Congress. I'm very pleased and proud of the strong bipartisan support that we have across the Congress, in both chambers by both parties, and it's due to the recognition of our nonpartisan, professional, independent and objective approach to conducting our work. So I'm very proud of our people and how we've carried out those responsibilities. 
We also have a very important role in promoting the performance and the accountability of federal government for the benefit of the American people. We do this by also having, in addition to working with the Congress, by having constructive working relationships with the executive branch. They voluntarily implement most of our recommendations, so it's very important that they have confidence and trust in GAO as well. And working with the Inspector General, state and local auditors, we also set the auditing standards for the federal government, which all auditors, whether they be public or private auditors auditing federal funds have to follow GAO's auditing standards. 
Now, with regard to how things have changed during my tenure as Comptroller General in terms of our mission, the real-time auditing has really come into its own. The Global Financial Crisis, stimulus legislation during the Great Recession, COVID-19 responsibilities, natural disasters and others have really placed a premium on GAO having the capabilities to do real time auditing and report on a really frequent basis to the Congress in some cases and every two months as these efforts unfold. So that's really a new dimension added to our work. Also, we're doing more foresight work through strategic planning, our strategic foresight center, trying to alert Congress to emerging issues and to help focus their attention so they have time to think about, deliberate, and act before problems become a crisis. That's very important as well. 
The High Risk work that we do has continued to evolve. I've tried to take that into a direction where we're trying to do as much as possible while maintaining our independence of trying to get agencies to fix these high risk problems and get off the list and reduce the risk to the government. 
And then in the science and technology area, I'm very pleased our mission there has evolved greatly. I've been giving that much attention and support. Congress has weighed in and given us a lot more encouragement and support and resources lately to expand that science and technology capabilities to help them understand emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing. We've set up an innovation lab at GAO to begin testing out new procedures. For example, we're testing out how to audit algorithms for artificial intelligence to make sure there's no bias in their operating as intended. We're going to be doing the same thing with quantum computing, blockchain technology and a lot of other emerging issues. So we're very much focused on expanding our capabilities. A lot of the work that we do now, whether it's in evaluating weapons systems, efforts to refurbish the nuclear arsenal that we have and our weapons complex, and in the medical arena, we're doing work on technologies to more rapidly detect emerging infectious diseases, and a wide range of other areas. 
And then lastly, in the international front, you know, I've tried to make us more of a force for better government and audit practices across the globe. 
More broadly, I try to keep GAO at the forefront of making appropriate changes by having a strong strategic planning framework, because if you can identify what the trends are that are going to affect the environment in which you're operating, which your people that you're trying to serve in the Congress and the country at large are operating, you'll know how best to change your practices, your approaches, the type of workforce that you have to meet those challenges. So engaging with members of Congress and their staffs, understanding where they see things evolving, getting outside expertise from the private sector, as well as other levels of government, both domestically and globally, and with all different experts and doing research in those areas. 
Because GAO has a broad span of responsibilities, you become exposed to a lot of issues and you can think through what the important areas are. And now we further enhanced our capabilities by creating our Strategic Foresight Center, which has some futurists on it, etc. So it's very important to have this broad kind of net cast on a continual basis to identify what those changes may be that you need to react to. More specifically, in the science and technology area, in the cybersecurity area, I've been very focused on improving our capabilities in those areas. Science and technology is evolving faster at a more rapid pace than any time in human history. And so it's confronting our government and our Congress with important new issues that they need to respond to. So we've created the capability to do technology assessments on a wide range of issues. These assessments look at the existing technologies in different areas, whether it be artificial intelligence, 5G nuclear reactors, more modular nuclear reactors, for example, or infectious disease modeling. And to look at what technologies are emerging and what technology should the government invest in in the future? And what are the policy implications of these technologies, both from a security standpoint, a competitive standpoint for the United States and helping our economy continue to grow. 
So it's very important to understand not only the technology, but what are the policy implications of applying and investing and making decisions with regard to how those technologies are used in society, what impact that has on people and institutions, both public and private. And to provide increased or short term assistance to Congress just to help them understand what the technologies are and what are some of the pros and cons and what are some of the implications of those technologies? So we'd be issuing what we call a Spotlight series, which are two page explainers of different technologies ranging from hypersonic weapons to, you know, genome editing and a wide range of other issues. 
So we've greatly expanded our expertise. We've added additional resources in these areas, with the support of Congress, to bring in additional expertise. And so we've built upon our partnerships with the National Academy of Sciences and we've set up a what we call a Polaris Council, which is a group of advisors in the science and technology areas to help us in addition to working with the National Academy of Sciences. So I think we're we're greatly expanding. I expect that growth to continue to evolve and mature as we go forward. The cybersecurity area is something I've long been concerned about since the time I was in charge of our accounting and information technology work in the nineties. As I mentioned earlier, we designated computer security as a high risk area across federal government in 1997. So no one could say GAO didn't warn people about the implications of this area, both from federal government systems as well as critical infrastructure protection and more recently in protecting the privacy of individuals. We've expanded again the size of this team, brought in additional capabilities. We have revamped our methodologies in this area. We continue to do good work, we've recently recommended the National Cyber Security Coordinator position be established in the White House to provide leadership. Congress has responded and agreed with that just recently to establish that position. So once it gets established, that'll give us some greater capabilities and focused leadership on this matter. We've also recommended that Congress create a privacy framework for the private sector, and I'm hopeful that Congress will act on that issue going forward.

[ Question : ] How do you think a nonpartisan agency can be most effective in an era of extreme partisanship?

[ Dodaro : ]   GAO's role becomes even more critical in this type of an environment. We need to be a trusted institution by both parties, by both Chambers of Congress and by the Executive branch and the general public. We have to ensure that we focus on doing our work in a nonpartisan, professional, objective, fact-based manner that's reliable. And you build this trust and reliability by working to have proactive outreach with both parties in the Congress, I regularly meet with chairs, ranking members and other members of the Congress. We meet with the staffs of congressional committees and members on a continual basis to engage them in this dialog. You have to perform consistent with expectations and our protocols for how we are to conduct work for doing the Congress. We need to adhere to professional standards and our core principles of accountability, integrity and reliability. And so when you perform in that manner, you can reinforce the trust that people have in you with good communication, continuing outreach, and performing consistently with those expectations is the best way to be effective in the environment and where you can look to build bipartisan support for reforms. Some of the legislation that has been passed in recent years, has GAO work at the core when it's a bipartisan effort in many, many cases. And so this is very important. It reinforces the importance of it and to conduct ourselves in a transparent and open manner. 

[ Question : ] What are your greatest achievements so far?

[ Dodaro : ]   First, I'm very proud of continuing to enhance GAO's reputation as a nonpartisan, objective, fact-based organization to provide service to the Congress and the country to the benefit of the American people. It's very important for us to do our work in a constructive, positive manner to bring about meaningful change and improvements in government so that it can better serve the American people. 
Secondly, I'm very proud of our record of results. During my tenure as Comptroller General, GAO has had financial benefits of hundreds of billions of dollars and also thousands of improvements in government operations and programs and activities and public safety issues as well. So I think we've got a great record of accomplishments in terms of how we've served the American people and the Congress during this period of time, including providing help in crafting some very important legislation that's been passed. 
Third, I'm very proud of our people at GAO. We've built and maintained and enhanced the work force that is one of the most dedicated, talented workforces of any audit organization on the planet. And I'm very proud of our people in the way they've conducted themselves, how they've handled challenges that have come to the organization, how they've made their commitment to public service in such a meaningful manner. And lastly, I'm very proud of our unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. This area is essential to having a GAO workforce that represents the American people and the elected representatives that we serve. It's the right thing to do. It's made us a more effective organization and it's enabled us to have that type of commitment to our people that resonate with them so that they know that we are helping them to develop professionally, to reach their full potential in their service to our country. 

[ Question : ] What would you like to accomplish in the rest of your 15-year term?

[ Dodaro : ] During the remaining time of my tenure, I want to make sure that I complete the priorities that I set out at my confirmation hearing. 
First, I want always to make sure GAO's working on the most important national issues. This is first and foremost across the board concerning the full range of activities that we do at GAO to serve the Congress and the country. We're working on developing our next strategic plan now, which will go beyond my tenure, so I want to well-position us for the future. 
Secondly, I want to continue to focus on these high risk areas across the government. These areas are in need of reform, can save billions of dollars and improve services to the public and enhance trust in government and better protect us as a nation. So I want to continue to focus on that. I'm hopeful to continue to work with the Congress and the executive branch to bring about improvements in those areas. 
Third, I want to make sure that we can move to get the government on a more fiscally sustainable long term path. Right now, everything needs to focus on dealing with the COVID-19 struggles that we are having, both from a public health standpoint and also to put our economy in better shape and recover from the repercussions of COVID-19. But as soon as that happens, we need to turn our attention to having a more focused plan on guiding us with our fiscal position long term so that we can have flexibility to deal with issues that are going to be unexpected, also make strategic investments in the government and be in a strong economic position to continue to have our country on firm financial footing as we go forward. 
Also, I want to continue to evolve the work in the science and technology area. I think it's very important and a major step in GAO's work to ensure that our relevance to the future and to provide the right kind of service to the Congress to help them make proper decisions in this very rapidly evolving world these days, both domestically and globally. 
Lastly, I would say I want to make sure I continue to focus on good succession planning at GAO to make sure we have the right workforce, we have the right leadership, we have the people in position that can take us into the future. We've just completed, you know, our 100 year anniversary. I want to posture us for success in the next hundred years by getting off to a good start with a solid plan for our work and a solid workforce to implement that plan. 

[ Question : ] Do you have any thoughts on life after GAO?

[ Dodaro : ]   With regard to life after GAO, I have three children and eight grandchildren, a wonderful wife, and I hope to spend more time with them and enjoy them. But I'll also look for opportunities to continue to serve my country. Public service is a noble profession and I will do whatever I can do to continue to help our country and better position it for the future.