Federal Reports

The purpose of this report is to bring to your attention needed improvements that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) identified while reviewing Peace Corps’ response process for cybersecurity incidents and its adherence to Federal and agency requirements. We reviewed the agency’s actions taken during three separate cybersecurity incidents from June 2022 through July 2023.

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the W.G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina.This evaluation focused on five key operational areas:• Leadership and organizational risks• Quality, safety, and value• Medical staff privileging• Environment of care• Mental health (suicide prevention initiatives)The OIG issued four recommendations for improvement in the mental health area of review:• Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluationo Completion following positive suicide screeno Suicide prevention team notified of suicidal or self-directed violent behaviors in previous 12 months• Full-time suicide prevention coordinator appointed for community-based outpatient clinics that serve 10,000 veterans annually• Suicide-related events reported monthly to mental health leaders and quality management staff

We reviewed the actions of the NPS and USPP in preparing for WFAF’s demonstration at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021.

Management Letter Fiscal Year 2023 Financial Statement Audit

An Amtrak supervisor based in Philadelphia violated company policies by using his company‐leased vehicle and, occasionally, his company fuel card to travel to his vacation home at least thirteen times over a nine‐month period. The employee admitted to these actions during his interview with our agents. He was removed from his supervisory position on December 18, 2023.

What We Looked AtThe U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has a fleet of 38 aircraft that are operated and maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Flight Program Operations within the Air Traffic Organization. FAA uses these aircraft for a variety of missions, including critical event response and transportation for DOT executives, such as the Secretary of Transportation, and other Government agency officials. The Office of Management and Budget’s guidance to Executive Department heads allows Federal officials to travel on Government aircraft but with restrictions. Several Members of Congress requested we review DOT executives’ use of Government aircraft. Our objective was to determine whether the Office of the Secretary (OST) complied with Federal regulations, policies, and procedures regarding executive travel on DOT aircraft. What We FoundOST complied with Federal regulations, policies, and procedures for the Secretaries’ travel on DOT aircraft from January 2017 to June 2023. Records for each of the 15 trips contained the required authorizations, justifications, and approvals for use of the DOT aircraft, including documentation such as trip memos and cost comparisons, as appropriate. However, in evaluating OST’s cost comparisons, we determined that FAA did not consistently update the DOT aircraft flight hour cost rates OST uses to determine the cost effectiveness of Secretarial transportation. As a result, FAA’s flight hour rates may not have reflected the most current operating costs. We also identified three instances in which FAA did not use the correct flight hour rate for its cost estimates. While the incorrect cost estimates did not negatively impact cost effectiveness in these instances, this control weakness could result in incorrect cost comparisons. Our RecommendationsDOT concurred with our two recommendations to improve FAA’s aircraft rate update process and provided documentation of FAA’s actions taken in response. We consider both recommendations resolved but open pending OIG review of FAA’s documentation.