Federal Reports

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) administers and enforces U.S. export regulations to control the export of goods and technologies for national security and foreign policy purposes. Our objective for this audit was to assess the effectiveness of BIS actions to detect violations of export controls for Russia and Belarus in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

BIS prevents the diversion or misuse of export-controlled items abroad by conducting pre-license checks and post-shipment verifications—collectively known as end-use checks—on foreign end users for individual export transactions, to help ensure that U.S. exports are being used as intended and to assess the legitimacy of end users.

Overall, we found that BIS needs to strengthen its end-use check process to prevent restricted shipments to Russia and Belarus. Specifically, we found weaknesses in BIS methods to identify and select high-risk shipments for end-use checks; document results and assign final ratings of compliance with export control regulations; and complete enforcement actions to hold potential violators of export controls accountable. These weaknesses undermine the transparency and accountability of BIS’s regulatory oversight and underscore the need for improvements to strengthen and modernize the end-use check process.

We made six recommendations to strengthen and modernize the end-use check process.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed whether the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) automated Pension and Fiduciary Service decisions correctly granted survivors’ entitlement to service-connected death benefits from September 2023 through August 2024. The OIG found legal and procedural deficiencies in automated rating decisions and notification letters. At least 8,000 decisions or letters omitted favorable findings and had issues such as incomplete evidence summaries and incorrect formatting. At least 2 percent of decisions had legal errors, resulting in an estimated $2.7 million in improper payments. A review of additional cases through November 2025 confirmed similar errors. The quality review process for automated claims was less rigorous than for traditional claims, and VA’s modernization plan to Congress did not fully explain how some claims were completely processed from beginning to end by automation.

Deficiencies stemmed from flaws in automation rules and processes that, if not addressed, will recur because the system applies predefined rules without human involvement. Oversight tools were inadequate, and procedural guidance changes did not fully address risks.

The OIG made three recommendations to the under secretary for benefits to strengthen automation processes and oversight. These include improving legal compliance in automated decisions, enhancing quality review standards, and ensuring transparency in reporting automation practices to Congress. VBA concurred in part with the first recommendation, concurred with the second, and concurred in principle with the third.