Shaping Federal Government Accountability

“Little did I know that later in life I’d be able to work personally with him to help shape some of the most significant management reform efforts,” said Dodaro, who is head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. “He knew how important it was. And he had the character and the persistence to do the right thing, even though it wasn’t the most appealing thing to do, and that’s very important.”

For nearly 50 years, Dodaro has dedicated his Government Accountability Office career to working hand in hand with elected officials to ensure government efficiency and public trust. 

This year, he received the John Glenn Excellence in Public Service award, established to honor individuals who share Glenn’s broad and deep commitment to public service over the course of their careers.

Brown presented the award to Dodaro in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., attended by Glenn College students, board members, donors, faculty, staff and alumni.

GAO’s mission, Brown noted, is to provide Congress with fact-based, nonpartisan information that can help improve federal government performance and ensure accountability for the benefit of the American people.

“While success has a thousand parents, each seeking to take credit, the true prime movers of change often go unheralded. That is the culture of the GAO, and Comptroller General Dodaro is the living embodiment of that ethos,” Brown said.

Dodaro worked closely with Glenn, in fact, on the passage of the 1994 Government Management Reform Act and had a hand in the revised 1995 Paperwork Reduction Act; the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, which required agencies to implement modern management practices for information technology management; and the 1996 refinements to the Single Audit Act, which outlines requirements for audits of federal assistance provided to organizations including state and local governments.

Dodaro has maintained GAO’s “High Risk List” program of fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement in the federal government. It focuses on specific challenges — from reducing improper payments under Medicare and Medicaid to improving the U.S. Department of Defense business practices. 

“We now have 37 programs on the list,” Dodaro said. “This program has become the longest running good-government, bipartisan-supported effort in our nation’s history.”

Over time, it expanded to focus on areas that need transformation, including better weather satellites, improvements in the sharing of intelligence information following 9/11, and regulation of the domestic production of medical drugs and devices. In 1997 Dodaro added cybersecurity to the list.

Dodaro is particularly proud of how the GAO responds during national emergencies. He became acting comptroller general in 2008, right when the global financial crisis was unfolding.

“We were able to work with the Federal Reserve and treasury department on the $700 billion package to unfreeze the credit markets, capitalize our financial institutions and stave off the potential depression during that period of time,” he said. “We also looked at the $800 billion stimulus package that was put in place in order to deal with the Great Recession.” 

Dodaro’s office examined the $4.6 trillion spent during the first years of the coronavirus — the largest rescue package in American history — to explain how fraud occurred and how to prevent it in the future. 

Currently, he leads the GAO in overseeing the military and humanitarian assistance provided to Ukraine and providing training to its Accounting Chamber to help members build their own capacity to audit that assistance.

“That’s one area that is really not known a lot. We work to help develop international auditing standards, building the capacity of audit organizations around the world — particularly those countries that are receiving U.S. assistance — to make sure that there’s proper accountability over that money and also to help ensure stable democracies around the world. Any stable democracy needs accountability and transparency in order to flourish,” Dodaro said.

Among the policy issues the GAO examines now: financing programs such as Social Security and Medicare; planning a sustainable fiscal path to overcome the country’s debt and deficit; addressing the competitive race on artificial intelligence and quantum computing with China and other countries; and establishing better supply chain predictability for defense and medicine.

“I would urge all of you, particularly the students, to do public service. It doesn’t matter what level of government you’re involved in, but if you want to have a say in what the future of yourself and your family and your grandchildren is going to be, take a hand in it and make sure that you are part of the solution. You will find it to be a very rewarding career,” Dodaro said. “Public service is a noble profession.”