Grassley Seeks Expert Testimony from Government Accountants, Watchdogs


Hearing Set to Examine Financial Control Failures at Defense Department


Jill Kozeny

202/224-1308


Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today announced the names of those who will testify next Monday afternoon at a hearing he has planned to examine the lack of financial controls in place today within the Department of Defense (DoD).

The hearing ? titled "License to Steal: Administrative Oversight of Financial Control Failures at the Department of Defense" ? will include release of two new audit reports of the General Accounting Office, along with a detailed staff report of unauthorized and improper payments made by the DoD. The Grassley staff examination was done in coordination with the Air Force Office of Financial Management.

"These reports consistently show that sloppy accounting procedures and ineffective or nonexistent internal controls leave DoD's accounts vulnerable to theft and abuse," Grassley said. "Failure by the DoD to exercise proper accounting procedures has resulted in fraud and mismanagement of the taxpayers' money."

Grassley will conduct the hearing as chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, in Dirksen 226 on September 28, at 1:00 p.m. (EDT).

Panel I

Sharon A. Brown

Systems Accountant ? Air Force Materiel Command

Wendell L. Jones

Auditor ? Air Force Audit Agency

Joseph A. Wise

Systems Accountant ? Air Force Materiel Command

Otas J. Horn

Systems Accountant ? Air Force Materiel Command

Panel II

Jeffrey C. Steinhoff

Director of Planning and Accounting ? Accounting and Information Management Division

General Accounting Office

Gayle L. Fischer

Assistant Director of Defense Audits ? Accounting and Information Management Division

General Accounting Office

Panel III

John S. Nabil

Director ? Defense Finance and Accounting Service

A. Ernest Fitzgerald

Management Systems Deputy ? Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force