Followup Review of Department of Defense Actions To Correct Problems in the Operation of the Defense Science Board

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed corrective actions by the Department of Defense (DOD) to ensure that the Defense Science Board (DSB) is in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act and DOD ethical standards of conduct.

Because it was also requested that the DOD Inspector General (IG) perform a similar followup review, GAO assessed the IG followup and independently reviewed financial disclosure statements filed by members of the DSB task forces. GAO believes that the followup review by the IG adequately covered problems identified previously and supports the conclusions that DOD has acted to correct the problems. The GAO review of the financial disclosure statements revealed no apparent conflicts of interest. Specifically GAO determined that, according to the definition of the task forces' missions, no members were employed by or had a financial interest in companies that could be affected in a direct manner by task force deliberations.