Dear Inspector General Rush:
As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance (Committee), I share your commitment to overseeing the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) to ensure that it effectively performs its mission to include managing the government’s finances; safeguarding our financial systems, protecting our nation’s leaders, and securing a safe America; and continuing to build a strong institution. Recent reports of lost or stolen firearms and computers at the Federal Bureau of Investigation necessitate my asking the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to conduct an assessment of the Treasury’s inventory practices regarding its stock of firearms, computers, and other items that might compromise the public’s safety, national security or ongoing investigations (collectively referred to as “inventory").
Accordingly, I request that the OIG include in its assessment the following elements:
1. Evaluate whether Treasury’s inventory regulations are sufficient to prevent loss or theft of its inventory.
2. Determine what Treasury bureaus are most susceptible to inventory loss or theft and why.
3. Identify any missing or stolen item of Treasury inventory for the past three (3) years,
to include that item’s description and a brief explanation of the loss.
4. Evaluate Treasury’s plan to recoup inventory that cannot be located for the past three
(3) years.
5. Recommend methods to improve Treasury’s inventory regulations and accounting methods to prevent future loss.
I appreciate your written responses by Sept. 21, 2001.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
cc (via facsimile: 202-622-0534):
The Honorable Paul H. O'Neill Secretary, United States Department of the Treasury
