High Risk List (2024)

There are 37 areas on our High Risk List in April 2023. Overall, 16 areas on our list improved, the most since we began rating high-risk areas 8 years ago. These improvements resulting in approximately $100 billion in financial benefits since the last update two years ago. One area—DOD’s business systems modernization—regressed. And we removed two existing areas—the 2020 decennial census and pension benefit programs.

Three Areas Added Since 2021

• Strengthening Management of the Federal Prison System added in 2023. We added the federal prison system partly due to the Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) longstanding challenges with managing staff and resources, and planning and evaluating programs that help incarcerated people successfully return to the community. Prior to being added to the High Risk List, GAO and BOP met on these issues. The new Director BOP expressed her commitment to bring sustained attention to resolving this High Risk area.
• Health and Human Services Coordination of Public Health Emergencies added in 2022. The department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic compounded our long-standing concerns about its ability to execute its role in leading federal public health and medical emergencies and responding to extreme weather events.
• Unemployment Insurance System added in 2022. The joint federal-state program has had long-standing problems with meeting the needs of unemployed workers, lessening the risk of fraud and improper payments, and preventing large financial losses of taxpayer money.

View the 2023 Report

Strengthening Management of the Federal Prison System– NEW

Department of Health and Human Services’ Leadership and Coordination of Public Health Emergencies – NEW

Unemployment Insurance System – NEW

Acquisition and Program Management for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management

DOD Approach to Business Transformation

DOD Business Systems Modernization

DOD Contract Management

DOD Financial Management

DOD Weapon Systems Acquisition

Emergency Loans for Small Businesses

Enforcement of Tax Laws

Ensuring the Cybersecurity of the Nation

Ensuring the Effective Protection of Technologies Critical to U.S. National Security Interests

Funding the Nation's Surface Transportation System

Government-wide Personnel Security Clearance Process

Improving and Modernizing Federal Disability Programs

Improving Federal Management of Programs that Serve Tribes and Their Members

Improving Federal Oversight of Food Safety

Improving the Management of IT Acquisitions and Operations

Limiting the Federal Government's Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks

Management of Federal Oil and Gas Resources

Managing Federal Real Property

Managing Risks and Improving VA Health Care

Medicare Program & Improper Payments

Modernizing the U.S. Financial Regulatory System

NASA Acquisition Management

National Efforts to Prevent, Respond to, and Recover from Drug Misuse

National Flood Insurance Program

Protecting Public Health through Enhanced Oversight of Medical Products

Resolving the Federal Role in Housing Finance

Strategic Human Capital Management

Strengthening Department of Homeland Security IT and Financial Management Functions

Strengthening Medicaid Program Integrity

Transforming EPA's Process for Assessing and Controlling Toxic Chemicals

U.S. Government's Environmental Liability

USPS Financial Viability

VA Acquisition Management

When was each High Risk area added to the list?This table(PDF, 1 page) shows the year that each area on GAO’s 2023 High Risk List was designated High Risk.

In 1990, we began a program to report on government operations that we identified as “high risk.” Since then, generally coinciding with the start of each new Congress, we have reported on the status of progress to address high-risk areas and update the High Risk List.

Overall, our High Risk List has served to identify and help resolve serious weaknesses in areas that involve substantial resources and provide critical services to the public. Since our program began, the government has taken high-risk problems seriously and has made long-needed progress toward correcting them. In a number of cases, progress has been sufficient for us to remove the High Risk designation.

Want To Get Off the High Risk List?

We often get asked what agencies can do to get off the High Risk List.In this report, we discuss cases in which agencies and Congress took actions to improve programs and yield financial and other benefits. In some of these cases, we narrowed the scope of the High Risk areas or removed them from the list because of these improvements.

The key elements needed to make progress in High Risk areas are top-level attention by the administration and agency leaders grounded in the five criteria for removal from the High Risk List, as well as any needed congressional action.

The five criteria are:

• Leadership Commitment. Demonstrated strong commitment and top leadership support.
• Capacity. Agency has the capacity (i.e., people and resources) to resolve the risk(s).
• Action Plan. A corrective action plan exists that defines the root cause, solutions, and provides for substantially completing corrective measures including steps necessary to implement solutions we recommended.
• Monitoring. A program has been instituted to monitor and independently validate the effectiveness and sustainability of corrective measures.
• Demonstrated Progress. Ability to demonstrate progress in implementing corrective measures and resolving the high-risk area.

In 2015, GAO began illustrating progress in high risk areas using a five-pointed star. The star visibly indicates whether each of the five criteria have been met, partially met, or not met for that high risk area.