Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency's (ACDA) actions to improve control and protection of national security information at its headquarters and negotiation offices.
GAO found that: (1) in February 1989, ACDA found 46 top secret documents that were not recorded in its logs, indicating that employees were not promptly reporting top secret information to the control officer or that its 1988 inventory was incomplete; (2) during its October 1989 inventory, ACDA did not report any uncontrolled top secret or codeword documents, suggesting that it made some improvements in controlling its classified documents; (3) ACDA accounted for 53 of the 86 unaccounted-for top secret documents, and was investigating the remaining documents; (4) ACDA had not established a deadline for reporting documents still under investigation; (5) since 1988, ACDA has conducted three security container inventories, but its records still included inaccuracies; (6) ACDA made limited improvements in physical security; and (7) ACDA has been slow to respond to the Information Security Oversight Office's recommendations, but in December 1989 it started mandatory security briefings, submitted a new self-inspection plan, and began a quarterly self-inspection program.
