Military Activities: Display of Equipment at the Former Philadelphia Naval Base in July 2000

摘要

At the request of Representatives Curt Weldon and Robert Brady, the Department of Defense (DOD) agreed to display military items for members of Congress at the former Philadelphia Naval Base prior to the Republican National Convention in July 2000. At your request, we determined (1) the basis for DOD's decision to approve the request, including pertinent laws or regulations and any restrictions on the conduct of the display; (2) DOD's compliance with any restrictions imposed on the display; and (3) the estimated incremental cost of the display. To obtain information on DOD's decision to provide the display and restrictions on the display, we interviewed officials and reviewed documents in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, DOD's Office of the General Counsel, and the offices of the Assistant Secretaries of Defense for Legislative Affairs and for Public Affairs. To obtain information on the extent that the display met DOD's restrictions and estimated incremental costs, we interviewed officials, including several personnel present at the display, and obtained documents at organizations that participated in the display. These organizations included the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs; the headquarters offices of the four military services; the U.S. Coast Guard; the U. S. Atlantic Fleet; Willow Grove Naval Air Station and Joint Reserve Base; the Ship Systems Engineering Station at the former Philadelphia Naval Base; and offices of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. We also toured the site of the display. We did not independently verify the accuracy or completeness of cost data provided by the services. We performed our work during August and September 2000 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.