A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's audits and evaluations identify federal programs and operations that are high risk, in some cases, due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Increasingly, we also are identifying high-risk areas to focus on major economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges. Since 1990, GAO has periodically reported on government operations that it has designated as high risk. In this 2003 update for the new 108th Congress, GAO presents the status of high-risk areas included in our last report made in January 2001 and identifies new high-risk areas warranting attention by the Congress and the administration. Lasting solutions to high-risk problems offer the potential to save billions of dollars, dramatically improve service to the American public, strengthen public confidence and trust in the performance and accountability of our national government, and ensure the ability of government to deliver on its promises."