The Government Accountability Office's Forensic Audits and Special Investigations team

Covert operations: Red Teams test security vulnerabilities in U.S.

By Jim Kouri
Friday, December 3, 2010

Using counterfeit documents and posing as employees of a company with a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license, FSI investigators successfully crossed the U.S. northern and southern borders with the type of radioactive materials that could be used to make a dirty bomb.

The Government Accountability Office’s Forensic Audits and Special Investigations team (FSI), which was created in 2005 as an interdisciplinary team consisting of investigators, auditors, and analysts, conducts covert tests at the request of the Congress to identify vulnerabilities and internal control weaknesses at executive branch agencies.

These vulnerabilities and internal control weaknesses include those that could compromise homeland security, affect public safety, or have a financial impact on taxpayer’s dollars.

FSI conducts covert tests as “red teamâ€