Awhile back the General Services Administration discovered it had wasted more than $300,000 by renting 18,000 feet of office space in New York that went unused for nearly two years. 1 i ” It cancelled the lease after investigating a tip from the nationwide, toll-free fraud hotline, set up nearly four years, ago to fight waste and abuse in the federal government. The hotline largely was the brainchild of Sen. James R, Sasser, D-Tenn., member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the General Accounting Office, In a recent Congresa sional Record statement, Sasser asserted the hotline–operated by GAO’s fraud task force-has been responsible for saving “millions of American taxpayer dollars each year. clearly justifying the half-million-dollar annual cost of the operation.” Citizens anywhere who suspect government waste or fraud can call the nationwide hotline number, 800-424-5454. Seventeen government agencies have started individual numbers. Of the 41,000 calls received since the hotline was installed, 11,676 have been serious enough to warrant investigation. The GAO pared these to 7,431 through additional screening, including 706 alleging mismanagement and 5,775 claiming intentional – wrongdoing, Sasser cited a Washington Post article which attributed some specific cases to hotline tips, including the New York rental waste noted above, conviction of two University of Wisconsin professors of misusing $160,000 in federal grant money, and forcing a New Jersey prison superintendent and key aides to resign after they were linked to a parole-selling scheme. The three most common hotline tips pertain to allegations of Social Security abuses, tax cheating, and welfare and food stamp fraud. According to the Post article, it takes the GAO 90 days to review a tip and then forward it to a federal agency–unless the accusation involves a high-ranking official or a contract that is about to be signed. Then the time is cut to a week. The hotline obviously serves a good purpose. Citizens, including government employees (anonymity is respected if requested). can enhance its effectiveness by being careful with facts and providing responsible information. Data and allegations thus received should be handled expeditiously by the fraud task force and appropriate agencies in considering merits and in taking the necessary action as cases warrant.