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David Walker
ceo@pgpf.org

David Walker is president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a new think tank whose mission, according to its Web site, is "to enhance public understanding of the nature and urgency of selected key sustainability challenges that threaten America's future," including "unsustainable" growth in entitlement spending, and energy consumption. 

As Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008, spanning both Democratic and Republican administrations, he served as the federal government's chief auditor. Appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously by the US Senate, he was an outspoken, nonpartisan advocate for addressing the major fiscal and other sustainability challenges facing the country. He also enacted transformational reforms at the agency and within the accountability profession.

Prior to his appointment to run the GAO, Walker served as a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP and in several government leadership positions, including as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995 and as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs during the Reagan administration.

Although no longer the US government's chief auditor, Walker continues to serve as a global accountability expert as chairman of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee. He also serves on the boards of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Partnership for Public Service. He has authored two books, is a regular commentator, and is the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A., which arrives in theatres around the country in August 2008.

 

Contributions

Time to face up to our mountain of debt
ASK THIS | August 217, 2008
The former head of the GAO says the presidential candidates need to be pressed not just about their incremental budget proposals – but about their long-term plans to deal with an anticipated $53 trillion in current liabilities and unfunded promises.


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