The Government Accountability Office is releasing a list no agency wants to find itself on. The High Risk List names federal programs prime for waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement or reform. The Postal Service, the military supply chain, Medicare and Medicaid, and 27 other areas were on the last one published in 2011.

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, the head of GAO, says fixing these problems is the smartest thing agencies can do as they prepare for potential budget cuts under sequestration.

Federal News Radio spoke to Dodaro at the Association of Government Accountants' National Leadership Conference this week. He also told us how GAO itself is preparing for sequestration.

Related Story: GAO releases 2013 High Risk List

Outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has released an order to protect the National Mall. This comes after years of restoration projects on the Reflecting Pool, Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial.

Bob Vogel is Superintendent of the National Mall for the National Park Service. He spoke with Federal News Radio about the plans for the Mall.

If the Pentagon's budget is significantly cut nearly 1 million jobs could be lost, according to projections made by defense contractors over the past two years.

But, William Hartung disagrees. Hartung directs the Common Defense Campaign Arms & Security Project at the Center for International Policy, a liberal advocacy group focused on international cooperation, demilitarization and human rights. He says a more realistic number for jobs lost would be half or even a third of the 1 million estimate.

Related Story: Are contractors exaggerating sequestration's impact?