Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) administration of foreign agent registration.

GAO found that: (1) the DOJ Registration Unit identified 70 individuals or firms acting as lobbyists for foreign interests, 13 of which it believed might be obligated to register; (2) the Registration Unit did not collect information on the number of foreign agents who were claiming an exemption from registration; (3) DOJ officials did not believe that the additional information on unregistered foreign agents that might result from an exemption notification requirement would justify the associated costs; (4) the questions on the forms were general and did not specifically require information necessary to satisfy disclosure requirements; and (5) over one-half of a sample of 204 statements were not filed before the deadlines.