When I became the seventh Comptroller General of the United States, I was shocked to find out when I assumed office in 1998 that the agency that I headed, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), had been in business since 1921 and had no integrated, forward-looking, and outcome-based strategic plan. Now, there are some Federal agencies that are in the same category today that have been in business a lot longer. But what I was even more shocked to find out is that the United States, which has been in business since 1789 as a constitutional republic, still has no strategic, integrated, forward‑looking, and outcome‑based strategic plan. It is an outrage and an issue we must address.