February 8, 2011 3:10PM # GAO Confirms: It Did Nothing Wrong, and It’s None of Your Business By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed what [we already knew](https://www.cato.org/dear-defamed-trust-us-were-the-government/) it would confirm: According to its own investigation, errors were made in producing a report highly damaging to for-profit colleges, but no one had any bad intentions and the report still stands. Well, the significantly *revised* report — the one much more favorable to for-profits schools that got almost no attention because GAO sneaked it out — still stands. And please, don’t try to hold the GAO accountable yourself: The GAO’s [press release](http://www.gao.gov/press/internal_inspection_2011feb08.html) states that the report on its internal investigation will not be publicly released. Now, it’s quite possible that the GAO investigation on for-profit colleges really was on the up-and-up and there truly isn’t anything to see here. But given the [very basic things ](https://www.cato.org/war-on-for-profit-colleges-reeks-even-worse/)that the GAO, um, overlooked in its initial report — not to mention the fact that *the GAO works for the public* — it’s simply not acceptable to tell the public that it’s none of its beeswax what the GAO’s internal investigation found. And really, why should anyone be satisfied with a government agency declaring itself its own judge and jury? ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).