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Prologue: Leading Diversity Practices in the Federal Government In January of 2005, the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on diversity management practices in the federal government. The report was, in part, the GAO’s response to a request from the U.S. Congress on the federal government’s performance in managing its diverse workforce. The primary objectives of the GAO’s study were to (1) identify the leading diversity management practices and (2) provide examples of how federal agencies implement those practices. It is important to note that GAO’s study did not involve evaluating the effectiveness of diversity programs, but rather reporting which diversity program elements appear to be in the greatest use. The following are some of the components that characterized well-developed diversity programs along with examples of how they are being implemented in the agencies that GAO studied.