The Government Accountability Office yesterday condemned the U.S. Department of Agriculture's approach to resolving hundreds of discrimination complaints brought by minority employees and black farmers, and urged Congress to consider appointing an oversight board to review civil rights concerns at the agency.

The report said the credibility of USDA efforts to resolve discrimination complaints "has and continues to be undermined by faulty reporting of data" and that "even such basic information as the number of discrimination complaints is subject to wide variation in . . . reports to the public and Congress."