This report frames potential policy questions concerning the U.S. Secret Service's (USSS's) mission and organization through an examination of the USSS history and its statutory authorities, mission, and present activities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

This report discusses policy issues regarding military-to-military (mil-to-mil) contacts with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and provides a record of major contacts and crises since 1993.

This report includes a brief history of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), discusses subsequent modifications of FOIA, addresses statutory changes to FOIA that have not yet been implemented, examines Obama Administration efforts to modify the act, and outlines possible legislative issues related to the act.

The U.S. Constitution makes no specific allowance for any one of the three branches of the federal government to have access to information held by the others. No provision in the U.S. Constitution expressly establishes a procedure for public access to government information. Congress has legislated various public access laws. Among these laws are two records access statutes, The Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and two meetings access statutes, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and the Government in the Sunshine Act. This report offers an overview of the four information access laws noted above, and provides citations to additional resources related to these tools.

This report discusses issues related to peace in the Middle East, including post-Gulf War negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; U.S. interest in these and continuing negotiations and peacetalks between Middle Eastern countries; and the role of the U.S., the U.N., the European Union, and Russia in Middle Eastern relations.

This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls and addressing correspondence to government agencies. In each case, the information was supplied by the agency itself and is current as of the date of publication. Entries are arranged alphabetically in four sections: legislative branch; judicial branch; executive branch; and agencies, boards, and commissions.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether selected state agencies, the Department of Information Resources, and the state data center contractor have identified, clearly defined, and effectively managed application changes that are required to move systems and data from agencies to the state data centers; determining the extent to which state resources are used to support state data center service levels and whether the state data center contractor's calculations of service levels are accurate, complete, and reported correctly to the Department; and whether the state data center contractor procures hardware and software needed to support agency operations in a timely manner.

The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) is the primary provider of network connectivity for the US Department of Energy Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. In support of the Office of Science programs, ESnet regularly updates and refreshes its understanding of the networking requirements of the instruments, facilities, scientists, and science programs that it serves. This focus has helped ESnet to be a highly successful enabler of scientific discovery for over 20 years. In April 2009 ESnet and the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), of the DOE Office of Science, organized a workshop to characterize the networking requirements of the programs funded by ASCR. The ASCR facilities anticipate significant increases in wide area bandwidth utilization, driven largely by the increased capabilities of computational resources and the wide scope of collaboration that is a hallmark of modern science. Many scientists move data sets between facilities for analysis, and in some cases (for example the Earth System Grid and the Open Science Grid), data distribution is an essential component of the use of ASCR facilities by scientists. Due to the projected growth in wide area data transfer needs, the …

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The Department of Energy Livermore Site Office requested a technical review of remedial alternatives proposed for the Building 812 Operable Unit, Site 300 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The team visited the site and reviewed the alternatives proposed for soil remediation in the draft RI/FS and made the following observations and recommendations. Based on the current information available for the site, the team did not identify a single technology that would be cost effective and/or ecologically sound to remediate DU contamination at Building 812 to current remedial goals. Soil washing is not a viable alternative and should not be considered at the site unless final remediation levels can be negotiated to significantly higher levels. This recommendation is based on the results of soil washing treatability studies at Fernald and Ashtabula that suggest that the technology would only be effective to address final remediation levels higher than 50 pCi/g. The technical review team identified four areas of technical uncertainty that should be resolved before the final selection of a preferred remedial strategy is made. Areas of significant technical uncertainty that should be addressed include: (1) Better delineation of the spatial distribution of surface contamination and the vertical distribution of subsurface …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program. FTA has acted recently to streamline the process. This report discusses the (1) time it has generally taken for projects to move through the New Starts process and what Congress and FTA have done to expedite the process and (2) options that exist to expedite the process. In response to a legislative mandate, GAO reviewed statutes, FTA guidance and regulations, and project data. GAO also interviewed Department of Transportation (DOT) officials, projects sponsors, and industry stakeholders."

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The U.S. Constitution makes no specific allowance for any one of the three branches of the federal government to have access to information held by the others. No provision in the U.S. Constitution expressly establishes a procedure for public access to government information. Congress has legislated various public access laws. Among these laws are two records access statutes, The Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and two meetings access statutes, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and the Government in the Sunshine Act. This report offers an overview of the four information access laws noted above, and provides citations to additional resources related to these tools.

This report describes the Housing Trust Fund and discusses potential funding sources.

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This report describes the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy, which holds that the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in same-sex acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion which are the essence of military capability. This report also describes recent efforts by certain Members of Congress to amending this policy.

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This report provides background information about the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and reviews the discussions about a possible successor. It also presents a range of alternatives that the United States and Russia might consider if they choose to follow START with a new framework for the arms control process.

This report describes the World Health Organization (WHO) process to determine the phase of a threatened or emerging flu pandemic, and touches on several related issues.

This report surveys key aspects of Indonesia's domestic politics and strategic dynamics in addition to provide general background information on Indonesia. It also provides an overview of the bilateral relationship between the United States and Indonesia.

August report of the U.S. Congressional Oversight Panel describing their activities and findings regarding the risk of troubled assets, including sections on background information, strategies for dealing with troubled assets, and the future of troubled assets.

Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 166 is identified in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO) as 'Storage Yards and Contaminated Materials' and consists of the following seven Corrective Action Sites (CASs), located in Areas 2, 3, 5, and 18 of the Nevada Test Site: CAS 02-42-01, Condo Release Storage Yd - North; CAS 02-42-02, Condo Release Storage Yd - South; CAS 02-99-10, D-38 Storage Area; CAS 03-42-01, Conditional Release Storage Yard; CAS 05-19-02, Contaminated Soil and Drum; CAS 18-01-01, Aboveground Storage Tank; and CAS 18-99-03, Wax Piles/Oil Stain. Closure activities were conducted from March to July 2009 according to the FF ACO (1996, as amended February 2008) and the Corrective Action Plan for CAU 166 (U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office, 2007b). The corrective action alternatives included No Further Action and Clean Closure. Closure activities are summarized. CAU 166, Storage Yards and Contaminated Materials, consists of seven CASs in Areas 2, 3, 5, and 18 of the NTS. The closure alternatives included No Further Action and Clean Closure. This CR provides a summary of completed closure activities, documentation of waste disposal, and confirmation that remediation goals were met. The following site closure activities were …

This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan addresses the actions needed to achieve closure for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 114, Area 25 EMAD Facility, identified in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). Corrective Action Unit 114 comprises the following corrective action sites (CASs) located in Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site: • 25-41-03, EMAD Facility • 25-99-20, EMAD Facility Exterior Releases This plan provides the methodology for field activities needed to gather the necessary information for closing each CAS. There is sufficient information and process knowledge from historical documentation and investigations of similar sites regarding the expected nature and extent of potential contaminants to recommend closure of CAU 114 using the SAFER process. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a field investigation before selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. It is anticipated that the results of the field investigation and implementation of a corrective action of clean closure will support a defensible recommendation that no further corrective action is necessary. If it is determined that complete clean closure cannot be accomplished during the SAFER, then a hold point will have been reached and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) will be consulted …