Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), is the Department of Defense's (DOD) most costly and ambitious aircraft acquisition, seeking to simultaneously develop and field three aircraft variants for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and eight international partners. The JSF is critical for recapitalizing tactical air forces and will require a long-term commitment to very large annual funding outlays. The current estimated investment is $323 billion to develop and procure 2,457 aircraft. This statement draws substantively from GAO's March 19, 2010 report (GAO-10-382). That report discusses JSF costs and schedules, warfighter requirements, manufacturing performance, procurement rates, and development testing plans. This statement also provides an updated analysis of relative costs and benefits from a second (or alternate) engine program. In previous years, we recommended, among other things, that DOD rethink plans to cut test resources, improve reliability of cost estimates, and reduce the number of aircraft procured before testing demonstrates their performance capabilities. In our March 2010 report, we recommended that DOD (1) make a new, comprehensive assessment of the program's costs and schedule and (2) reassess warfighter requirements. DOD concurred with …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For years, in addition to experiencing challenges in making disability claims decisions more quickly and reducing its claims backlog, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has faced challenges in improving the accuracy and consistency of its decisions. GAO was asked to discuss issues surrounding VA's Systematic Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) program, a disability compensation and pension quality assurance program, and possible ways, if any, this program could be improved. This statement focuses on actions VA has taken; including those in response to past GAO recommendations, to (1) address identified weaknesses with STAR and (2) improve efforts to monitor the consistency of claims decisions. This statement is based on GAO's prior work, which examined several aspects of STAR, as well as VA's consistency review activities, and on updated information GAO obtained from VA on quality assurance issues that GAO and VA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) have identified. GAO also reviewed VA's OIG March 2009 report on STAR. GAO is not making any new recommendations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Without proper safeguards, federal computer systems are vulnerable to intrusions by individuals who have malicious intentions and can obtain sensitive information. The need for a vigilant approach to information security has been demonstrated by the pervasive and sustained cyber attacks against the United States; these attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating impact to systems as well as the operations and critical infrastructures that they support. Concerned by reports of weaknesses in federal systems, Congress passed the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), which authorized and strengthened information security program, evaluation, and annual reporting requirements for federal agencies. GAO was asked to testify on federal information security and agency efforts to comply with FISMA. This testimony summarizes (1) federal agencies' efforts to secure information systems and (2) opportunities to enhance federal cybersecurity. To prepare for this testimony, GAO analyzed its prior reports and those from 24 major federal agencies, their inspectors general, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)."

Minutes of the Texas Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (TXSSAR) Board of Managers meeting covering the general sessions, held March 24-27, 2010 at the Sheraton Grand DFW Airport Hotel, in Irving, Texas. It includes information about the committees and business covered by the attending members.

Minutes of the Texas Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (TXSSAR) Board of Managers meeting covering the general sessions, held March 24-27, 2011 at Sheraton Grand DFW Airport Hotel, in Irving, Texas. It includes information about the committees and business covered by the attending members.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Education Code section 11.301 authorizes the citizens of Harris County to use repealed chapter 18 of the Education Code to increase the county equalization tax (RQ-1152-GA).

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Taylor. Taylor was a young boy in Canada during World War II. He describes the effort on the homefront, including growing Victory gardens and rationing gasoline. Beginning in 1943 he received training in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, the Air Cadets, and the Army Cadets. He helped with the manufacturing of Fairmile D-motor torpedo boats. In 1946 he joined an antitank unit in the Irish Regiment of Canada and received training at Petawawa. He then left the Irish Regiment and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, 400th Squadron. Taylor was discharged in 1949 and became a master plumber.

Transcript of an oral interview with William E. Steigerwald. He begins by describing the conditions he grew up in during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He joined the Marine Corps and went to boot camp at Parris Island. He trained on radar and shipped out to New Caledonia for more training, this time with Marine Raider battalions. He contracted malaria on Guadalcanal and was assigned to the 3rd Defense Battalion, and antiaircraft artillery unit. Eventually, he was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 11th Marines, an artiller yunit in the 1st Marine Division. He discusses landing in the third wave on Okinawa. He participated in the battle at Kunishi Ridge and describes killing a Japanese soldier. When Japan surrendered, Steigerwald went with the First marine Division to China to facilitate the Japanese surrender there. He stayed in the Marine Corps and became a Drill INstrucotr before going to the Korean War. He finishes by telling anecdotes about his career in the Marines. He retired in 1967.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Herb Smith. Smith was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1920. In 1940 he entered Centenary College in Shreveport and participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. After completing the course he joined the Navy. After receiving his wings in July 1943 he went to Melbourne, Florida where he began training in the Grumman F6F fighter plane. Upon qualifying in carrier landings on Lake Michigan, he was sent to Guadalcanal in May 1944. He flew various combat missions from there. He then went to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides and was assigned to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 39. After several months he was assigned to VF-80 aboard the USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Smith, with another Hellcat, was returning from an airstrike to the Ticonderoga and encountered fifteen Japanese planes. Smith and his wingman employed the Thach Weave, resulting in them shooting down several of the enemy. In December 1944 the Ticonderoga was caught in Typhoon Cobra. During a mission over Formosa, Smith’s group commander was forced to bail out. Smith protected him from the air until he was picked by an American submarine. On 21 January 1945, while Smith was airborne, …