Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On February 25, 2004, Congress heard testimony at a hearing entitled "The Key to Homeland Security: The New Human Resources System." This report responds to additional questions posed by Senator Akaka and Senator Lautenberg."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) plays a vital role in auditing and investigating allegations of fraud and abuse in federal health and welfare programs. Because it independently evaluates various programs, activities, and functions, the OIG must act with integrity at all times. In the fall of 2003, anonymous allegations charged that certain officials in the HHS OIG's Office of Evaluation and Inspections (OEI) sponsored training and management meetings for nonwork purposes and improperly renovated a regional office. The allegations primarily focused on the actions of the Acting OEI Deputy Inspector General in relation to specific events that took place from July through September 2003. The allegations charged that she (1) sponsored training at a Florida resort to facilitate vacation time for staff, (2) scheduled several follow-up training meetings as a way of providing staff with leisure time, and (3) held a managers' meeting in New York as a pretext for participants to attend a retirement celebration for one of OEI's managers. A fourth allegation charged that the Acting OEI Deputy Inspector General, along with an Acting OEI Regional Inspector General, …

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the William B. and Sue J. Houston House, in Gonzales, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, narrative, and photographs.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Guinn Rasbury. He discusses joining the Marines, being part of the invasion force at Florida and Tulagi Islands, having multiple malaria attacks, being transferred to Maine to cure his malaria, other transfers around the States, ending up back in the Pacific. He ancedotes how being sick with malaria and getting bumped from a plane ride home saved his life, sounding Taps at a memorial service for President Roosevelt, being Chairman of the Second Marine Division Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with H. L. Obermiller. He discusses his involvement in the Battles of Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian, and being a Pharmacist's Mate. He ancedotes about having Spam for Thanksgiving, meeting a couple Navajo codetalkers, and writing letters back home.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Laudell Raper. Raper joined the Marine Corps in early 1942. In the summer, he deployed to New Zealand and served with the 8th Marine Regiment. Beginning in August of 1942 through August of 1944, Person served as a Corporal in a machine gun section during the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian. Raper contracted malaria on Tinian and returned to the US in late 1944. He later completed Non-Commissioned Officer School and joined the 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, participating in combat on Guam. Raper was then assigned to duty at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was discharged around late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bob Grove. He discusses joining the Marine Corp, shipping out to New Zealand before landing on Guadacanal a few days after the invasion started there, then going to Tarawa, getting malaria, returning to Hawaii for more training before going to fight on Saipan, getting hit by shrapnel and shot in the leg. He describes battle conditions, getting caught in storms abroad ships crossing the Pacific, returning to the states after being wounded and attending reunions and being involved in the 2nd Marine Division Association after the war.

This report discusses Test Campaign TC15 of the Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (KBR) Transport Gasifier train with a Siemens Power Generation, Inc. (SPG) particle filter system at the Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) located in Wilsonville, Alabama. The Transport Gasifier is an advanced circulating fluidized-bed reactor designed to operate as either a combustor or gasifier using a particulate control device (PCD). While operating as a gasifier, either air or oxygen can be used as the oxidant. Test run TC15 began on April 19, 2004, with the startup of the main air compressor and the lighting of the gasifier startup burner. The Transport Gasifier was shutdown on April 29, 2004, accumulating 200 hours of operation using Powder River Basin (PRB) subbituminous coal. About 91 hours of the test run occurred during oxygen-blown operations. Another 6 hours of the test run was in enriched-air mode. The remainder of the test run, approximately 103 hours, took place during air-blown operations. The highest operating temperature in the gasifier mixing zone mostly varied from 1,800 to 1,850 F. The gasifier exit pressure ran between 200 and 230 psig during air-blown operations and between 110 and 150 psig in oxygen-enhanced air operations.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On March 3, 2004, the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management, House Committee on Government Reform, heard testimony on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2003. This letter responds to questions related to the testimony and to subsequent questions from the Vice Chairman."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The enactment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 led to the most substantial reorganization of the federal government since the 1940s by creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Established in January 2003, DHS combined 29 program functions that were transferred from 10 agencies, referred to as the legacy agencies. In addition, legacy agencies transferred resources for support functions, such as offices of inspectors general and management and support. According to the President's proposal to create DHS, the reorganization was also designed to, among other things, achieve future savings through the elimination of redundancies among the transferred programs. Given the breadth and magnitude of the reorganization, questions have been raised among members of Congress and in the media about whether the creation of DHS would prompt increases in the size of the workforces at the agencies affected by the reorganization. This report responds to a request by the Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, that we examine how the transfer of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to DHS was conducted at the agencies involved in the transfer. Specifically, in this report, we (1) identify the budgetary resources …