A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) operates 37 laboratories to provide the scientific foundation for its mission. Over the past 20 years, independent evaluations have identified problems with the laboratories' operations and management and called for improved planning, coordination, and leadership, as well as consolidation of laboratories. In its 2012 budget, EPA requested $2 million for another independent study of its laboratories. GAO was asked to examine the extent to which EPA (1) has addressed the findings of prior independent evaluations; (2) uses an agencywide, coordinated approach to manage its laboratory infrastructure and whether its new study will achieve stated cost savings and laboratory improvement goals; and (3) uses a comprehensive planning process to manage its laboratory workforce. GAO reviewed agency documents and independent evaluations, visited EPA laboratories, interviewed agency officials, and examined agency databases."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the U.S. Strategic Command, the Department of Defense (DOD) is in the midst of a global cyberspace crisis as foreign nation states and other actors, such as hackers, criminals, terrorists, and activists exploit DOD and other U.S. government computer networks to further a variety of national, ideological, and personal objectives. This report identifies (1) how DOD is organized to address cybersecurity threats; and assesses the extent to which DOD has (2) developed joint doctrine that addresses cyberspace operations; (3) assigned command and control responsibilities; and (4) identified and taken actions to mitigate any key capability gaps involving cyberspace operations. It is an unclassified version of a previously issued classified report. GAO analyzed policies, doctrine, lessons learned, and studies from throughout DOD, commands, and the services involved with DOD's computer network operations and interviewed officials from a wide range of DOD organizations.."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was established in 2004 to help developing countries reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth through multiyear compact agreements. As of June 2011, MCC had signed compacts with 23 countries totaling approximately $8.2 billion in assistance. MCC asks countries to develop compacts with a focus on results and effective monitoring and evaluation. MCC sets targets, which may be revised, to measure the compact results. In late 2010, the Cape Verde and Honduras compacts reached the end of the 5-year implementation period. This report, prepared in response to a congressional mandate to review compact results, examines the extent to which MCC has (1) achieved performance targets and sustainability for projects in Cape Verde and Honduras and (2) assessed progress toward the goal of income growth and poverty reduction. GAO analyzed MCC documents and interviewed MCC officials and stakeholders in Washington, D.C., Cape Verde, and Honduras."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, which was created in 2002, funds reforms in the country's lowest-performing schools with the goal of improving student outcomes, such as standardized test scores and graduation rates. Congress greatly increased SIG program funding from $125 million available in fiscal year 2007--the first year the program was funded--to $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2009 for the 2010-11 school year. Three billion dollars of this amount was provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). In addition, $546 million was appropriated in both fiscal years 2009 and 2010, and $535 million was appropriated in fiscal year 2011. These funds were provided to states by formula after the Department of Education (Education) approved state SIG grant applications. The funding increases provided by the Recovery Act spurred Education to make substantive changes to the SIG program. For example, the persistently lowest-achieving schools receiving SIG funding must now implement one of four intervention models, each with specific requirements for reform interventions, such as replacing principals or turning over school management to a charter organization or other outside organization. Also, after states …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Criminal cartel activity, such as competitors conspiring to set prices, can harm consumers and the U.S. economy through lack of competition and overcharges. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division's leniency program offers the possibility that the first individual or company that self-reports cartel activity will avoid criminal conviction and penalties. In 2004, the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act (ACPERA) was enacted to encourage such reporting. The 2010 reauthorization mandated that GAO study ACPERA's effect. This report addresses (1) the extent that ACPERA affected DOJ's criminal cartel enforcement, (2) the ways ACPERA has reportedly affected private civil actions, and (3) key stakeholder perspectives on rewards and antiretaliatory protection for whistleblowers reporting criminal antitrust violations. GAO analyzed DOJ data on criminal cartel cases (1993-2010) and interviewed DOJ officials. GAO also interviewed a nongeneralizable sample of plaintiffs' and defense attorneys from 17 civil cases and key stakeholders including other antitrust attorneys selected using a snowball sampling technique whereby GAO identified contacts through referrals."

This report discusses the situation in South Sudan as it faces a number of challenges in the coming years. Relations between Juba, in South Sudan, and Khartoum are poor, and there are a number of unresolved issues between them. The crisis in the disputed area of Abyei remains a contentious issue, despite a temporary agreement reached in mid-June 2011.

This report explains how the sovereign credit default swap (CDS) market works and how such CDS price trends may illuminate fiscal stresses facing sovereign governments. Although CDS prices may be imperfect measures of the federal government's fiscal condition, some investors may try to glean information from those price trends. CDS prices have been playing an important role in the European government debt markets and could potentially affect U.S debt markets in the future. European policymakers have debated certain restrictions on types of sovereign CDS trading, and such calls for reform may be of interest to U.S. lawmakers.

This report discusses the current political state of Iran, focusing particularly on the influence of the Taliban and other militant groups and on the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This report also discusses the U.S.-Iran relationship and U.S. efforts under the Obama Administration to provide military, reconstructive, and stabilization aid.

This report provides a short description of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility microwave radiometer (MWR) Retrieval (MWRRET) value-added product (VAP) algorithm. This algorithm utilizes a complementary physical retrieval method and applies brightness temperature offsets to reduce spurious liquid water path (LWP) bias in clear skies resulting in significantly improved precipitable water vapor (PWV) and LWP retrievals. We present a general overview of the technique, input parameters, output products, and describe data quality checks. A more complete discussion of the theory and results is given in Turner et al. (2007b).

National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec) shall provide one (1) Mechanical Engineer to support the Linear Collider Subsystem Development Program at Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS). The NSTec Mechanical Engineer's efforts will include engineering, design, and drawing support for the Vacuum Seal Test. NSTec will also provide a final report of the setup and input to LLNL's project management on project status. The NSTec Mechanical Engineer's efforts will also include engineering, design, and drawing support to the conceptual design for manufacturing of the Flux Concentrator Magnet. NSTec will also contribute to LLNS's final report on the Flux Concentrator Magnet. The deliverables are drawings, sketches, engineering documents, and final reports delivered to the LLNS Technical Representative.

Lidar backscattered signal is a useful tool for identifying vertical cloud structure in the atmosphere in optically thin clouds. Cloud boundaries derived from lidar signals are a necessary input for popular ARM data products, such as the Active Remote Sensing of Clouds (ARSCL) product. An operational cloud boundary algorithm (Wang and Sassen 2001) has been implemented for use with the ARM Micropulse Lidar (MPL) systems. In addition to retrieving cloud boundaries above 500 m, the value-added product (VAP) named Micropulse Lidar Cloud Mask (MPLCMASK) applies lidar-specific corrections (i.e., range-square, background, deadtime, and overlap) as described in Campbell et al. (2002) to the measured backscattered lidar. Depolarization ratio is computed using the methodology developed by Flynn et al. (2007) for polarization-capable MPL systems. The cloud boundaries output from MPLCMASK will be the primary lidar cloud mask for input to the ARSCL product and will be applied to all MPL systems, including historical data sets.

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This report covers a major issue for policymakers: whether the United States can sustain its preeminent position in aerospace, given the intentions of numerous foreign manufacturers to enter the small commercial jet aircraft segment by 2016.