A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is required to audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. Due to the significance of the federal debt held by the public to the governmentwide financial statements, GAO has also been auditing the Bureau of the Public Debt's (BPD) Schedules of Federal Debt annually. The audit of these schedules is done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the schedules prepared are reliable, (2) BPD management maintained effective internal control relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt, and (3) BPD complies with selected provisions of significant laws related to the Schedule of Federal Debt. Federal debt managed by BPD consists of Treasury securities held by the public and by certain federal government accounts, referred to as intragovernmental debt holdings. The level of debt held by the public reflects how much of the nation's wealth has been absorbed by the federal government to finance prior federal spending in excess of total federal revenues. Intragovernmental debt holdings represent balances of Treasury securities held by federal government accounts, primarily federal trust funds such as Social Security, that typically have an obligation to invest their excess …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "More small businesses are turning to subcontracting as a way to participate in the federal government's $250 billion procurement program. DOD, accounting for about two-thirds of federal procurements, has a critical role in providing opportunities to small businesses through subcontracting programs such as the Test Program for Negotiation of Comprehensive Small Business Subcontracting Plans (Test Program). In addition, Congress raised concerns about the potential for small businesses to lose opportunities to firms performing work outside of the United States. GAO was asked to review (1) DOD's assessment of the Test Program's effectiveness, (2) the performance of contractors participating in the Test Program, (3) the Defense Contract Management Agency's (DCMA) oversight of contractors' small business subcontracting efforts, and (4) the extent and reasons contractors are subcontracting with businesses performing outside the U.S."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Global Hawk offers significant military capabilities to capture and quickly transmit high-quality images of targets and terrain, day or night, and in adverse weather--without risk to an onboard pilot. Global Hawk first flew in the late 1990s as a demonstrator and supported recent combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2001, the Air Force began an acquisition program to develop and produce improved Global Hawks. In 2002, the Department of Defense (DOD) restructured and accelerated the program to include a new, larger and more capable air vehicle. GAO was asked to review the program and discuss (1) the restructuring's effect on the Air Force's ability to deliver new capabilities to the warfighter and (2) whether its current business case and management approach is knowledge-based and can help forestall future risks."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress established the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community (EZ/EC) program in 1993 and the Renewal Community (RC) program in 2000 to provide assistance to the nation's distressed communities. To date, Congress has authorized three rounds of EZs, two rounds of ECs, and one round of RCs. The Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000 mandated that GAO audit and report in 2004, 2007, and 2010 on the EZ/EC and RC programs and their effect on poverty, unemployment, and economic growth. This report describes (1) the features of the EZ/EC and RC programs, (2) the extent to which the programs have been implemented, and (3) the methods used and results found in evaluations of their effectiveness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2001, GAO reported that outstanding criminal debt, as reported in Department of Justice (Justice) statistical reports, had increased from about $6 billion as of September 30, 1995, to more than $13 billion as of September 30, 1999. Although some of the key factors that contributed to this increase were beyond Justice's control, GAO concluded--after accounting for such factors--that Justice's criminal debt collection processes were inadequate. Accordingly, in the 2001 report, GAO made 14 recommendations to Justice to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its criminal debt collection processes. To follow up on the 2001 report, GAO was asked to (1) provide information on the amount and growth of criminal debt for fiscal years 2000 through 2002, (2) examine the extent to which Justice has acted on GAO's previous recommendations, and (3) review Justice's collection efforts for selected criminal debt cases related to white-collar financial fraud. This report addresses the first two objectives; GAO will report separately on its ongoing work to address the third."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Incomplete or inaccurate appraisals resulting in property overvaluations may expose the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Single-Family Mortgage Insurance programs--which insured about 3.7million single-family mortgage loans with a total value of about $425 billion in fiscal years 2001 through 2003--to greater financial risks. In 1999, GAO reported on the need for improvements in HUD's oversight of appraisers, which has historically been a challenge for the department. Also, in the past, GAO reported that, due in part to poor oversight of appraisers, HUD's Single-Family Mortgage Insurance programs remained a high-risk area. GAO conducted this review as a follow up to the 1999 report. This report examines (1) how HUD ensures that appraisers it approves are qualified to perform FHA appraisals, (2) the extent to which HUD employs a risk-based monitoring approach, and (3) HUD's efforts to take enforcement action against noncompliant appraisers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Eligible working families are believed to participate in the Food Stamp Program at a lower rate than the eligible population as a whole. As a result, many federal, state, and local officials believe the program is not living up to its potential as a component of the nation's work support system. This report examines: (1) what proportion of eligible working families participate in the program and what family characteristics are associated with a family's participation; (2) what factors may be acting as impediments to a working family's decision to participate in the program; and (3) what steps are being taken, or have been suggested, to help eligible low-income working families participate in the program while ensuring program integrity."

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This report provides summaries of the federal laws and regulations particular to telemarketing, the establishment of a national do-not-call registry, and on the options that are available to consumers to attempt to limit the calls that they receive from telemarketers and to report questionable telemarketing practices to local or federal authorities. The report also lists sources of additional information with addresses, phone numbers, and Internet sites (if available) and will be updated as legislation or news events warrant.

This report reviews criminal sanctions attaching to the development,production,possesion, and use of biological weapons.It also addresses certain federal regulations attaching to the development,production, and transportation of biological agents.

This report provides a list of who would possibly succeed Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat in the event of his death. It also outlines why said people would succeed him.

In the 01-ERD-107 LDRD-ER project, we have performed novel Thomson scattering experiments at the Trident and Omega laser facilities and provided high quality spectral data. These results have led to the development of the first quantitative understanding of laser-plasma interactions for NIF plasmas. For this purpose an green/ultraviolet probe laser, built for Nova in 1998 [1] and successfully used to measure both temperature and plasma wave amplitudes [2], has been deployed on Omega. The Thomson scattering diagnostics has been used twofold: (1) it provided independent measurements of the plasma electron and ion temperature, the plasma flow velocity, or the electron distribution function; (2) it provided measurements of the primary plasma wave and their secondary non-linear decay wave products. These experiments at Omega provide definitive quantitative results on the nonlinear saturation of stimulated Raman scattering for green (2{omega}) beams. In addition, the experiments on the Trident laser have led to a quantitative understanding of the stimulated Brillouin scattering in low-Z plasmas. A nonlinear frequency detuning model has successfully explained all the experimental observable including the SBS reflectivity. This model has been implemented into the laser-plasma interaction code pF3D as a tool to design and optimize NIF target experiments with SBS and …

This project consists of two activities. Task A, Simulations and Measurements, combines all the material model development and associated numerical work with the materials-oriented experimental activities. The goal of this effort is to provide an improved understanding of dynamic material properties and to provide accurate numerical representations of those properties for use in analysis codes. Task B, ALE3D Development, involves general development activities in the ALE3D code with the focus of improving simulation capabilities for problems of mutual interest to DoD and DOE. Emphasis is on problems involving multi-phase flow, blast loading of structures and system safety/vulnerability studies.

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This report summarizes existing analytical data gleaned from samples taken from the Hanford tanks designated as potentially containing transuranic mixed process wastes. Process knowledge of the wastes transferred to these tanks has been reviewed to determine whether the dangerous waste characteristics now assigned to all Hanford underground storage tanks are applicable to these particular wastes. Supplemental technologies are being examined to accelerate the Hanford tank waste cleanup mission and accomplish waste treatment safely and efficiently. To date, 11 Hanford waste tanks have been designated as potentially containing contact-handled (CH) transuranic mixed (TRUM) wastes. The CH-TRUM wastes are found in single-shell tanks B-201 through B-204, T-201 through T-204, T-104, T-110, and T-111. Methods and equipment to solidify and package the CH-TRUM wastes are part of the supplemental technologies being evaluated. The resulting packages and wastes must be acceptable for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The dangerous waste characteristics being considered include ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity arising from the presence of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol at levels above the dangerous waste threshold. The analytical data reviewed include concentrations of sulfur, sulfate, cyanide, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, total organic carbon, and oxalate; the composition of the tank headspace, pH, and mercury. Differential scanning calorimetry results …

This report provides a brief summary of the Fair Credit Reporting Act provisions in question, as well as an analysis of the recent Supreme Court decision and an overview of recently enacted legislation.

The aim of this project was to develop Synthetic High-Affinity Ligands (SHALs), which bind with high affinity and specificity to proteins of interest for national security and cancer therapy applications. The aim of producing synthetic ligands for sensory devices as an alternative to antibody-based detection assays and therapeutic agents is to overcome the drawbacks associated with antibody-based in next-generation sensors and systems. The focus area of the project was the chemical synthesis of the SHALs. The project concentrated on two different protein targets. (a) The C fragment of tetanus and botulinum toxin, potential biowarfare agents. A SHAL for tetanus or botulinum toxin would be incorporated into a sensory device for the toxins. (b) HLA-DR10, a protein found in high abundance on the surface of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. A SHAL specific to a tumor marker, labeled with a radionuclide, would enable the targeted delivery of radiation therapy to metastatic disease. The technical approach used to develop a SHAL for each protein target will be described in more detail below. However, in general, the development of a SHAL requires a combination of computational modeling techniques, modern nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and synthetic chemistry.

This report provides background information on defense-related environmental programs, analyzes key implementations issues, and examines final versions of legislation to authorize and appropriate funding for these activities for FY2004.

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