The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Dr. George Burnet. Burnet joined the Army on May 16, 1944. He studied chemical warfare, and was trained on the 4.2 inch mortar battalion. He served as a forward observer with the 99th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. Around mid-1944, they were deployed to the Philippines and participated in the Battle of Leyte. He recovered from malaria around June and July of 1945. Beginning in September, they served in the occupation of Japan, providing military support to the U.S. government and completing 8 months of demilitarization duties. In mid to late 1946, they occupied a Japanese military base in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture. He continued his service, and received his discharge in December of 1947.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with George Burnet. He discusses his childhood growing up during the Great Depression and what led him to join the chemical warfare service of the US Army. He describes all the different training camps he was sent to around the US and eventually being deployed in the Pacific Theatre during World War Two.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Sheldon Gerson. Gerson was drafted into the Army in August 1944. He completed basic training at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Little Rock, Arkansas. He took infantry training, preparing him for combat. He was an expert rifleman and was the acting Sergeant of the First Platoon. He was taken out of his company and transferred into the Army Specialized Training Program at Penn State University. There he studied electrical engineering. He was then transferred to work on the atomic bomb. He was placed in the 9812th Technical Service Unit. He explains his experiences with a top-secret mission to Oak Ridge, Tennessee in April 1945. He was working as a chemical engineer to help develop and produce an atomic bomb under the auspices of the Manhattan Engineer District. He details what he did in the laboratory. From there he went to another ultra-secretive facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico where the atomic bomb was being developed by Robert Oppenheimer. Gerson was discharged in June 1946.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Stakeholders—health care industry groups and experts in antitrust law—had different perspectives on the adequacy of three key aspects of antitrust guidance for health care provider collaboration. First, stakeholders’ perspectives differed on the sufficiency of guidance on clinical integration, which involves integrating clinical activities across providers in a collaborative arrangement. Clinical integration is one way for a collaborative arrangement to satisfy the requirement that the arrangement demonstrate the potential to yield significant benefits, such as reduced costs or improved quality, in order to be able to jointly negotiate prices. Five of the six experts and one of the four industry groups said that agency guidance was sufficient, while one expert and two industry groups asserted that agency guidance on clinical integration was inadequate. Second, stakeholders’ perspectives differed as to whether the agencies should permit greater use of exclusive collaborative arrangements, which restrict the ability of providers within a collaborative arrangement to contract with other arrangements or health plans. The use of exclusive arrangements has the potential to improve or reduce competition, depending on the circumstances. Four of the experts said that the agencies’ guidance on exclusive arrangements was reasonable, …

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Westgate Tower, in Austin, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The full spectrum training mile metric is similar in some ways to the tank mile metric and dissimilar in other ways. Both metrics measure training activity of nondeployed units associated with recommended training events based on the Army's approved training strategy. Specifically, they both calculate the average number of miles a unit is expected to drive its vehicles on an annual basis for training that occurs during the reset and train/ready stages of the Army’s Force Generation (ARFORGEN) cycle."

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with John E. ""Jack"" Freemann. When Freemann finished high school in Pennsylvania in 1940, he enrolled in the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. From there, Freeman enrolled in Bucknell University. He was there when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and joined the Navy in June, 1942 for pilot training. Freemann completed flight training and was commissioned in October, 1943. Then, he went to dive-bomber school in Jacksonville, Florida before reporting to Air Group 6 in Califonria. From there, he was shipped to Hawaii. At Ulithi, Freemann joined the USS Hancock (CV-19) i ntime to participate in the invasion of Okinawa. While attacking targets on the Japanese home islands, Freemann got shot down and ditched into the ocean next to a destroyer. When the war ended, Freemann and his group flew missions to get supplies to prisoner of war camps in Japan.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Roger G. Anderson. When Anderson finished high school in 1943, he entered the Army Air Forces and trained initially at Miami Beach, Florida, then at Laredo, Texas, for gunnery school. Anderson describes the training involved at gunnery school and shares a few anecdotes. In July, 1944, Anderson and crew headed overseas. they were assigned to the 19th Bomb Squadron, 22nd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force. His squadron was nicknamed the Silver Fleet. To begin with, he was stationed in New Guinea and flew aome missions there. Eventually, his unit was assigned to Tacloban, bu teh area was too muddy for an airbase, so his unt was statioend at Angaur. From there, his unit evenually moved up to Clark Field on Luzon. In August, 1945, Anderson went home on leave after completing 48 missions. He anticipated being trained in B-29s, but the war ended while he was home on furlough and he got discharged in October, 1945. He used the G.I. Bill to go to college and eventually had a career as a teacher in Illinois.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Securities lending can be a relatively straightforward way for plan sponsors and participants to increase their return on 401(k) investments. However, securities lending can also present a number of challenges to plan participants and plan sponsors. GAO was asked to explain how securities lending with cash collateral reinvestment works in relation to 401(k) plan investments, who bears the risks, and what are some of the challenges plan participants and plan sponsors face in understanding securities lending with cash collateral reinvestment. In this testimony, GAO discusses its recent work regarding securities lending with cash collateral reinvestment. GAO is making no new recommendations in this statement but continues to believe that the Department of Labor (Labor) can take action to help plan sponsors of 401(k) plans and plan participants to understand the role, risk, and benefits of securities lending with cash collateral reinvestment in relation to 401(k) plan investments. Specifically, GAO recommended that Labor provide more guidance to plan sponsors about fees and returns when plan assets are utilized in securities lending with cash collateral reinvestment, amend its participant disclosure regulation to include provisions specific to securities lending with cash …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pervasive and sustained cyber attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating threat to the systems and operations of our nation's critical infrastructure and the federal government. In recent testimony, the Director of National Intelligence stated that there had been a dramatic increase in malicious cyber activity targeting U.S. computers and networks. In addition, recent reports of cyber attacks and incidents affecting federal systems and critical infrastructures illustrate the potential impact of such events on national and economic security. The nation's ever-increasing dependence on information systems to carry out essential everyday operations makes it vulnerable to an array of cyber-based risks. Thus it is increasingly important that federal and nonfederal entities carry out concerted efforts to safeguard their systems and the information they contain. GAO is providing a statement describing (1) cyber threats to cyber-reliant critical infrastructures and federal information systems and (2) the continuing challenges facing federal agencies in protecting the nation's cyber-reliant critical infrastructure and federal systems. In preparing this statement, GAO relied on its previously published work in the area, which included many recommendations for improvements."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is the world's largest and most complex entity, with about $3.5 trillion in outlays in fiscal year 2010 that fund a broad array of programs and operations. GAO's long-term simulations of the federal budget show--absent policy change--growing deficits accumulating to an unsustainable increase in debt. While the spending side is driven by rising health care costs and demographics, other areas should also be scrutinized. In addition, there are significant performance and management challenges that the federal government needs to confront. GAO was asked to testify on how the provisions of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) could, if effectively implemented, help address these challenges. Our statement is based on our past and ongoing work on GPRA implementation, as well as our recently issued reports (1) identifying opportunities to reduce potential duplication in government programs, save tax dollars, and enhance revenue; and (2) updating our list of government operations at high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or the need for broad-based transformation. As required by GPRAMA, GAO will periodically evaluate implementation of the …

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Bracht House, in Rockport, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, maps, and photographs.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joseph Doyon. Doyon worked as a machinist at Bath Iron Works until he joined the Navy in March 1943. He was sent to diesel school and then small boat training to become an engineman on a LCVP. Doyon was assigned to USS LST-506, which traveled to England. He tells of the preparations for D-Day taking part in the landing on 6 June at Normandy. Doyon describes picking up wounded on the beach and several Asian POWs in German uniforms. He discusses the difficulties that the LSTs had getting ashore and one incident where he had to use signal flags to direct one of them away from a mine field. Doyon was then a part of a Navy detachment that was sent inland with their LCVPs to take part in the crossing of the Rhine River. He describes some of the events that he witnessed including a barge carrying German prisoners capsizing. Doyon was sent to the Pacific soon after and was on Kwajalein when the war ended. He left the service six months later.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent events including last month's attack on Internal Revenue Service offices in Texas, and the January 2010 shooting in the lobby of the Nevada, federal courthouse demonstrate the continued vulnerability of federal facilities and the safety of the federal employees who occupy them. These events also highlight the continued challenges involved in protecting federal real property and reiterate the importance of protecting the over 1 million government employees, as well as members of the public, who work in and visit the nearly 9,000 federal facilities. This testimony is based on past GAO reports and testimonies and discusses challenges Federal Protective Service (FPS) faces in protecting federal facilities and tenant agencies' perspective of FPS's services. To perform this work, GAO visited a number of federal facilities, surveyed tenant agencies, analyzed documents, and interviewed officials from several federal agencies."

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Merton Bobo. Bobo was born in Greenfield, Maine 10 February 1926. Graduating from high school in 1943 he enlisted in the Navy. Following a six week boot camp in Sampson, New York he was sent to Jacksonville, Florida to attend radio school. Once he graduated, he was sent to Yellow Water, Florida for gunnery training. Upon completing the gunnery training, he went to Fort Lauderdale, where he began operational training in a TBM with a pilot and gunner. The crew stayed together during their combat tour. Upon completion of the advanced training the crew went to San Diego where they joined VC-90. Going to Hawaii, they were trained in the use of rockets and torpedoes. The crew was assigned to the USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) and began making patrols and practice landings. They joined a task unit and sailed to the Mindoro Straits where they were under attack by Japanese planes for five days. During this time Bobo witnessed a kamikaze crashing into the USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79). He participated in combat missions at Lingayen Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He recalls the night their ship was in …

This report describes work by the Interagency Climate Change Task Force. The group's goals include forming recommendations for a national strategy for climate change adaptation, improving the resilience and adaptive capacity of the federal government towards climate change, and improving public understanding of specific climate change vulnerabilities.

News release about a public hearing and community meetings to be help by DART ahead of a vote on fare and service changes.

Email from the Houston Area Stonewall Democrats inquiring about membership dues and fees.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We would like to thank Congress for its past support of GAO. We are especially appreciative of Congressional efforts to help us avoid a furlough of our staff during fiscal year 2007. Had we not received additional funds this year and not taken other cost minimization actions, GAO would have likely been forced to furlough most staff for up to 5 days without pay. At the same time, due to funding shortfalls, we were not able to make pay adjustments retroactive to January 7, 2007. It is through the efforts of our dedicated and capable staff that we were able to provide the Congress with the professional, objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, non-ideological, fair, and balanced information it needs to meet the full range of its constitutional responsibilities. We are extremely pleased and proud to say that we helped the federal government achieve a total of $51 billion in financial benefits in fiscal year 2006--a record high that represents a return on investment of $105 for every dollar the Congress invested in us. As a result of our work, we also documented 1,342 nonfinancial benefits that helped to improve service …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress requested that GAO determine how the Department of Commerce (National Institute for Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have implemented the May 2003 revised Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 process, which seeks to put commercial activities now performed by government out for public-private competition. Congress was particularly interested in outcomes where public-private competitions resulted in commercial activities being contracted out to the private sector. On December 14, 2006, we briefed Congress on the preliminary results of our review. This report is an updated version of the briefing document we used."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) is a mandatory enrollment program for active duty servicemembers who have family members with special medical needs. When military servicemembers are considered for assignment to an installation within the United States, EFMP enrollment is used to determine whether needed services, such as specialized pediatric care, are available through the military health system at the proposed location. Due to this consideration, each military service assigns servicemembers with exceptional family members who have significant needs to certain locations because of the resources available through DOD's health care system in these communities. Further, DOD policy allows (but does not require) the military services to provide family support services specifically for exceptional family members. State and local medical, family support, and educational services in these communities may also serve the military's exceptional family members as part of providing services to local residents. The Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 directed us to evaluate the effect of EFMP on health, support, and education services in selected civilian communities with a high concentration of EFMP enrollees. As discussed with …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the financial statements of the U.S. government, we audited and reported on the Schedules of Federal Debt Managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2005 and 2004. As part of these audits, we performed a review of the general and application information security controls over key BPD financial systems. This report presents the issues identified during our fiscal year 2005 testing of the general and application information security controls that support key BPD automated financial systems relevant to BPD's Schedule of Federal Debt. This report also includes the results of our follow-up on the status of BPD's corrective actions to address recommendations that were contained in our prior years' audits and open as of September 30, 2004. We also assessed the general and application information security controls over key BPD financial systems that the Federal Reserve Banks (FRB) maintain and operate on behalf of BPD. We will issue a separate report to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on the results of such testing."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "About a dozen people are killed or injured in natural gas transmission pipeline incidents each year. In an effort to improve upon this safety record, the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 requires that operators assess pipeline segments in about 20,000 miles of highly populated or frequented areas for safety risks, such as corrosion, welding defects, or incorrect operation. Half of these baseline assessments must be done by December 2007, and the remainder by December 2012. Operators must then repair or replace any defective pipelines, and reassess these pipeline segments for corrosion damage at least every 7 years. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) administers this program, called gas integrity management. This testimony is based on ongoing work for Congress, as required by the 2002 act. The testimony provides preliminary results on the safety effects of (1) PHMSA's gas integrity management program and (2) the requirement that operators reassess their natural gas pipelines at least every 7 years. It also discusses how PHMSA has acted to strengthen its enforcement program in response to recommendations GAO made in 2004. GAO expects to issue two reports this fall …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For many years, GAO has reported that ineffective information security is a widespread problem that has potentially devastating consequences. In its reports to Congress since 1997, GAO has identified information security as a governmentwide high-risk issue--most recently in January 2005. Concerned with accounts of attacks on commercial systems via the Internet and reports of significant weaknesses in federal computer systems that make them vulnerable to attack, Congress passed the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), which permanently authorized and strengthened the federal information security program, evaluation, and reporting requirements established for federal agencies. This testimony discusses the federal government's progress and challenges in implementing FISMA, as reported by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the agencies, and the Inspectors General (IGs), and actions needed to improve FISMA reporting and address underlying information security weaknesses."