The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provides a statutory framework by which government agencies may, when gathering foreign intelligence investigation, obtain authorization to conduct electronic surveillance or physical searches, utilize pen registers and trap and trace devices, or access specified business records and other tangible things. This report discusses three sunsetting amendments of FISA which include the "Lone Wolf" provision, "roving" wiretaps, and access to business records.

This report analyzes the relationship between vehicle weight, size (wheelbase, track width, and their product, footprint), and safety, for individual vehicle makes and models. Vehicle weight and footprint are correlated with a correlation coefficient (R{sup 2}) of about 0.62. The relationship is stronger for cars (0.69) than for light trucks (0.42); light trucks include minivans, fullsize vans, truck-based SUVs, crossover SUVs, and pickup trucks. The correlation between wheelbase and track width, the components of footprint, is about 0.61 for all light vehicles, 0.62 for cars and 0.48 for light trucks. However, the footprint data used in this analysis does not vary for different versions of the same vehicle model, as curb weight does; the analysis could be improved with more precise data on footprint for different versions of the same vehicle model. Although US fatality risk to drivers (driver fatalities per million registered vehicles) decreases as vehicle footprint increases, there is very little correlation either for all light vehicles (0.01), or cars (0.07) or trucks (0.11). The correlation between footprint and fatality risks cars impose on drivers of other vehicles is also very low (0.01); for trucks the correlation is higher (0.30), with risk to others increasing as truck footprint …

Low cost rechargeable flashlights that use LED technology are increasingly available in African markets. While LED technology holds promise to provide affordable, high quality lighting services, the widespread dissemination of low quality products may make it difficult to realize this potential. This study includes performance results for three brands of commonly available LED flashlights that were purchased in Kenya in 2009. The performance of the flashlights was evaluated by testing five units for each of the three brands. The tests included measurements of battery capacity, time required to charge the battery, maximum illuminance at one meter, operation time and lux-hours from a fully charged battery, light distribution, and color rendering. All flashlights tested performed well below the manufacturers? rated specifications; the measured battery capacity was 30-50percent lower than the rated capacity and the time required to fully charge the battery was 6-25percent greater than the rated time requirement. Our analysis further shows that within each brand there is considerable variability in each performance indicator. The five samples within a single brand varied from each other by as much as 22percent for battery capacity measurements, 3.6percent for the number of hours required for a full charge, 23percent for maximum initial lux, …

This report provides a brief historical background of Chile, examines recent political and economic developments, and addresses issues in U.S.-Chilean relations.

Gasification of black liquor (BLG) has distinct advantages over direct combustion in Tomlinson recovery boilers. In this project we seek to resolve causticizing issues in order to make pressurized BLG even more efficient and cost-effective. One advantage of BLG is that the inherent partial separation of sulfur and sodium during gasification lends itself to the use of proven high yield variants to conventional kraft pulping which require just such a separation. Processes such as polysulfide, split sulfidity, ASAQ, and MSSAQ can increase pulp yield from 1% to 10% over conventional kraft but require varying degrees of sulfur/sodium separation, which requires additional [and costly] processing in a conventional Tomlinson recovery process. However during gasification, the sulfur is partitioned between the gas and smelt phases, while the sodium all leaves in the smelt; thus creating the opportunity to produce sulfur-rich and sulfur-lean white liquors for specialty pulping processes. A second major incentive of BLG is the production of a combustible product gas, rich in H2 and CO. This product gas (a.k.a. “syngas”) can be used in gas turbines for combined cycle power generation (which is twice as efficient as the steam cycle alone), or it can be used as a precursor to …

This report discusses the history of constitutional interpretations and legislative responses relevant to the collection of private information for criminal investigation, foreign intelligence gathering, and national security purposes.

This report provides background information and presents potential issues for Congress concerning the Navy's ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. The planned size of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy's shipbuilding plans have been matters of concern for the congressional defense committees for the past several years. Decisions that Congress makes on Navy shipbuilding programs can substantially affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.

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A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fiscal sustainability presents a national challenge shared by all levels of government. Since 2007, GAO has published long-term fiscal simulations for the state and local government sector. These simulations show that, like the federal government, the state and local government sector faces persistent and long-term fiscal pressures. Using the Bureau of Economic Analysis's National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) as the primary data source, GAO's model projects the level of receipts and expenditures for the sector until 2060 based on current and historical spending and revenue patterns. GAO assumes the current set of policies in place across federal, state, and local governments remains constant. This update incorporates NIPA data including increased federal grant funding made available to the sector through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The model simulates the long-term fiscal outlook for the state and local sector as a whole and, while the model incorporates the Congressional Budget Office's economic projections, adjustments are made to capture the budgetary effects of near-term cyclical swings in the economy. Because the model covers the sector in the aggregate, the fiscal outcomes for individual states and …

This report reviews the revenue raisers proposed to fund health care reform. Other financing proposals are presented including those made by the Obama Administration and those introduced in earlier congressional work. The final sections discuss other proposals suggested by the round-table discussion participants.

This report offers background information on Ukraine's current political and economic situation. It also discusses U.S. policy, U.S. aid to Ukraine, the congressional response, and related legislation.