Opium poppy cultivation and drug trafficking have eroded Afghanistan's fragile political and economic order over the last 30 years. This report provides current statistical information, profiles the narcotics trade's participants, explores linkages between narcotics, insecurity, and corruption, and reviews U.S. and international policy responses since late 2001. The report also considers ongoing policy debates regarding the counternarcotics role of coalition military forces, poppy eradication, alternative livelihoods, and funding issues for Congress.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), also called the Lighting II, is a new strike fighter being procured in different versions by the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. The F-35 program is the Department of Defense's (DOD's) largest weapon procurement program in terms of total estimated acquisition cost. The issues for Congress for FY2010 are whether to approve, reject, or modify the administration's funding request for the F-35 program, and whether to approve or reject the administration's proposal to terminate the alternate engine program. Congress' decisions on these matters will affect DOD capabilities and funding requirements and the tactical aircraft manufacturing industrial base.

This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, 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.-Afghanistan relationship and U.S. efforts under the Obama Administration to provide military, reconstructive, and stabilization aid.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated dramatically, due largely to the Mexican government's efforts to disrupt Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTO). U.S. officials note the violence associated with Mexican DTOs poses a serious challenge for U.S. law enforcement, threatening citizens on both sides of the border, and U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials generally agree many of the firearms used to perpetrate crimes in Mexico are illicitly trafficked from the United States across the Southwest border. GAO was asked to examine (1) data on the types, sources, and users of these firearms; (2) key challenges confronting U.S. government efforts to combat illicit sales of firearms in the United States and stem the flow of them into Mexico; (3) challenges faced by U.S. agencies collaborating with Mexican authorities to combat the problem of illicit arms; and (4) the U.S. government's strategy for addressing the issue. GAO analyzed program information and firearms data and met with U.S. and Mexican officials on both sides of the border."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Americans depend on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide assurance that medical devices sold in the United States are safe and effective. FDA classifies medical device types into three classes, with class I including those with the lowest risk to patients (such as forceps) and class III including those with the greatest risk (such as pacemakers). FDA's responsibilities include premarket and postmarket oversight--spanning, for example, both premarket review of devices and postmarket surveillance (the collection and analysis of data on marketed devices). These responsibilities apply to all devices marketed in the United States, regardless of whether they are manufactured domestically or overseas. In 2009, GAO added FDA's oversight of medical products, including devices, to its list of high-risk areas warranting attention by Congress and the executive branch. GAO was asked to testify on recent work related to FDA's responsibilities for medical devices, including premarket review, postmarket surveillance, and inspection of manufacturing establishments. This statement is based on a recent GAO report, Medical Devices: FDA Should Take Steps to Ensure That High-Risk Device Types Are Approved through the Most Stringent Premarket Review Process (GAO-09-190, January 15, 2009) …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States and Canada have been involved in a long-standing dispute regarding the softwood lumber trade. Canada is the primary exporter of softwood lumber to the United States. In 2008, Canada exported approximately $3.2 billion worth of softwood lumber products to the United States, about 17 times the amount supplied by the next biggest exporter to the United States. After several years of litigation related to U.S. allegations of unfair Canadian subsidies, the United States and Canada signed the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement ("agreement"). The agreement ended ongoing litigation and requires, among other things, Canadian federal and provincial governments to establish export charges and quotas for Canadian lumber exports and for the two countries to exchange information to support monitoring compliance with the agreement. In 2008, the United States passed the Softwood Lumber Act that requires, among other things, that the U.S. government reconcile and verify softwood lumber trade data. The act also requires GAO to report on (1) whether countries that export softwood lumber or softwood lumber products to the United States are complying with international agreements entered into by those countries and the United States; …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO first designated DOD financial management as high risk in 1995. GAO's biennial reports on high-risk areas are meant to bring focus to specific areas needing added attention. Areas are identified, in some cases, as high risk due to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Since 1995, weaknesses in DOD's financial management have adversely affected not only the reliability of reported financial data, but also the efficiency and effectiveness of its business operations. The department has annually acknowledged that pervasive, long-standing weaknesses in business systems, processes, and controls have prevented auditors from determining the reliability of reported financial statement information. Weaknesses in Army military pay systems, processes, and controls have contributed to this problem. The Department of the Army paid about $4.7 billion in federal payroll taxes for approximately 638,900 active duty military servicemembers for calendar year 2007, from the active duty Army military personnel appropriation. The Secretary of the Army relies on the Defense Finance and Accounting Service-Indianapolis (DFAS-IN) for processing and accounting support in paying the taxes for active duty servicemembers. This support includes calculating and reporting federal payroll taxes for active duty …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund in the Department of the Treasury has awarded $21 billion of the $26 billion in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) authorized to be awarded to Community Development Entities (CDE) between 2001 and 2009. CDEs use the NMTC to make qualified investments in low-income communities. Recent congressional interest has focused on participation by minority CDEs. This testimony is based on a recent GAO report (GAO-09-536). As requested, the report (1) identified the number of minority and non-minority CDEs that applied to the CDFI Fund and received NMTC awards, (2) explained the process by which the CDFI Fund makes awards and summarized application scores, (3) described challenges minority and non-minority CDEs face in applying for and receiving awards and, (4) identified efforts the CDFI Fund and others have taken to assist minority CDEs in applying for awards. GAO analyzed CDFI Fund application data and interviewed officials from minority and non-minority CDEs, the CDFI Fund, and industry groups."

This report discusses legislation related to the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act (H.R. 1886), the Afghanistan-Pakistan Security and Prosperity Enhancement Act (H.R. 1318), and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410). It also discusses the Afghanistan and Pakistan Reconstruction Opportunity Zones Act (S. 496). The report also discusses how this legislation represents a political and symbolic importance for U.S. relationships with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This report provides background information on Mongolia, including political and economic conditions, the status of U.S.-Mongolian political and economic relations, and key security and foreign policy issues.

Multilateral and bilateral agreements addressing the status of U.S. armed forces abroad are commonly referred to as Status of Force Agreements (SOFAs). SOFAs establish the framework under which military personnel operate in a foreign country. The United States is currently party to more than 100 agreements that may be considered SOFAs. A list of current agreements included at the end of this report is categorized in tables according to the underlying source of authority, if any, for each of the SOFAs.

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LOCO has been a powerful beam-based diagnostics and optics control method for storage rings and synchrotrons worldwide ever since it was established at NSLS by J. Safranek. This method measures the orbit response matrix and optionally the dispersion function of the machine. The data are then fitted to a lattice model by adjusting parameters such as quadrupole and skew quadrupole strengths in the model, BPM gains and rolls, corrector gains and rolls of the measurement system. Any abnormality of the machine that affects the machine optics can then be identified. The resulting lattice model is equivalent to the real machine lattice as seen by the BPMs. Since there are usually two or more BPMs per betatron period in modern circular accelerators, the model is often a very accurate representation of the real machine. According to the fitting result, one can correct the machine lattice to the design lattice by changing the quadrupole and skew quadrupole strengths. LOCO is so important that it is routinely performed at many electron storage rings to guarantee machine performance, especially after the Matlab-based LOCO code became available. However, for some machines, LOCO is not easy to carry out. In some cases, LOCO fitting converges to …

The exploration of spin degrees of freedom in nuclear and high-energy interactions requires the use of spin-polarized projectiles and/or spin-polarized targets. During the last two decades, the use of external beams from cyclotrons has to a large extent been supplanted by use of circulating beams stored in storage rings. In these experiments, the circulating particles pass millions of times through targets internal to the ring. Thus the targets need to be very thin to avoid beam loss by scattering out of the acceptance aperture of the ring.

This study investigates predation by piscivorous waterbirds on juvenile salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) from throughout the Columbia River Basin. During 2006, study objectives in the Columbia River estuary, work funded by the Bonneville Power Administration, were to (1) monitor and evaluate previous management initiatives to reduce Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia) predation on juvenile salmonids (smolts); (2) measure the impact of double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) predation on smolt survival, and assess potential management options to reduce cormorant predation; and (3) monitor large colonies of other piscivorous waterbirds in the estuary (i.e., glaucous-winged/western gulls [Larus glaucescens/occidentalis]) to determine the potential impacts on smolt survival. Study objectives on the mid-Columbia River, work funded by the Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were to (1) measure the impact of predation by Caspian terns and double-crested cormorants on smolt survival; and (2) monitor large nesting colonies of other piscivorous waterbirds (i.e., California gulls [L. californicus], ring-billed gulls [L. delawarensis], American white pelicans [Pelecanus erythrorhynchos]) on the mid-Columbia River to determine the potential for significant impacts on smolt survival. Our efforts to evaluate system-wide losses of juvenile salmonids to avian predation indicated that Caspian terns and double-crested cormorants were responsible for the vast …

This manual is a general resource tool to assist EMSL users and Laboratory staff within EMSL locate official policy, practice and subject matter experts. It is not intended to replace or amend any formal Battelle policy or practice. Users of this manual should rely only on Battelle’s Standard Based Management System (SBMS) for official policy. No contractual commitment or right of any kind is created by this manual. Battelle management reserves the right to alter, change, or delete any information contained within this manual without prior notice.