Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report focuses on the federal involvement in acquiring human fetal tissue for preclinical research. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials reported that the National Institute for Health (NIH) is the only federal agency under the Senate Labor, HHS, and Education Subcommittee's jurisdiction that sponsors research using human fetal tissue. According a GAO survey, 12,116 human fetal tissue samples were acquired during fiscal years 1997 through 1999 for use in NIH-sponsored research. In fiscal year 1999, three fetal tissue suppliers received federal funding. For therapeutic transplantation research, the NIH Revitalization Act requires written statements by the donor, the physician who obtained the tissue, and the researcher receiving the tissue to ensure that the provisions of the law are met. It also requires that all applicable and local laws must be followed. The costs to acquire human fetal tissue were low. Principal investigators reported that quality of tissue and compliance with federal regulations were their primary criteria for choosing a human fetal tissue supplier."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Office of the National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) contract with Ogilvy & Mather, the lead media campaign contractor for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. GAO reviewed ONDCP investigations into: (1) the facts and circumstances surrounding actions taken by ONDCP after receiving the allegations that Ogilvy may have over-billed the government, and (2) allegations that Ogilvy had provided services unrelated to the contract and had submitted invoices under the contract for those services. The Director of ONDCP, General Barry McCaffrey, knew about the fraud allegations concerning Ogilvy's billing practices. GAO found that Director McCaffrey had a private meeting with Ogilvy's project director after internal ONDCP discussions of the need for an external audit. However, GAO found no evidence that this meeting affected any decision with respect to an external audit of Ogilvy's contract. GAO also found that Ogilvy did not write congressional testimony for ONDCP employees, which would have gone beyond the scope of its contract with ONDCP. Ogilvy did provide ONDCP with figures, research, and documentation for use in responding to congressional inquiries and testimony. Ogilvy did not provide any services to Director …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the decisions by the United States to support new or expanded United Nations (U.N.) operations in the following four locations: Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These decisions were made between January 1999 and June 2000. This testimony focuses on: (1) whether GAO had sufficient access to agency records to conduct the study requested by Congress, (2) how Presidential Decision Directive 25 was used in deciding to support new or expanded U.N. operations, and (3) how the executive branch consulted with Congress during the Directive 25 decision process. GAO found that it lacked the full and independent access to agency records needed to complete its work. The intent of Directive 25 is to ensure selective and effective use of peacekeeping as a tool for advancing U.S. interests and to also establish factors to help assess whether U.S. support for an operation is appropriate. GAO found that Directive 25 factors were considered in the initial operation in East Timor, but GAO could not determine whether those factors were considered in other operations. Communications between Congress and the executive branch consisted …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Gaylord Whitlock. Whitlock was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois on 1 July 1917. Upon graduating from high school in 1935, he entered university in Carbondale, Illinois and graduated in 1939. In 1943, he received a commission in the US Navy Naval Reserve and reported to the Naval Training School of Aerological Engineers at UCLA where he received a professional degree in meteorology. He was then ordered to attend the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. While there, he worked on a method of determining shoreline depths an island for military purposes. In October 1944 he was sent to Kodiak, Alaska as a reanalysis officer, where he drew weather maps every six hours. He recounts and episode where he and fifteen others were shipwrecked. Only six survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard. In July 1945, he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Training Center at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. While at this base, he developed a medical condition which led to five months in the naval hospital at Sampson, New York. He was discharged following his release from the hospital.