The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Pontow. Pontow joined the Navy in May, 1944. After basic training, he headed for Little Creek, Virginia, for amphibious training. After that, he was assigned to USS LSM-96. On his first cruise, they took a marine radar unit to the Philippines in early 1945. He also went to Okinawa for the initial landings. When the war ended, the USS LSM-96 battled typhoons and then went to China with the First Marine Division. He was discharged in 1946.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As requested in a letter of November 5, 2003, this letter provides our responses for the record to the questions posed to GAO. At the subject hearing, we discussed the challenges that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) faces in integrating its information gathering and sharing functions, particularly as they relate to fulfilling the department's responsibilities for critical infrastructure protection (CIP)."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of a district court judge to appoint an associate judge (RQ-0063-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a school trustee may serve as an umpire at school district baseball games (RQ-0086-GA)

Transcript of the sixth public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States held December 8, 2003 at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. The Commission heard testimony from four panels of witnesses on domestic intelligence collection, protecting privacy while preventing terrorism, and the use of immigration laws to combat terrorism. Among the twelve witnesses testifying was former Attorney General William Barr, former Deputy Attorneys General Larry Thompson and Philip Heymann, and former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On the 25th anniversary of passage of the Inspector General (IG) Act, Congress sought GAO's views on the role of the IGs in providing independent oversight within federal agencies and to discuss the new and continuing challenges faced by government performance and accountability professionals."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a private process server may serve citation in a forcible entry and detainer suit (RQ-0052-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a refusal to permit a constable to enter the restricted area of a business in order to serve civil process constitutes an offense under section 38.16 of the Penal Code (RQ-0056-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a community supervision and corrections department may assess a participant in a pretrial intervention program fees under both article 102.012 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and section 76.015(c) of the Government Code (RQ-0058-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Liability for improper payment of the attorney's fees of Attorney General Opinion GA-0062 (2003) (RQ-0073-GA)

News release about DART's shuttle service to the State Fair of Texas.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether certain "reverse raffle" features violate chapter 47 of the Penal Code or the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act (RQ-0040-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether, under the Open Meetings Act, a river authority may hold an informal meeting that is open only to its invitees, including members of the press and community leaders (RQ-0044-JC)

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The difficulties of managing, preserving, and providing access to the vast and rapidly growing volumes of electronic records produced by federal agencies present challenges to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the nation's recordkeeper and archivist. Complex electronic records are being created in volumes that make them difficult to organize and keep accessible. These problems are compounded as computer hardware, application software, and even storage media become obsolete, as they may leave behind electronic records that can no longer be read. As a result, valuable government information may be lost. GAO was requested to testify, among other things, on NARA's recent actions to address the challenges of electronic records management, including its effort to address the problem of preserving electronic records by acquiring an advanced Electronic Records Archive (ERA)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A recent report by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, found that racial and ethnic minority groups tend to receive a lower quality of health care than nonminorities, even when access-related factors such as income and insurance coverage are controlled. It concluded that the elimination of racial and ethnic health care disparities is a major challenge in the United States. Racial and ethnic minority groups identified by the federal government--American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders--are expected to make up an increasingly large portion of the U.S. population in coming years. The federal government, primarily through programs under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), plays a major role in providing and financing health care for minority groups. HHS is also the primary federal entity involved in projects and research aimed at understanding and addressing disparities in health care. HHS has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in health access and outcomes in six areas: cancer screening and management, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV infection/AIDS, immunizations, and infant mortality. …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO, the Department of the Interior, and others have reported on the National Park Service's efforts to develop an effective maintenance management process that would, among other things, enable the agency to accurately and reliably estimate the amount of deferred maintenance on its assets. Over the years, the agency's estimates of the amount of its deferred maintenance have varied widely--sometimes by billions of dollars. Currently, the agency estimates that its deferred maintenance backlog is over $5 billion. In April 2002, GAO reported on the status of efforts to develop better deferred maintenance data. (National Park Service: Status of Efforts to Develop Better Deferred Maintenance Data)(Apr. 12, 2002, GAO-02-568R) This testimony presents the results of GAO's April report and updates the progress the Park Service is making in implementing its new asset management process."

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Donald Guthrie. Guthrie joined the Navy in late December of 1941. In 1942, he flew PBY Catalinas with Patrol Squadron 23, a Black Cat Squadron. They were assigned to Midway, participating in patrols searching for the Japanese invasion force. They also supported the invasion of and operations at Guadalcanal. In 1943, Guthrie was assigned to Funafuti and completed air, sea and rescue missions. In 1944, he flew missions over Kwajalein, Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima and numerous other islands. He returned to the US and was discharged in September of 1945.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In previous GAO reports and testimonies on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and in its ongoing reviews, GAO identified major management challenges related to enhancing access to health care, improving the efficiency of health care delivery, and improving the effectiveness of disability programs. This testimony underscores the importance of continuing to make progress in addressing these challenges and ultimately overcoming them."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Improving the oversight and controlling the costs of major highway and bridge projects is important for the federal government, which often pays 80 percent of these projects' costs. Widespread consensus exists on the need to fund such projects, given the doubling of freight traffic and worsening congestion projected over the next 20 years, yet growing competition for limited federal and state funding dictates that major projects be managed efficiently and cost effectively. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides funding to the states for highway and bridge projects through the federal-aid highway program. This funding is apportioned to the states, and state departments of transportation choose eligible projects for funding. FHWA provides oversight to varying degrees, and, under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), FHWA and each state enter into an agreement documenting the types of projects the state will oversee. This statement for the record summarizes cost and oversight issues raised in reports and testimonies GAO has issued since 1995 on major highway and bridge projects and describes options that GAO has identified to enhance federal oversight of these projects, should Congress determine that such …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created the Department of Homeland Security, brought together 22 diverse organizations to help prevent terrorist attacks in the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorist attacks, and minimize damage and assist in recovery from attacks that do occur. To accomplish this mission, the act established specific homeland security responsibilities for the department, which included sharing information among its own entities and with other federal agencies, state and local governments, the private sector, and others. GAO was asked to discuss DHS's information sharing efforts, including (1) the significance of information sharing in fulfilling DHS's responsibilities; (2) GAO's related prior analyses and recommendations for improving the federal government's information sharing efforts; and (3) key management issues DHS should consider in developing and implementing effective information sharing processes and systems."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides information on Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element flight test known as Integrated Flight Test (IFT)-16. This test was planned for the third quarter of fiscal year 2004 but was recently cancelled by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the agency within the Department of Defense (DOD) responsible for developing the ballistic missile defense system and its elements. Specifically, GAO was asked to determine the original purpose of IFT-16, how the test differed from IFT-14 and -15, and what new information IFT-16 would have provided had it been conducted."

Interview with Carl Swanigan from Alabama and great-grandson of George Ricks a pastor from Tuscumbia, Alabama. The interview includes Swanigan discussing his family history and relation to religion, with a focus on his great-grandfather.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Thomas Moore. Moore joined the Army through the Selective Service and was assigned to Camp Shelby in January 1941. In 1944 he transferred to the Army Air Forces and learned to fly B-17s at Ardmore Army Air Field. He flew 14 missions in Germany as a pilot with the 359th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, in a 12-plane formation. During a bomb run over Hamburg on 20 March 1945, Moore was flying in the lead position and had been informed of a German jet sighting. Moore never saw the jet, but his plane was hit and caught fire immediately. He went into a flat spin and bailed out, waiting to pull the rip cord on his parachute so that he wouldn’t be shot by Germans on the ground. He crash-landed in a pond, all alone, and walked into a ravine, where he was captured by two Germans. One of the men knocked him to the ground, and Moore remembered from his training to stay down and not fight back, lest he be shot. He marched four miles to a jail and was later transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp. …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is required by law to audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. Timely, accurate, and useful financial information is essential for making informed operating decisions day to day, managing the federal government's operations more efficiently and effectively, meeting the goals of federal financial management reform legislation, supporting results-oriented management approaches, and ensuring accountability on an ongoing basis. The importance of such information is heightened by the unprecedented demographic challenge of an aging population. Federal spending on the elderly, health care, and new homeland security and defense commitments increases the need to look at competing claims on the budget and at new priorities. Over the past year, the Principals of the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program continued efforts to accelerate progress in financial management reform. Also, President Bush has implemented the President's Management Agenda to provide direction to, and closely monitor, management reform across government, which encompasses improved financial management performance. To effectively implement federal financial management reform, sustained leadership and oversight are essential."