This report provides information on Africa Command's (AFRICOM) mission, structure, interagency coordination, and its basing and manpower requirements. The report also gives a broad overview of U.S. strategic interests in Africa and the role of U.S. military efforts on the continent as they pertain to the creation of Africa Command.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The total number of aliens detained per year by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increased from about 95,000 in fiscal year 2001 to 283,000 in 2006. The care and treatment of these detained aliens is a significant challenge to ICE. GAO was asked to review ICE's implementation of its detention standards for aliens in its custody. GAO reviewed (1) detention facilities' compliance with ICE's detention standards, (2) ICE's compliance review process, and (3) how detainee complaints regarding conditions of confinement are handled. To conduct its work, GAO reviewed DHS documents, interviewed program officials, and visited 23 detention facilities of varying size, type, and geographic location."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Livestock production contributed nearly $123 billion to the U.S. economy in 2006. In response to concerns about animal disease outbreaks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in December 2003 that it would implement a nationwide program--later named the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)--to help producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States. In this context, GAO determined (1) how effectively USDA is implementing NAIS and, specifically, the key issues identified by livestock industry groups, market operators, state officials, and others; (2) how USDA has distributed cooperative agreement funds to help states and industry prepare for NAIS and evaluated the agreements' results; and (3) what USDA and others estimate are the costs for USDA, states, and industry to implement NAIS. In conducting its work, GAO reviewed USDA documents; interviewed agency, industry, and state officials; and consulted 32 animal identification (ID) experts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insures the pensions of millions of private sector workers and retirees in certain employer-sponsored pension plans. It is governed by a board of directors consisting of the Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and Commerce, who are charged with providing PBGC with policy direction and oversight. This report assesses (1) the extent to which PBGC's governance structure provides PBGC with policy direction and oversight, and (2) whether administrative responsibilities among the PBGC board, Department of Labor (DOL), and PBGC management are clearly defined. We examined corporate governance practices, select federal government corporations, and reviewed documents on PBGC's structure. We interviewed officials from all board member agencies and PBGC, among others."

This report reviews and briefly describes the major changes proposed in H.R. 2669 to federal student loan and other federal student aid programs that would achieve savings in mandatory spending or that would result in changes to existing federal student aid programs.