This report outlines the Department of Defense's (DOD) defense acquisition structure, discusses recent major reports addressing defense acquisition, and considers recent DOD efforts to improve the acquisition of weapon systems. It also includes a description of recent congressional efforts to reform the DOD's acquisition process.

Transient Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI) started discharges in NSTX have attained peak currents up to 300 kA and when these discharges are coupled to induction, it has produced up to 200 kA additional current over inductive-only operation. CHI in NSTX has shown to be energetically quite efficient, producing a plasma current of about 10 A/Joule of capacitor bank energy. In addition, for the first time, the CHI produced toroidal current that couples to induction continues to increase with the energy supplied by the CHI power supply at otherwise similar values of the injector flux, indicating the potential for substantial current generation capability by CHI in NSTX and in future toroidal devices. __________________________________________________

An important diagnostic tool for inertial confinement fusion is time-resolved imaging of the dense cold fuel surrounding the hot spot. Here we report on the source and diagnostic development of hard x-ray radiography and on the first radiographs of direct drive implosions obtained at photon energies up to about 100keV, where the Compton effect is the dominant contributor to the shell opacity. The radiographs of direct drive, plastic shell implosions obtained at the OMEGA laser facility have a spatial resolution of {approx}10um and a temporal resolution of {approx}10ps. This novel Compton Radiography is an invaluable diagnostic tool for Inertial Confinement Fusion targets, and will be integrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF).

The Endangered Species Act has been one of the more contentious environmental laws. This may stem from its strict substantive provisions, which can affect the use of both federal and nonfederal lands and resources. This report discusses oversight issues and legislation introduced in the 11th Congress to address Endangered Species Act implementation and management of endangered and threatened species.

After a brief description of the estate and gift tax and of options, this report compares the alternatives, focusing largely on a $1 million exemption and 55% rate, a $3.5 million exemption and a 45% rate, and a $5 million exemption and a 35% rate. Several policy effects and issues are analyzed: the share of decedents subject to tax, revenue effects, distributional effects, and effects on savings, charitable contributions, and compliance and administration. The report also considers other aspects of the proposals, such as whether the exemptions are indexed for inflation, a proposed inheritance of the exemption for spouses, and proposals to address perceived abuses.

This report examines the ramifications of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's April 6, 2010 ruling that the FCC could not base ancillary authority to regulate cable Internet services solely upon broad policy goals contained in the Communications Act. The decision has intensified the Net Neutrality debate and made the governments regulatory authority on the matter less clear.

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States faces challenges to ensuring food safety. First, imported food makes up a substantial and growing portion of the U.S. food supply, with 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood coming from across our borders. In recent years, there has been an increase in reported outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with both domestic and imported produce. Second, we are increasingly eating foods that are consumed raw and that have often been associated with foodborne illness outbreaks, including leafy greens such as spinach. Finally, shifting demographics means that more of the U.S. population is, and increasingly will be, susceptible to foodborne illnesses. The risk of severe and life-threatening conditions caused by foodborne illnesses is higher for older adults, young children, pregnant women, and immune-compromised individuals. In January 2007 GAO designated federal oversight of food safety as a high-risk area needing urgent attention and transformation because of the federal government's fragmented oversight of food safety. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring the safety of roughly 80 percent of the U.S. food supply--virtually all domestic and imported foods except for …

This report provides background information on the government of national unity of Guinea. The report discusses issues for U.S. policy and bilateral relations with the transitional government.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Navy's proposal to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) at Mayport, Florida. Transferring a CVN from Norfolk, Virginia, to Mayport would also shift the local economic activity associated with homeporting a CVN, which some sources estimate as being worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The President acknowledged that many federal contracting arrangements do not serve the needs of the federal government or the interests of the American taxpayer in a March 2009 memorandum. Among many of the issues discussed, the memorandum states that the government needs to ensure that it has the workforce needed to carry out robust and thorough management and oversight of contracts to achieve programmatic goals, avoid significant overcharges, and curb wasteful spending. However, the capacity and the capability of the federal government's acquisition workforce to oversee and manage contracts have not kept pace with increased spending for increasingly complex purchases. For example, federal civilian agencies' acquisition spending increased in real terms from $80 billion to $138 billion between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2008, while their acquisition workforce grew at a considerably lower rate. Furthermore, 55 percent of the current acquisition workforce will be eligible to retire in 2018--more than twice the number eligible in 2008-- which creates potential future skill shortages. To help address the challenges faced in the federal contracting environment, the President's fiscal year 2011 budget identifies the development of the federal acquisition workforce …

This report discusses the current U.S.-Puerto Rico relationship, the history of said relationship, and the current political state of Puerto Rico, as well as relevant pieces of U.S. Congressional legislation concerning Puerto Rico.

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A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

An expansion of a laser induced plasma is fundamental and important phenomena in a laser ion source. To understand the expanding direction, an array of Langmuir probes were employed. The chosen ion for the experiment was Ag{sup 1+} which was created by a second harmonics of a Nd-YAG laser. The obtained angular distribution was about {+-}10 degree. This result also indicates a proper positioning of a solenoid magnet which enhances ion beam current.

In support of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) luminosity upgrade, the US LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) has been developing a 1-meter long, 120 mm bore Nb{sub 3}Sn IR quadrupole magnet (HQ). With a design short sample gradient of 219 T/m at 1.9 K and a peak field approaching 15 T, one of the main challenges of this magnet is to provide appropriate mechanical support to the coils. Compared to the previous LARP Technology Quadrupole and Long Quadrupole magnets, the purpose of HQ is also to demonstrate accelerator quality features such as alignment and cooling. So far, 8 HQ coils have been fabricated and 4 of them have been assembled and tested in HQ01a. This paper presents the mechanical assembly and test results of HQ01a.

A prototype Ampere-class superconducting energy recovery linac (ERL) is under advanced construction at BNL. The ERL facility is comprised of a five-cell SC Linac plus a half-cell SC photo-injector RF electron gun, both operating at 703.75 MHz. The facility is designed for either a high-current mode of operation up to 0.5 A at 703.75 MHz or a high-bunch-charge mode of 5 nC at 10 MHz bunch frequency. The R&D facility serves a test bed for an envisioned electron-hadron collider, eRHIC. The high-current, high-charge operating parameters make effective higher-order-mode (HOM) damping mandatory, and requires the determination of HOM tolerances for a cavity upgrade. The niobium cavity has been tested at superconducting temperatures and has provided measured quality factors (Q) for a large number of modes. These numbers were used for the estimate of the beam breakup instability (BBU). The facility will be assembled with a highly flexible lattice covering a vast operational parameter space for verification of the estimates and to serve as a test bed for the concepts directed at future projects.

The shielding design for the NSLS-II will provide adequate protection for the full injected beam loss in two periods of the ring around the injection point, but the remainder of the ring is shielded for lower losses of {le} 10% full beam. This will require a system to insure that beam losses don't exceed these levels for a period of time that could cause excessive radiation levels outside the shield walls. This beam containment system will measure, provide a level of control and alarm indication of the beam power losses along the beam path from the source (e-gun, linac) thru the injection system and the storage ring. This system will consist of collimators that will provide limits to (and potentially to measure) the beam miss-steering and control the loss points of the charge and monitors that will measure the average beam current losses along the beam path and alarm when this beam power loss exceeds the level set by the shielding specifications. This will require some new ideas in beam loss detection capability and collimation. The initial planning and R&D program will be presented.

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Retarding field analyzers (RFAs) provide an effective measure of the local electron cloud density and energy distribution. Proper interpretation of RFA data can yield information about the behavior of the cloud, as well as the surface properties of the instrumented vacuum chamber. However, due to the complex interaction of the cloud with the RFA itself, understanding these measurements can be nontrivial. This paper examines different methods for interpreting RFA data via cloud simulation programs. Techniques include postprocessing the output of a simulation code to predict the RFA response; and incorporating an RFA model into the cloud modeling program itself.

Chromaticity feedback during the ramp to high beam energies has been demonstrated in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). In this report we review the feedback design and measurement technique. Commissioning experiences including interaction with existing tune and coupling feedback are presented together with supporting experimental data.

One of the proposals under consideration for future upgrades of the LHC injector complex entails the replacement of the PS with the PS2, a longer circumference and higher energy synchrotron, with electron cloud effects representing a potentially serious limitation to the achievement of the upgrade goals. We report on ongoing numerical studies aiming at estimating the e-cloud density threshold for the occurrence of single bunch instabilities.

A laser ion source can provide high current, highly charged ions with a simple structure. However, it was not easy to control the ion pulse width. To provide a longer ion beam pulse, the plasma drift length, which is the distance between laser target and extraction point, has to be extended and as a result the plasma is diluted severely. Previously, we applied a solenoid field to prevent reduction of ion density at the extraction point. Although a current enhancement by a solenoid field was observed, plasma behavior after a solenoid magnet was unclear because plasma behavior can be different from usual ion beam dynamics. We measured a transverse ion distribution along the beam axis to understand plasma motion in the presence of a solenoid field.

This power supply was designed and developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as part of a new ion preinjector system called EBIS (Electron Beam Ion Source). It consists of a charging power supply, a capacitor bank, a discharge and recovery circuit and control circuits. The output is fed through cables into a solenoid magnet. The magnet's inductance is 1.9mH. The maximum charging voltage is 1000V. The power supply output is a half sine wave of 13ms duration. The repetition rate is 5Hz. The power supply output can be set to any value between 250A and 1900A in one second in order to accommodate the varying species of ions specified by different machine users.