This report looks at why prompt global strike (PGS) missiles are beneficial to the U.S., and how they can help contribute to a conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) mission.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The anthrax attacks of 2001 and more recent national reports have raised concerns that the United States is vulnerable to attacks with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents. Because of the potential consequences of such attacks, members of Congress have expressed the need for the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) to coordinate in assessing risks posed by CBRN agents. GAO was asked to examine how DHS and HHS coordinate on the development of CBRN risk assessments and the extent to which they have institutionalized such efforts. GAO examined relevant laws, presidential directives, collaboration best practices, and internal control standards; analyzed DHS and HHS CBRN risk assessments; and interviewed DHS and HHS officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Senate report to accompany the 2011 Defense authorization bill directed GAO to assess the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of cash incentives to recruit and retain highly qualified individuals for service in the armed forces. This report (1) identifies recent trends in DOD's use of enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, (2) assesses the extent to which the services have processes to determine which occupational specialties require bonuses and whether bonus amounts are optimally set, and (3) determines how much flexibility DOD has in managing selected special and incentive pays for officer and enlisted personnel. GAO analyzed service data on bonuses and special and incentive pays, reviewed relevant guidance and other documentation from DOD and the services, interviewed DOD and service officials, and observed two working groups that were determining bonus amounts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Missing children who are not found quickly are at an increased risk of victimization. The National Child Search Assistance Act, as amended, requires that within 2 hours of receiving a missing child report, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) enter the report into the Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a clearinghouse of information instantly available to LEAs nationwide. DOJ's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), the CJIS Advisory Policy Board (the Board), and state criminal justice agencies share responsibility for overseeing this requirement. As requested, GAO examined (1) CJIS's and the Board's efforts to implement and monitor compliance with the requirement; and (2) selected LEA-reported challenges with timely entry and DOJ's actions to assist LEAs in addressing them. GAO reviewed documents, such as agency guidelines, and interviewed officials from DOJ, six state criminal justice agencies, and nine LEAs selected in part based on missing children rates. The results are not generalizable to all states and LEAs, but provided insights on this issue."

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The so-called "Brazil cotton case" is a long-running World Trade Organization dispute settlement case initiated by Brazil - a major cotton export competitor - in 2002 against specific provisions of the U.S. cotton program. This report details the overview of the case, background on the U.S. cotton sector, Brazil's dispute settlement case against the U.S. cotton program, panel and appellate body recommendations, implementation of those recommendations, World Trade Organization compliance panel review and ruling, and more related to the case.

This report examines concerns expressed by policymakers and experts that current Stafford Act declarations are inadequate to respond to, and recover from, highly destructive events, and presents the arguments for and against amending the act to add a catastrophic declaration amendment.

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The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory uses neutron activation elements in a Panasonic TLD holder as a personnel nuclear accident dosimeter (PNAD). The LLNL PNAD has periodically been tested using a Cf-252 neutron source, however until 2009, it was more than 25 years since the PNAD has been tested against a source of neutrons that arise from a reactor generated neutron spectrum that simulates a criticality. In October 2009, LLNL participated in an intercomparison of nuclear accident dosimeters at the CEA Valduc Silene reactor (Hickman, et.al. 2010). In September 2010, LLNL participated in a second intercomparison of nuclear accident dosimeters at CEA Valduc. The reactor generated neutron irradiations for the 2010 exercise were performed at the Caliban reactor. The Caliban results are described in this report. The procedure for measuring the nuclear accident dosimeters in the event of an accident has a solid foundation based on many experimental results and comparisons. The entire process, from receiving the activated NADs to collecting and storing them after counting was executed successfully in a field based operation. Under normal conditions at LLNL, detectors are ready and available 24/7 to perform the necessary measurement of nuclear accident components. Likewise LLNL maintains processing laboratories that are …

Forced outages and boiler unavailability of coal-fired fossil plants is most often caused by fire-side corrosion of boiler waterwalls and tubing. Reliable coatings are required for Ultrasupercritical (USC) application to mitigate corrosion since these boilers will operate at a much higher temperatures and pressures than in supercritical (565 C {at} 24 MPa) boilers. Computational modeling efforts have been undertaken to design and assess potential Fe-Cr-Ni-Al systems to produce stable nanocrystalline coatings that form a protective, continuous scale of either Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} or Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3}. The computational modeling results identified a new series of Fe-25Cr-40Ni with or without 10 wt.% Al nanocrystalline coatings that maintain long-term stability by forming a diffusion barrier layer at the coating/substrate interface. The computational modeling predictions of microstructure, formation of continuous Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} scale, inward Al diffusion, grain growth, and sintering behavior were validated with experimental results. Advanced coatings, such as MCrAl (where M is Fe, Ni, or Co) nanocrystalline coatings, have been processed using different magnetron sputtering deposition techniques. Several coating trials were performed and among the processing methods evaluated, the DC pulsed magnetron sputtering technique produced the best quality coating with a minimum number of shallow defects and the results of …

The cleanup activities of the Hanford tank wastes require stabilization and solidification of the secondary waste streams generated from the processing of the tank wastes. The treatment of these tank wastes to produce glass waste forms will generate secondary wastes, including routine solid wastes and liquid process effluents. Liquid wastes may include process condensates and scrubber/off-gas treatment liquids from the thermal waste treatment. The current baseline for solidification of the secondary wastes is a cement-based waste form. However, alternative secondary waste forms are being considered. In this regard, Ceramicrete technology, developed at Argonne National Laboratory, is being explored as an option to solidify and stabilize the secondary wastes. The Ceramicrete process has been demonstrated on four secondary waste formulations: baseline, cluster 1, cluster 2, and mixed waste streams. Based on the recipes provided by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the four waste simulants were prepared in-house. Waste forms were fabricated with three filler materials: Class C fly ash, CaSiO{sub 3}, and Class C fly ash + slag. Optimum waste loadings were as high as 20 wt.% for the fly ash and CaSiO{sub 3}, and 15 wt.% for fly ash + slag filler. Waste forms for physical characterizations were fabricated with no …

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