A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DHS's and the Coast Guard did not meet the SAFE Port Act's requirement that IOCs be established at high-priority ports by October 2009, in part because the Coast Guard was not appropriated funds to establish the IOCs until 14 months after enactment of the law, and the definition of an IOC was evolving during this period. However, the Coast Guard plans to establish IOCs at all 35 of its sectors. According to the Coast Guard's analysis of sector status reports, none of its sectors have achieved IOCs with full operating capability. According to the Coast Guard’s Chief of IOC Implementation, as well as its Information Sharing Executive Agent, continued support is needed from DHS to increase port-partner participation and the success of the IOC initiative. DHS has recently begun to support efforts to increase port-partner participation and further IOC implementation, such as facilitating the review of an IOC management directive. It is too early to determine, though, if and when IOCs will achieve their intended goal of sharing information and coordinating operations with port partners."

The Doppler lidar (DL) is an active remote sensing instrument that provides range- and time-resolved measurements of radial velocity and attenuated backscatter. The principle of operation is similar to radar in that pulses of energy are transmitted into the atmosphere; the energy scattered back to the transceiver is collected and measured as a time-resolved signal. From the time delay between each outgoing transmitted pulse and the backscattered signal, the distance to the scatterer is inferred. The radial or line-of-sight velocity of the scatterers is determined from the Doppler frequency shift of the backscattered radiation. The DL uses a heterodyne detection technique in which the return signal is mixed with a reference laser beam (i.e., local oscillator) of known frequency. An onboard signal processing computer then determines the Doppler frequency shift from the spectra of the heterodyne signal. The energy content of the Doppler spectra can also be used to determine attenuated backscatter.

Thermal energy confinement times in NSTX dimensionless parameter scans increase with decreasing collisionality. While ion thermal transport is neoclassical, the source of anomalous electron thermal transport in these discharges remains unclear, leading to considerable uncertainty when extrapolating to future ST devices at much lower collisionality. Linear gyrokinetic simulations find microtearing modes to be unstable in high collisionality discharges. First non-linear gyrokinetic simulations of microtearing turbulence in NSTX show they can yield experimental levels of transport. Magnetic flutter is responsible for almost all the transport ({approx}98%), perturbed field line trajectories are globally stochastic, and a test particle stochastic transport model agrees to within 25% of the simulated transport. Most significantly, microtearing transport is predicted to increase with electron collisionality, consistent with the observed NSTX confinement scaling. While this suggests microtearing modes may be the source of electron thermal transport, the predictions are also very sensitive to electron temperature gradient, indicating the scaling of the instability threshold is important. In addition, microtearing turbulence is susceptible to suppression via sheared E-B flows as experimental values of E-B shear (comparable to the linear growth rates) dramatically reduce the transport below experimental values. Refinements in numerical resolution and physics model assumptions are expected to minimize …

Engineered trenches (ETs) are considered to be a cost-effective method for disposing Low Level Waste (LLW). Based on waste forecasts from waste generators, the last engineered trench in operation (ET No.2) is anticipated to close in FY14, requiring development of a new ET. Solid Waste requested that SRNL develop an assessment report that reviews four disposal options for this new ET (ET No.3) and determine which option would provide the 'best' Performance Assessment (PA) disposal limits for LLW (Appendix A). Those four options (see option footprint locations in Figure 1-1) are: (1) Disposal at grade on TRU Pads 7-13 where soil would be mounded over waste packages; (2) Excavation at a slightly modified SLIT No.13 location - near the Used Equipment Storage Area; (3) Excavation at a modified SLIT No.12 location - near the 643-26E Naval Reactor Component Disposal Area; and (4) Excavation east of TRU Pad No.26 that replaces northeast portions of four slit trench (ST) disposal units in the eastern set of STs. The assessment consisted of both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The quantitative analysis captured key aspects that were readily quantifiable and had predictable impacts on limits and doses. A simplified modeling strategy stemming from current Special …

1.4 MW of 30 MHz high-harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating, with current drive antenna phasing, has generated a Ip = 300kA, BT (0) = 0.55T deuterium H-mode plasma in the National Spherical Torus Experiment that has a non-inductive plasma current fraction, fNI = 0.7-1. Seventy-five percent of the non-inductive current was generated inside an internal transport barrier that formed at a normalized minor radius, r/a {approx} 0.4 . Three quarters of the non-inductive current was bootstrap current and the remaining non-inductive current was generated directly by HHFW power inside r/a {approx} 0.2.

This project demonstrated microwave cracking of ethane with good product conversion and ethylene selectivity, with a short residence time ({approx}0.001 sec). The laboratory scale equipment was designed and built, along with concept designs for larger scale implementation. The system was operated below atmospheric pressures, in the range of 15-55 torr, with argon as a carrier gas. The measured products included hydrogen, methane, acetylene, and ethylene. The results followed similar trends to those predicted by the modeling software SPYRO{reg_sign}, with the exception that the microwave appeared to produce slightly lower amounts of ethylene and methane, although enhanced analytical analysis should reduce the difference. Continued testing will be required to verify these results and quantify the energy consumption of microwave vs. conventional. The microwave cracking process is an attractive option due to the possibility of selectively heating the reaction volume rather than the reactor walls, which may allow novel reactor designs that result in more efficient production of ethylene. Supplemental studies are needed to continue the laboratory testing and refine processing parameters.

The installation of the Union Government in 2011 and the undertaking of initial reforms have raised the prospects for the resumption of a democratically elected civilian government in Burma after five decades of military rule. The release of Burma's political prisoners has a central role in U.S. policy and Burma's political future. Many of the U.S. sanctions on Burma were implemented after Burma's ruling military junta suppressed protests and detained many political prisoners. In addition, the removal of many of the existing U.S. sanctions requires the release of all political prisoners in Burma.

Since President Bush signed the FY2005 Intelligence Authorization bill in December 2004, no subsequent intelligence authorization legislation was enacted until the FY2010 bill was signed by President Obama in October 2010 (after the end of FY2010), becoming P.L. 111-259. Although the National Security Act requires intelligence activities to be specifically authorized, this requirement has been satisfied in recent years by one-sentence catchall provisions in defense appropriations acts authorizing intelligence activities. This procedure meets the statutory requirement but has, according to some observers, weakened the ability of Congress to oversee intelligence activities.

Prompt global strike (PGS) would allow the United States to strike targets anywhere on Earth with conventional weapons in as little as an hour. This capability may bolster U.S. efforts to deter and defeat adversaries by allowing the United States to attack high-value targets or “fleeting targets” at the start of or during a conflict. Congress has generally supported the PGS mission, but it has restricted funding and suggested some changes in funding for specific programs. Some concerns that Congress has shown are the Department of Defenses' rationale for the mission, the Air Force's ability to set up the system in a timely manner, and how the new START Treaty between the US and Russia will affect the system.

Nearly half a million miles of pipeline transporting natural gas, oil, and other hazardous liquids crisscross the United States. While an efficient and fundamentally safe means of transport, many pipelines carry materials with the potential to cause public injury and environmental damage. The nation's pipeline networks are also widespread and vulnerable to accidents and terrorist attack. As it oversees the federal pipeline safety program and the federal role in pipeline security, Congress may wish to assess how the various elements of U.S. pipeline safety and security fit together in the nation's overall strategy to protect transportation infrastructure. Pipeline safety and security necessarily involve many groups: federal agencies, oil and gas pipeline associations, large and small pipeline operators, and local communities. Reviewing how these groups work together to achieve common goals could be an oversight challenge for Congress.

This report discusses legislative action that applied the Budget Control Act (BCA)-mandated spending reduction to FY2012 defense funding legislation was taken by the Senate Appropriations Committee on September 7, 2011, when it adopted discretionary spending ceilings for each of its 12 subcommittees that required the Defense Subcommittee to cut $25.9 billion from the President's request for programs funded by the DOD Appropriations bill. On September 15, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported an amended version of the House-passed DOD Appropriations bill (H.R. 2219) that would cut $29.3 billion from the Administration request.

This report discusses the strategic significance of Guam for defense buildup and the force relocation and deployments from the U.S. mainland. It also discusses the concerns and issues for congress, such as allies and partner, China, and legislation.