A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In carrying out its mission to ensure that securities markets are fair, orderly, and efficiently maintained, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relies extensively on computerized systems. Integrating effective information security controls into a layered control strategy is essential to ensure that SEC's financial and sensitive information are protected from inadvertent or deliberate misuse, disclosure, or destruction. As part of its audit of SEC's fiscal year 2007 financial statements, GAO assessed (1) the status of SEC's actions to correct previously reported information security weaknesses and (2) the effectiveness of SEC's controls for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information systems and information. To do this, GAO examined security plans, policies, and practices; interviewed pertinent officials; and conducted tests and observations of controls in operation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In accordance with 36 U.S.C. 2103, GAO is responsible for conducting audits of the agencywide financial statements of the American Battle Monuments Commission (the Commission). GAO audited the financial statements of the Commission for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2007, and 2006. The audits were done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the Commission's financial statements were presented fairly, and (2) Commission management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Also, GAO tested Commission management's compliance with selected laws and regulations. The Commission was created in 1923 to commemorate the sacrifices and achievements of U.S. Armed Forces where they have served overseas since April 6, 1917, and locations within the United States as directed by Congress. The Commission designs, operates, and maintains 24 American military cemeteries on foreign soil and 25 federal memorials, monuments, and markers, 22 of which are on foreign soil, that were financed from appropriated funds. The Commission was also responsible for designing and constructing the national World War II Memorial on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., and for maintaining seven nonfederal memorials …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on a wide variety of topics related to the permanent provisions (phase II) of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, focusing on: (1) statistics on background checks, denials, and appeals; (2) enforcement actions; (3) the National Instant Criminal Background Check System's (NICS) operations; and (4) pawnshop issues."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State's (State) Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program's objectives are to provide partner nations with counterterrorism training and equipment, improve bilateral ties, and increase respect for human rights. State's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (S/CT) provides policy guidance and its Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Office of Antiterrorism Assistance, (DS/T/ATA) manages program operations. GAO assessed (1) State's guidance for determining ATA priorities, (2) how State coordinates ATA with other counterterrorism programs, (3) the extent State established ATA program goals and measures, and (4) State's reporting on U.S. international counterterrorism assistance. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed State documents and met with cognizant officials in Washington, D.C., and four ATA program partner nations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Catastrophic disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, may result in trauma and other psychological consequences for the people who experience them. The federal government provides states with funding and other support to help them prepare for and respond to disasters. Because of congressional interest in these issues, GAO examined (1) federal agencies' actions to help states prepare for the psychological consequences of catastrophic disasters and (2) states' experiences obtaining and using grants from the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program (CCP) to respond to the psychological consequences of catastrophic disasters. CCP is a program of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). GAO reviewed documents and interviewed program officials from federal agencies and conducted additional work in six states with experience responding to catastrophic disasters: Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Texas, and Washington."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many forms of identification (ID) that federal employees and contractors use to access government-controlled buildings and information systems can be easily forged, stolen, or altered to allow unauthorized access. In an effort to increase the quality and security of federal ID and credentialing practices, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) in August 2004, requiring the establishment of a governmentwide standard for secure and reliable forms of ID. The resulting standard is referred to as the personal identity verification (PIV) card. GAO was asked to determine the progress selected agencies have made in (1) implementing the capabilities of the PIV cards to enhance security and (2) achieving interoperability with other agencies. To address these objectives, GAO selected eight agencies that have a range of experience in implementing smart card-based ID systems and analyzed what actions the agencies have taken to implement PIV cards."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) fiscal year (FY) 2001 budget as it relates to readiness needs, focusing on: (1) identifying the aggregated differences between the amounts Congress initially designated for the operation and maintenance (O&M) subactivities and those DOD reported as obligated for the same subactivities; (2) identifying those O&M subactivities where DOD obligated funds differently than congressionally initially designated in each year of the 5-year period GAO examined (1994 through 1998); and (3) assessing information available to Congress to track DOD's movement of funds among O&M subactivities."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On September 28, 2007, GAO issued a report detailing our findings of improper and abusive premium class travel governmentwide. The audit was performed at the request of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, and Senator Grassley, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate. As part of the audit, we tested premium class transactions at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). While our report provided recommendations to the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the purpose of this letter is to report on specific matters identified during our audit that relate to weaknesses in internal controls at MCC. This letter contains three recommendations that warrant management's consideration."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO analyzed the potential budgetary and economic effects of Nick Smith's proposal to reform Social Security."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program's goals are to enhance the security of U.S. citizens and visitors, facilitate legitimate travel and trade, ensure the integrity of the U.S. immigration system, and protect the privacy of visitors. It is to use biometric and biographic information to control and monitor the pre-entry, entry, status, and exit of foreign visitors. GAO was asked to determine (1) whether DHS has defined and economically justified a strategic solution for meeting US-VISIT goals; (2) the biometric technology options DHS has considered and the basis for the selected options; and (3) DHS's efforts to define, manage, and coordinate the relationships between US-VISIT and other immigration and border management programs. To accomplish this, GAO assessed key program documentation against relevant criteria and examined available biometric research."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the reasonableness of the Customs Services' underlying costs supporting its merchandise and air and sea passenger processing user fee."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA), the federal government provides millions of dollars annually to assist schools that have not met state academic goals. In the 2006-2007 school year, over 10,000 such schools were identified for improvement. NCLBA requires states to set aside 4 percent of their Title I funds to pay for school improvement efforts. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which states have set aside these funds and used other resources for school improvement, (2) which schools received improvement funds and the extent funds are tracked, (3) the activities states and schools have undertaken and how activities are assessed, and (4) how Education supports states' improvement efforts. GAO administered a survey to state education officials and received a 100 percent response rate, matched survey data to an Education database, and conducted site visits to five states."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For decades, GAO has assisted Congress in its oversight role and helped federal departments and agencies with disparate missions to improve the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of their operations. GAO's work provides important insight on matters such as best practices to be shared and benchmarked and how government and nongovernmental partners can become better aligned to achieve important outcomes for the nation. In addition, GAO provides Congress with foresight by highlighting the long-term implications of today's decisions and identifying key trends and emerging challenges facing our nation before they reach crisis proportions. For this hearing, GAO was asked to (1) highlight governmentwide issues where it has made a major contribution to oversight and could assist the intelligence and other congressional committees in their oversight of the Intelligence Community, and (2) comment on the potential impact on GAO's access to perform audit work on personnel security clearances if the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) were to assume management of this issue from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Given historical challenges to GAO's ability to audit the Intelligence Community's programs and activities, this testimony also …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the extent to which the Department of Defense (DOD) has moved funds that directly affect readiness to pay for real property maintenance and base operations, focusing on: (1) the net differences between the initial congressional designations of operation and maintenance (O&M) funding for real property maintenance and base operations and the amounts the services reported as obligated; (2) the net differences between the initial congressional designations of O&M funding for unit training and the amounts the services reported as obligated; and (3) determining from available DOD reports whether O&M funds were moved from unit training to pay for real property maintenance and base operations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Railroad Passenger Corporation's (Amtrak) use of funds, focusing on: (1) how much Amtrak has spent in Taxpayer Relief Act (TRA) funds and what types of activities it has funded; (2) whether Amtrak has used TRA funds in accordance with the act; (3) what the roles of the Amtrak Reform Council and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been in monitoring Amtrak's use of TRA funds; and (4) whether Amtrak fully reports its use of TRA funds."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the results of its fiscal year (FY) 1999 financial statement audit of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the progress of the Small Business Administration's (SBA) efforts to implement its loan monitoring system, focusing on: (1) SBA's progress in completing the mandated actions of the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997; (2) GAO's evaluation of SBA's products completed thus far; (3) the processes used to develop these products and manage key activities; and (4) actions SBA needs to take to manage risks."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) creation of the Center for Rural Studies (CRS) Trust, focusing on: (1) the significant events pertaining to the creation, funding, and operation of CRS as well as any investigations of CRS; (2) how TVA accounted for the funds returned to TVA; and (3) the oversight of TVA activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal year (FY) 1999 financial statements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Established in 1971, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) library network provides staff and the public with access to environmental information. Its 26 libraries contain a wide range of information and resources and are located at headquarters, regional offices, research centers, and laboratories nationwide. In 2006, EPA issued a plan to reorganize the network beginning in fiscal year 2007. The plan proposed closing libraries and dispersing, disposing of, and digitizing library materials. GAO was asked to assess (1) the status of, and plans for, the network reorganization; (2) EPA's rationale for reorganizing the network; (3) the extent to which EPA has communicated with and solicited the views of EPA staff and external stakeholders in conducting the reorganization; (4) EPA's steps to maintain the quality of library services after the reorganization; and (5) how EPA is funding the network and its reorganization. For this study, GAO reviewed pertinent EPA documents and interviewed EPA officials and staff from each of the libraries."

Article discussing sun-climate complexity linking and how this property is a consequence of the phenomenon of information transfer.

This report provides a description of uranium contamination in the subsurface at the Hanford Site's 300 Area. The principal focus is a persistence plume in groundwater, which has not attenuated as predicted by earlier remedial investigations. Included in the report are chapters on current conditions, hydrogeologic framework, groundwater flow modeling, and geochemical considerations. The report is intended to describe what is known or inferred about the uranium contamination for the purpose of making remedial action decisions.

The 5s-5p electric-dipole resonance transitions in highly ionized promethiumlike ions have been studied applying relativistic multi-reference Moeller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory. The transition wavelengths are determined to within 0.2 {angstrom} in the more highly charged ions, where the level degeneracies are small. For somewhat lighter ions a very large reference space was used in order to account for the many degeneracies. In order to calculate transition probabilities and lifetimes, correlation corrections have been added to the transition operator in the next order. The contributions from the higher orders of the theory, that is, frequency-dependent Breit correction, Lamb shift, and mass shifts, have been estimated. The results are used to re-assess spectroscopic data from beam-foil, electron beam ion trap, and tokamak observations.

The 100-F-26:14 waste site includes underground pipelines associated with the 116-F-5 Ball Washer Crib and remnants of process pipelines on the west side of the 105-F Building. In accordance with this evaluation, the verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of verification sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.