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.

This report provides background information on the C-17 Aircraft program, including previous appropriations, related programs, and issues for Congress. The primary issue for Congress in FY2010 is whether to procure additional C-17s. An additional issue is whether to pass legislation relating to the airlift aircraft force structure. Congress's decisions on these issues could affect DOD capabilities and funding requirements and the U.S. military aircraft industrial base.

This is an analytical data report for groundwater samples received from CHPRC.

This report discusses a developing issue in the law of search and seizure: whether the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution permits warrantless searches of the content of laptop computers and other electronic storage devices at U.S. borders. The federal courts that have addressed this issue have held that the border search exception to the Fourth Amendment applies to these searches, making warrantless searches permissible.

This report examines the statues that permit the disbarring and suspension of government contractors, exclusions to those statutes, and the rights of the contractors.

This report examines the relationships between selected variables of economic strength and crime. It begins with an overview of crime rates during times of economic recession in the United States. It then reviews the existing literature in the field analyzing various data sets that examine whether the unemployment rate and foreclosures can be related to increases in the national crime rate.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 required the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accelerate their exchange of health information and to develop systems or capabilities that allow for interoperability (generally, the ability of systems to exchange data) by September 30, 2009. It also required compliance with federal standards and the establishment of a joint interagency program office to function as a single point of accountability for the effort. Further, the act directed GAO to semiannually report on the progress made in achieving these requirements. For this third report, GAO evaluated (1) the departments' progress and plans toward sharing fully interoperable electronic health information that comply with federal standards and (2) whether the interagency program office is positioned to function as a single point of accountability. To do so, GAO analyzed agency documentation on project status and conducted interviews with agency officials."

This report examines the federal drug enforcement data reported annually by key agencies charged with enforcing federal drug control laws.

This report gives a brief history of modern U.S. foreign aid and modern legislative efforts to reform foreign aid practices. The report also examines various recommendations from recent studies relating to foreign aid reform.

This report discusses guest worker programs. The United States has two main programs for temporarily importing low-skilled workers, or guest workers. Agricultural guest workers enter through the H-2A visa program, and other guest workers enter through the H-2B visa program.

This report discusses the relationship between the United States and Japan, including Japanese efforts to support the U.S. in the wake of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and the two countries' economic ties, especially with regards to the recent economic downturn.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reports that there were about 300 fatalities from bus crashes in the United States. Although bus crashes are relatively rare, they are particularly deadly since many individuals may be involved. FMCSA tries to identify unsafe motor coach carriers and take them off the road. GAO was asked to determine (1) to the extent possible, the number of motor coach carriers registered with FMCSA as new entrants in fiscal years 2007 and 2008 that are substantially related to or in essence the same carriers the agency previously ordered out of service, and (2) what tools FMCSA uses to identify reincarnated carriers. To identify new entrants that were substantially related to carriers placed out of service, we analyzed FMCSA data to find matches on key fields (e.g., ownership, phone numbers, etc.). Our analysis understates the actual number of reincarnated carriers because, among other things, the matching scheme used cannot detect minor spelling changes or other deception efforts. We interviewed FMCSA officials on how the agency identifies reincarnated carriers. GAO is not making any recommendations. In July 2009, GAO briefed …

The International Sherwood Theory Meeting is a yearly meeting that focuses on the theory of magnetically confined fusion plasmas. There are many topics of common interest in fusion plasma systems and space and astrophysical plasmas. These common topics include such key topics as magnetic reconnection, the dynamo, turbulence and transport and particle heating and acceleration. One of the major participants of the April APS meeting is the APS Division of Astrophysics (DAP). The goal of having the Sherwood Meeting jointly with the April meeting was to promote discussion of topics of common interest in fusion and space and astrophysics. Scientists from the DAP, the Division of Plasma Physics (DPP), the Topical Group on Plasma Astrophysics (GPAP) and Sherwood worked together closely to produce a joint program that addressed areas of common interest. Four sessions of invited talks were sponsored jointly by the DAP, DPP and GPAP on laboratory experiments related to astrophysics. Plasma scientists working in theory and computation play a key role in connecting these laboratory experiments to the very disparate conditions found in fusion and astrophysical systems. Thus, the attendees of the Sherwood Theory meeting were critical to facilitating this effort at cross-disciplinary communication. Noteworthy were the selection …

Research is being conducted for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to assess the effectiveness and reliability of advanced nondestructive examination (NDE) methods for the inspection of light water reactor components. The scope of this research encompasses primary system pressure boundary materials including cast austenitic stainless steels (CASS); dissimilar metal welds; piping with corrosion-resistant cladding; weld overlays, inlays and onlays; and far-side examinations of austenitic piping welds. A primary objective of this work is to evaluate various NDE methods to assess their ability to detect, localize, and size cracks in coarse-grained steel components. In this effort, PNNL supports cooperation with Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) to assess reliable inspection of CASS materials. The NRC Project Manager has established a cooperative effort with the Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN). CEA, under funding from IRSN, are supporting collaborative efforts with the NRC and PNNL. Regarding its work on the NDE of materials, CEA is providing its modeling software (CIVA) in exchange for PNNL offering expertise and data related to phased-array detection and sizing, acoustic attenuation, and back scattering on CASS materials. This collaboration benefits the NRC because CEA performs research and development …

This report contains the political conditions and U.S. policy with Venezuela.

This report provides an in depth look at political and economic conditions in Venezuela and examines their impact on U.S. policy.

We report on our progress from April 2007 through March 2008 on determining the effects of mitigative measures on productivity of white sturgeon populations in the Columbia River downstream from McNary Dam, and on determining the status and habitat requirements of white sturgeon populations in the Columbia and Snake rivers upstream from McNary Dam. The study is a cooperative effort by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW; Report A), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW; Report B), Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC; Report C), and Montana State University (MSU; Report D). This is a multi-year study with many objectives requiring more than one year to complete; therefore, findings from a given year may be part of more significant findings yet to be reported.

This report is a brief Overview of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, enacted as Title V of P.L. 110-252 that provides enhanced educational benefits for veterans and service members.

This report provides a brief overview of the climate change issue as well as other Clean Air Act issues of interest in the 110th Congress.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) business systems modernization as a high-risk program because, among other things, it has been challenged in implementing key information technology (IT) management controls on its thousands of business systems. The Global Combat Support System-Marine Corps program is one such system. Initiated in 2003, the program is to modernize the Marine Corps logistics systems. The first increment is to cost about $442 million and be deployed in fiscal year 2010. GAO was asked to determine whether the Department of the Navy is effectively implementing IT management controls on this program. To accomplish this, GAO analyzed the program's implementation of several key IT management disciplines, including economic justification, earned value management, risk management, and system quality measurement."

Biomass utilization is one solution to our nation’s addiction to oil and fossil fuels. What is needed now is applied fundamental research that will cause economic technology development for the utilization of the diverse biomass resources in the United States. This Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) applied fundamental research project contributes to the development of economical biomass utilization for energy, transportation fuels, and marketable chemicals using biorefinery methods that include thermochemical and fermentation processes. The fundamental and basic applied research supports the broad scientific objectives of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program, especially in the area of developing alternative renewable biofuels, sustainable bioenergy, technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental remediation. Its deliverables include 1) identifying and understanding environmental consequences of energy production from biomass, including the impacts on greenhouse gas production, carbon emission abatement, and utilization of waste biomass residues and 2) developing biology-based solutions that address DOE and national needs related to waste cleanup, hydrogen production from renewable biomass, biological and chemical processes for energy and fuel production, and environmental stewardship. This project serves the public purpose of encouraging good environmental stewardship by developing biomass-refining technologies that can dramatically increase domestic energy production to …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are required to accelerate the exchange of health information between the departments and to develop systems or capabilities that allow for full interoperability (generally, the ability of systems to use data that are exchanged) and that are compliant with federal standards. The act also established a joint interagency program office to act as a single point of accountability for the effort, whose function is to implement such systems or capabilities by September 30, 2009. Further, the act required that GAO semi-annually report on the progress made in achieving these goals. For this first report, GAO describes the departments' progress to date in sharing electronic health information, developing electronic health records that comply with federal standards, and setting up the joint interagency program office. To do so, GAO reviewed its past work, analyzed agency documentation, and conducted interviews with agency officials."

This report shows that the near elderly are significantly more likely than other non-aged adults to be in fair or poor health, and to have had a heart attach or stroke.

Optically-based hydrogen sensors promise to deliver an added level of safety as hydrogen and fuel cell technologies enter the mainstream. More importantly, they offer reduced power consumption and lower cost, which are desirable for mass production applications such as automobiles and consumer appliances. This program addressed two of the major challenges previously identified in porous optrode-based optical hydrogen sensors: sensitivity to moisture (ambient humidity), and interference from the oxygen in air. Polymer coatings to inhibit moisture and oxygen were developed in conjunction with newer and novel hydrogen sensing chemistries. The results showed that it is possible to achieve sensitive hydrogen detection and rapid response with minimal interference from oxygen and humidity. As a result of this work, a new and more exciting avenue of investigation was developed: the elimination of the porous optrode and deposition of the sensor chemistry directly into the polymer film. Initial results have been promising, and open up a wider range of potential applications from extended optical fiber sensing networks, to simple plastic "stickers" for use around the home and office.