This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping. It also appends citations to state law in the area and contains a bibliography of legal commentary as well as the text of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This report also includes a brief summary of the recently expired Protect America Act, P.L. 110-55 and of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, P.L. 110-261 (H.R. 6304).

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As the Department of Defense (DOD) prepares for the 2005 base realignment and closure (BRAC) round, questions continue to be raised about the transfer and environmental cleanup of unneeded property arising from the prior four BRAC rounds and their impact on cost and savings and on local economies. This report, which is being issued to the defense authorization committees that have oversight responsibility over defense infrastructure, describes DOD's progress in implementing prior BRAC postclosure actions. It addresses (1) the transfer of unneeded base property to other users, (2) the magnitude of the net savings accruing from the prior rounds, (3) estimated costs for environmental cleanup of BRAC property, and (4) the economic recovery of communities affected by base closures."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) added a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, which became effective January 1, 2006. To assist Medicare beneficiaries with their prescription drug costs until the new benefit became available, the MMA also required the establishment of a temporary program, the Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card and Transitional Assistance Program, which began in June 2004. The drug card program offers Medicare beneficiaries access to discounts off the retail price of prescription drugs at the point of sale. All Medicare beneficiaries, except those receiving Medicaid drug coverage, were eligible to enroll in the drug card program. Certain low-income beneficiaries without other drug coverage qualified for an additional benefit, a transitional assistance (TA) subsidy that can be applied toward the cost of drugs covered under the drug card program. Drug cards were offered and are managed by private organizations, known as drug card sponsors. General drug cards were available to all eligible beneficiaries living in a card's service area; there are both national and regional general cards. Exclusive and special endorsement drug cards were available to specific beneficiary groups. …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Government-sponsored public service announcement (PSA) campaigns are prepackaged messages generally placed for free through various media to promote designated government activities, programs, or services. Although PSAs may be placed for free, PSA campaigns may still incur financial obligations for production. GAO was mandated to provide information about federal PSA campaign activities by a House Appropriations Committee report (House Report No.108-671). GAO received detailed information on PSA campaigns for the seven federal departments with the highest obligations for public relations and advertising in fiscal year 2003--Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs--as reported in a governmentwide federal procurement data system. GAO submitted questionnaires to these seven departments to obtain information for fiscal year 2003 through the second quarter of fiscal year 2005 on (1) obligations incurred for PSA campaigns, including whether obligations were incurred externally, such as through a contract, or internally; (2) the purpose, audience, and type of media employed; and (3) whether campaigns were evaluated for success and their results published in performance reports, including Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) reports."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations, and individual members of the media to provide, among other things, messages about its programs and services. As we have reported, there is a lack of accurate governmentwide information on these contracts. Seven federal departments account for nearly all the obligated federal dollars for public relations and advertising activities in fiscal year 2003--Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs. GAO submitted a questionnaire to each of these seven departments to obtain information for fiscal year 2003 through the second quarter of fiscal year 2005 on (1) the number of contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations, and individual members of the media for which obligations have been incurred; (2) the total amount of contract obligations incurred on each contract by fiscal year; (3) the method by which the contract was awarded--competed, noncompeted, follow-on to competed action, or not available for competition; and (4) summaries of the purpose and scope of work to be performed under each contract."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recently, the Army forecast that it would experience a 4.5-million-acre training land shortfall by 2013 and proposed to purchase additional land adjacent to certain existing training ranges. In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's approach for acquiring training land. This report (1) evaluates the Army's approach to the acquisition of training land, (2) describes the Army's consideration of alternatives and assessment of the environmental and economic effects, and (3) analyzes the Army's effectiveness in communicating its approach for making decisions to pursue these acquisitions before the Office of the Secretary of Defense's (OSD) approval. GAO reviewed the Army strategic plan for training lands and other relevant documents, and focused on all five land acquisitions since 2002 at Fort Irwin, California; three training sites in Hawaii; and the proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Colorado."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2007, the Army announced that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) had approved its request to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado, by acquiring up to an additional 418,577 acres. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 required the Army to address 29 provisions related to the expansion in a report to Congress. In July 2008, the Army reported that, although it had revalidated the requirement for at least 418,577 additional acres at the maneuver site, in response to community, cost, and other concerns it now proposed to limit the acquisition of additional training land to 100,000 acres. The act also required GAO to review the Army's report and the justification for the proposed expansion. This report examines the extent to which the Army's report (1) addresses the provisions of the mandate and (2) explains the selection of the 100,000-acre site. GAO compared the mandate requirements with the responses in the Army's report, met with Army officials to discuss the expansion, and visited the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site and Fort Carson."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (Fund) is a $1 billion fund that has two major components: the Emergency Fund and the Principal Fund. The Emergency Fund is used for paying for federal removal actions and the initiation of natural resource damage assessments by designated federal, state, or Indian tribe officials, resulting from oil spills or the substantial threat of oil spills to the waters or shorelines of the United States. The Principal Fund is used for paying certain claims for uncompensated removal costs and damages resulting from oil spills or the substantial threat of oil spills to the waters or shorelines of the United States. The Fund is administered by the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). In May 2002, we issued a legal opinion related to the uses and limitations of the Fund and concluded that the Fund is not available to pay employee salaries and other operating expenses. The USCG reported that from fiscal years 1998 through 2002, $32.8 million from the Fund was used to pay costs associated with processing claims, including salaries and other operating expenses. In April …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare pays for assistant-atsurgery services under both the hospital inpatient prospective payment system and the physician fee schedule. Payments under the physician fee schedule are limited to a few health professions. In 2001, Congress directed GAO to report on the potential impact on the Medicare program of allowing physician fee schedule payments to Certified Registered Nurse First Assistants for assistant-at-surgery services. This report examines: (1) who serves as an assistant-atsurgery, (2) whether health professionals who perform the role must meet a uniform set of professional requirements, and (3) whether Medicare's payment policies for assistants-at-surgery are consistent with the goals of the program and, if not, whether there are alternatives that would help attain those goals. GAO analyzed information provided by physician and other health professional associations and Medicare payment data."

Financing for social security -- Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance -- and the Hospital Insurance part of Medicare is provided primarily by taxes levied on wages and net self-employment income. Financing for the Supplementary Medical Insurance portion of Medicare is provided by premiums from enrollees and payments from the government. This report describes these taxes and premiums.

This report contains a table that lists the number of retired Members of Congress and the average amount of congressional pension they receive in retirement.

Executive Correspondence – letter to Commissioner Newton from Lt. General Eugene Tattini, USAF Retired concerning DCN 1848 submitted to the BRAC Commission.

Executive Correspondence – letter to Chairman Principi from Under Secretary of Defense Michael Wynne offering his staff to assist in reviewing the BRAC Commission’s recommendations.

Executive Correspondence – letter to Chairman Principi from Anne Rathmell Davis responding to a question by the BRAC Commission.

Executive Correspondence – letter to Chairman Principi from Robert Fossum, PhD enclosing a letter sent to the Secretary of the Navy regarding Naval Post Graduate School.

Executive Correspondence – letter to Chairman Principi from Rob Reynolds concerning DFAS

Executive Correspondence – Resolutions in support of Niagara Falls Air Base.

Executive Correspondence – letter to Chairman Principi from Anne Rathmell Davis concerning an inquiry from BRAC staff concerning NAS Atlanta.

The pulse radiolysis of N2O saturated aqueous solutions of KSCN was studied under neutral pH conditions. The observed optical absorption spectrum of the SCN• radical in solution is more complex than previously reported, but it is in good agreement with that measured in the gas phase. Kinetic traces at 330 nm and 472 nm corresponding to SCN• and (SCN)2•¯, respectively, were fit using a Monte Carlo simulation kinetic model. The rate coefficient for the oxidation of SCN¯ ions by OH radicals, an important reaction used in competition kinetics measurements, was found to be 1.4 ± 0.1 x 1010 M-1 s-1, about 30 % higher than the normally accepted value. A detailed discussion of the reaction mechanism is presented.

In the UK the study of laser produced plasmas and their applications began in the universities and evolved to a current system where the research is mainly carried out at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Central Laser Facility ( CLF) which is provided to support the universities. My own research work has been closely tied to this evolution and in this review I describe the history with particular reference to my participation in it.

Nuclear power plants typically use waste heat rejection systems such as cooling lakes and natural draft cooling towers. These systems are designed to reduce cooling water temperatures sufficiently to allow full power operation even during adverse meteorological conditions. After the power plant is operational, the performance of the cooling system is assessed. These assessments usually rely on measured temperatures of the cooling water after it has lost heat to the environment and is being pumped back into the power plant (cooling water inlet temperature). If the cooling system performance is not perceived to be optimal, the utility will collect additional data to determine why. This paper discusses the use of thermal imagery collected from aircraft and satellites combined with numerical simulation to better understand the dynamics and thermodynamics of nuclear power plant waste heat dissipation systems. The ANS meeting presentation will discuss analyses of several power plant cooling systems based on a combination of remote sensing data and hydrodynamic modeling.

According to the results from a Livermore computer model, some of the small change jingling in your pocket contains zinc and copper created in massive gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that rank as the most impressive light shows in the universe. Livermore astrophysicist Jason Pruet and his colleagues Rebecca Surman and Gail McLaughlin from North Carolina State University (NCSU) reported on their calculations in the February 20, 2004, issue of ''Astrophysical Journal Letters''. They found that GRBs from black holes surrounded by a disk of dense, hot plasma may have contributed heavily to the galactic inventory of elements such as calcium, scandium, titanium, zinc, and copper. ''A typical GRB of this kind briefly outshines all the stars in millions of galaxies combined'', says Pruet. ''Plus it makes about 100 times as much of some common elements as an ordinary supernova''.

Second-order vibrational spectroscopies successfully isolate signals from interfaces, but they report on intermolecular structure in a complicated and indirect way. Here we adapt a perspective on vibrational response developed for bulk spectroscopies to explore the microscopic fluctuations to which sum frequency generation (SFG), a popular surface-specific measurement, is most sensitive. We focus exclusively on inhomogeneous broadening of spectral susceptibilities for OH stretching of HOD as a dilute solute in D{sub 2}O. Exploiting a simple connection between vibrational frequency shifts and an electric field variable, we identify several functions of molecular orientation whose averages govern SFG. The frequency-dependence of these quantities is well captured by a pair of averages, involving alignment of OH and OD bonds with the surface normal at corresponding values of the electric field. The approximate form we obtain for SFG susceptibility highlights a dramatic sensitivity to the way a simulated liquid slab is partitioned for calculating second-order response.

This report is a compilation of the groundwater sampling results from the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) including calendar year 2008 results. Each of the three Pilot Wells was sampled on March 11, 2008, and September 10, 2008. These wells were sampled for the following indicators of contamination: pH, specific conductance, total organic carbon, total organic halides, and tritium. Indicators of general water chemistry (cations and anions) were also monitored. Results from all samples collected in 2008 were within the limits established by agreement with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection for each analyte. These data indicate that there has been no measurable impact to the uppermost aquifer from the Area 5 RWMS. There were no significant changes in measured groundwater parameters compared to previous years. Other information in the report includes an updated Cumulative Chronology for the Area 5 RWMS Groundwater Monitoring Program and a brief description of the site hydrogeology.