Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal, state, and local governments share responsibility in preparing for catastrophic terrorist attacks. Because the national security threat is diffuse and the challenge is intergovernmental, national policymakers need a firm understanding of the interests, capacity, and challenges when formulating antiterrorism strategies. Key aspects of this strategy should include a definition and clarification of the appropriate roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local entities. GAO's has found fragmentation and overlap among federal assistance programs. More than 40 federal entities have roles in combating terrorism, and past federal efforts have resulted in a lack of accountability, a lack of cohesive effort, and duplication of programs. This situation has led to confusion, making it difficult to identify available federal preparedness resources and effectively partner with the federal government. Goals and performance measures should be established to guide the nation's preparedness efforts. For the nation's preparedness programs, however, outcomes have yet to be defined in terms of domestic preparedness. Given the recent and proposed increases in preparedness funding, real and meaningful improvements in preparedness and establishing clear goals and performance measures are critical to ensuring a successful and a fiscally responsible …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To control the export of defense items, the U.S. government requires exporters to obtain a license from the State Department. A license is not required to export many defense items to Canada, currently the only country-specific exemption to the licensing requirement. In May 2000, the U.S. government announced the Defense Trade Security Initiative, which included a proposal to grant Canadian-like export licensing exemptions to other qualified countries. Since the initiative was announced, the State Department has been negotiating such exemptions with the United Kingdom and Australia. Exporters have been implementing the Canadian exemption inconsistently. Moreover, some exporters are interpreting reporting requirements about the use of the exemption differently. The U.S. government has mechanisms in place to reduce the risk of defense items being inappropriately exported, but there are associated limitations. U.S. Customs officials attributed these enforcement weaknesses to a lack of information and resources, including inspectors to staff ports. In addition, there are competing demands on the agency, which include the prevention of terrorism, and the interdiction of illicit drugs, illegal currency, and stolen vehicles. Experience with the Canadian exemption shows that three areas need to …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army National Guard's funding requests for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 were overstated by $42.9 million and $31.6 million, respectively, because of inaccurate military strength and participation rates used to develop projected and actual military force levels. To correct these overstatements, the Guard is placing more emphasis on an existing personnel database reporting system that identifies the personnel assigned to a unit but who have not been paid for inactive duty training for three months or more. The Guard also improved the method it uses to calculate inactive duty training participation rates, now basing the rate on the number of people who have actually been paid for training, rather than on expected program costs."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO released an exposure draft on its Model of Strategic Human Capital Management, which is intended to help federal agency leaders better manage their organizations' most important asset--their people. The model is designed to help agency leaders effectively use their people, or human capital, and determine how well they integrate human capital considerations into daily decision-making and planning for the program results they seek to achieve. In so doing, the model highlights the importance of a sustained commitment by agency leaders to maximize the value of their agencies' human capital and manage related risks."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This Executive Guide describes fundamental practices and procedures used in the private sector to achieve consistent and accurate physical counts of inventory and related property. The Guide summarizes the fundamental principles that have been successfully implemented by companies recognized for their outstanding record of inventory management. It also explains and describes leading practices from which the federal government may be able to draw lessons and ideas. This guide applies to most forms of federal inventory, but some of the practices discussed may not be applicable to bulk, natural resource, and nonturning inventories, such as the Department of Energy's strategic petroleum reserve."

The treatment of Social Security in the federal budget is often confusing. In legislation enacted in 1983, 1985, and 1990, Social Security was excluded from official budget calculations and largely exempted it from congressional procedures for controlling budget revenues and expenditures. However, because Social Security represents more than a fifth of federal revenues and expenditures, it often is included in summaries of the government's financial flows, or what is referred to as the "unified" budget.

The major objectives of this project were to (a) measure the adsorption behavior of pure methane, nitrogen, CO{sub 2} and their binary and ternary mixtures on wet Tiffany coal at 130 F and pressures to 2000 psia; (b) correlate the equilibrium adsorption isotherm data using the extended Langmuir model, the Langmuir model, the loading ratio correlation and the Zhou-Gasem-Robinson equation of state; and (c) establish sorption-time estimates for the pure components. Specific accomplishments are summarized below regarding the complementary tasks involving experimental work and data correlation. Representative coal samples from BP Amoco Tiffany Injection Wells No.1 and No.10 were prepared, as requested. The equilibrium moisture content and particle size distribution of each coal sample were determined. Compositional coal analyses for both samples were performed by Huffman Laboratories, Inc. Pure gas adsorption for methane on wet Tiffany coal samples from Injection Wells No.1 and No.10 was measured separately at 130 F (327.6 K) and pressures to 2000 psia (13.7 MPa). The average expected uncertainty in these data is about 3% (9 SCF/ton). Our measurements indicate that the adsorption isotherms of the two coal samples exhibit similar Langmuir-type behavior. For the samples from the two wells, a maximum variation of about 5% …

Matrix shrinkage and swelling can cause profound changes in porosity and permeability of coalbed methane reservoirs during depletion or when under CO{sub 2} injection processes, with significant implication for primary or enhanced methane recovery. Two models that are used to describe these effects are discussed. The first was developed by Advanced Resources International (ARI) and published in 1990 by Sawyer, et al. The second model was published by Palmer and Mansoori in 1996. This paper shows that the two provide equivalent results for most applications. However, their differences in formulation cause each to have relative advantages and disadvantages under certain circumstances. Specifically, the former appears superior for undersaturated coalbed methane reservoirs while the latter would be better if a case is found where matrix swelling is strongly disproportional to gas concentration. Since its presentation in 1996, the Palmer and Mansoori model has justifiably received much critical praise. However, the model developed by ARI for the COMET reservoir simulation program has been in use since 1990, and has significant advantages in certain settings. A review of data published by Levine in 1996 reveals that carbon dioxide causes a greater degree of coal matrix swelling compared to methane, even when measured on …

This Management Plan has been developed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) to document how the Rainwater Wildlife Area (formerly known as the Rainwater Ranch) will be managed. The plan has been developed under a standardized planning process developed by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) for Columbia River Basin Wildlife Mitigation Projects (See Appendix A and Guiding Policies Section below). The plan outlines the framework for managing the project area, provides an assessment of existing conditions and key resource issues, and presents an array of habitat management and enhancement strategies. The plan culminates into a 5-Year Action Plan that will focus our management actions and prioritize funding during the Fiscal 2001-2005 planning period. This plan is a product of nearly two years of field studies and research, public scoping, and coordination with the Rainwater Advisory Committee. The committee consists of representatives from tribal government, state agencies, local government, public organizations, and members of the public. The plan is organized into several sections with Chapter 1 providing introductory information such as project location, purpose and need, project goals and objectives, common elements and assumptions, coordination efforts and public scoping, and historical information about the project area. Key …

his 2002 Facility Work Plan (FWP) has been prepared as required by Module VII,Permit Condition VII.U.3 of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Hazardous Waste Facility Permit, NM4890139088-TSDF (the Permit) (New Mexico Environment Department [NMED], 1999a), and incorporates comments from the NMED received onDecember 6, 2000 (NMED, 2000a). This February 2002 FWP describes the program-matic facility-wide approach to future investigations at Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU) and Areas of Concern (AOC) specified in the Permit. The Permittees are evaluating data from previous investigations of the SWMUs and AOCs against the mostrecent guidance proposed by the NMED. Based on these data, and completion of the August 2001 sampling requested by the NMED, the Permittees expect that no further sampling will be required and that a request for No Further Action (NFA) at the SWMUs and AOCs will be submitted to the NMED. This FWP addresses the current Permit requirements. It uses the results of previous investigations performed at WIPP and expands the investigations as required by the Permit. As an alternative to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)Facility Investigation (RFI) specified in Module VII of the Permit, current NMED guidance identifies an Accelerated Corrective Action Approach (ACAA) that may beused …

This project supplemented our regular DOE grant from the Basic Energy Sciences organization with the goal of fostering industrial partnerships and student internships. During the project period, we have interacted with between 15 and 20 companies in the optical fiber telecommunications equipment industry, and our students have participated in a number of highly visible projects with companies such as Ciena, Science Applications International Corporation, KDD, ATT, Virtual Photonics, Inc., Phaethon Telecommunications, PhotonEx, and others. The project led to many successful interactions and numerous job offers for our students.

The Gas Generation Test Program (GGTP), referred to as the Program, is designed to establish the concentration of flammable gases and/or gas generation rates in a test category waste container intended for shipment in the Transuranic Package Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II). The phrase "gas generationtesting" shall refer to any activity that establishes the flammable gas concentration or the flammable gas generation rate. This includes, but is not limited to, measurements performed directly on waste containers or during tests performed on waste containers. This Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) documents the quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) requirements that apply to the Program. The TRUPACT-II requirements and technical bases for allowable flammable gas concentration and gas generation rates are described in the TRUPACT-II Authorized Methods for Payload Control (TRAMPAC).

This 2002 Facility Work Plan (FWP) has been prepared as required by Module VII, Permit Condition VII.U.3 of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Hazardous Waste Facility Permit, NM4890139088-TSDF (the Permit) (New Mexico Environment Department [NMED], 1999a), and incorporates comments from the NMED received on December 6, 2000 (NMED, 2000a). This February 2002 FWP describes the programmatic facility-wide approach to future investigations at Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU) and Areas of Concern (AOC) specified in the Permit. The Permittees are evaluating data from previous investigations of the SWMUs and AOCs against the most recent guidance proposed by the NMED. Based on these data, and completion of the August 2001 sampling requested by the NMED, the Permittees expect that no further sampling will be required and that a request for No Further Action (NFA) at the SWMUs and AOCs will be submitted to the NMED. This FWP addresses the current Permit requirements. It uses the results of previous investigations performed at WIPP and expands the investigations as required by the Permit. As an alternative to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigation (RFI) specified in Module VII of the Permit, current NMED guidance identifies an Accelerated Corrective Action Approach …

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to an investigation by the joint task force of the Potter County District Attorney and the Special Investigations Unit, which led to the indictments of Danny Messer, Marian Kennedy, and Sharon Howery on counts of theft, tampering with governmental record, misapplication of fiduciary property, and aggravated perjury.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to evaluating the Texas Education Agency's (Agency) monitoring process, including an examination of the monitoring functions for discretionary grants, accountability evaluations, financial monitoring, and special education.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the key system controls used at the Employees Retirement System, and to assessing the effectiveness of those controls not covered by the System's external financial opinion audit.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit which led to a Travis County Grand Jury's indictment of Ernest bin Qadim'asil, a former employee of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and his wife Judy R. Ponder Qadim'asil, former General Counsel of the General Services Commission.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether the Workers' Compensation Commission's (Commission) reporting processes enable it to provide legislative budget committees and Commissioners with accurate and consistent financial information; determining whether the Commission is using appropriated funds in accordance with applicable state laws and regulations; and determining the relationship between funds and expended outcome results.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to financial statements submitted by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (Medical Branch) to the Department of Health for reimbursement from the State Owned Multi-Categorical Teaching Hospital Account (Account).

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining if the University of North Texas's (University) reporting processes enable it to provide legislative budget committees and University management with accurate and consistent financial information; determining if the University is using state appropriations and local funds in accordance with applicable state laws and regulations; and determining the relationship between funds expended and outcomes.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether institutions' procurement processes ensure that the best contractors are selected fairly and objectively; whether the methods institutions use to establish contract payments ensure that the State pays a fair and reasonable price for the goods and services; whether institutions' contract provisions and regulations hold contractors accountable for delivery of quality services and prevent the inappropriate or inefficient use of public funds; and whether institutions establish contractor oversight to ensure that contractors consistently provide quality goods and services and that public funds are spent efficiently and effectively.

Quarterly publication of the Texas Comptroller's Office regarding sales and use tax in the state of Texas, including an analysis by county, analysis by industry, and related notes.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Meaning of "lifetime service credit for purposes of subchapter D of chapter 41 of the Government Code, which mandates longevity pay for certain assisstant prosecutors (RQ-0042-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a member of the City Council of the City of Watauga may appoint himself to the Board of Directors of the Watagua Crime Control and prevention District.(RQ-0452-JC).