Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its supply chain network is critical to supporting military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere and also represents a substantial investment of resources. As a result of weaknesses in DOD's management of supply inventories and responsiveness to warfighter requirements, supply chain management is on GAO's list of high-risk federal government programs and operations. In July 2010, DOD issued a new Logistics Strategic Plan that represents the department's current vision and direction for supply chain management and other logistics areas. Today's testimony draws from GAO's prior related work and observations from an ongoing review of DOD supply chain management, and, as requested, will (1) describe DOD's prior strategic planning efforts in the area of logistics, (2) highlight key elements in the new Logistics Strategic Plan, and (3) discuss opportunities for improvement in future iterations of this plan. In conducting its ongoing audit work, GAO reviewed the Logistics Strategic Plan, compared elements in the plan with effective strategic planning practices, and met with cognizant officials from DOD, the military services, and other DOD components as appropriate."

Transcription, translation and linguistic analysis of the recording of Juru reciting "Baduldana," in the Yasin dialect. This is a popular story that tells about a king named Baduldana that was unable to sire children. To help him, his servants go out into a barren land searching for a mystical man, and when they bring him back, he helps the King.

Transcription, translation and linguistic (morphemic) analysis of the story "Hamale Khatun" narrated by Naseema Ali, a speaker of the Nagar dialect of Burushaski. In this popular story Hamale Khatun is invited to the house of a paranormal Queen, and stitches clothing for all of her sons and daughters at their weddings. When she returns home, Hamale Khatun comes with warnings to remain moral by the Queen, and tries to make sure her children obey them.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James A. Kistler. Kistler joined the Army in April 1944. He trained at Fort Bliss and was sent to San Diego to man a 40mm anti-aircraft position. Kistler was then sent to Luzon, Philippine Islands where he witnessed the aftermath of the battle for Manila. He then went to Japan for occupation duty and became a member of the 292nd Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) until he returned to the States in the summer of 1946. He was discharged soon after his return.

Transcription and free English translation of the recording of Ruqayya Bano explaining the recipe for ghulmaldi, a yogurt dip, in the Nagar Burushaski.

Transcription of the recording of Ruqayya Bano, a speaker of Nagar Burushaski, giving the recipe of Garmamuc, a type of fried leavened bread.

Transcription and free English translation of Naseema Ali reciting "Hamale Khatun," in the Nagar dialect. In this popular story Hamale Khatun is invited to the house of a paranormal Queen, and stitches clothing for all of her sons and daughters at their weddings. When she returns home, Hamale Khatun comes with warnings to remain moral by the Queen, and tries to make sure her children obey them.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses lifetime costs of supporting the newest generation of veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates one of the largest health care delivery systems in the nation, providing care to a diverse population of veterans. VA operates about 150 hospitals, 130 nursing homes, and 820 outpatient clinics through 21 regional health care networks called Veterans Integrated Service Networks. VA is responsible for providing health care services to various populations--including an aging veteran population and a growing number of younger veterans returning from the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Budgeting for this vital health care mission is inherently complex. It is based on current assumptions and imperfect information, not only about program needs, but also on future economic and policy actions that may affect demand and the cost of providing these services. Adding to this complexity, VA has recognized over the years the need to plan and budget for facility modernization, and realign its real property portfolio to provide accessible, high-quality, and cost-effective access to its services. The statement today addresses VA's real property realignment efforts and VA's approach to developing budget estimates for health …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world, the Department of Defense (DOD) faces many challenges in resolving serious problems in its financial management and related business operations and systems. DOD is required by various statutes to (1) improve its financial management processes, controls, and systems to ensure that complete, reliable, consistent, and timely information is prepared and responsive to the financial information needs of agency management and oversight bodies, and (2) produce audited financial statements. Over the years, DOD has initiated numerous efforts to improve the department's financial management operations and achieve an unqualified (clean) opinion on the reliability of its reported financial information. These efforts have fallen short of sustained improvement in financial management or financial statement auditability. The Subcommittee has asked GAO to provide its perspective on the status of DOD's financial management weaknesses and its efforts to resolve them; the challenges DOD continues to face in improving its financial management and operations; and the status of its efforts to implement automated business systems as a critical element of DOD's Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness strategy."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the potential for overlap, duplication and fragmentation in economic development programs. In March 2011 and more recently in May 2011 we reported on potential duplication among federal economic development programs; this statement discusses this work. We are involved in ongoing work focusing on economic development programs; if they are administered efficiently and effectively, they can contribute to the well-being of our nation's economy at the least cost to taxpayers. Absent a common definition for economic development, we had previously developed a list of nine activities most often associated with economic development. These activities include planning and developing strategies for job creation and retention, developing new markets for existing products, building infrastructure by constructing roads and sewer systems to attract industry to undeveloped areas, and establishing business incubators to provide facilities for new businesses' operations. Our recent work includes information on 80 economic development programs at four agencies--the Departments of Commerce (Commerce), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Agriculture (USDA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). Commerce administers 11 of the 80 programs. According to the agencies, funding provided for these 80 programs in fiscal year …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government has numerous programs designed to improve Americans' financial literacy, some of which are targeted at helping consumers determine whether and when to purchase a home, how to manage a mortgage, and how to deal with setbacks that could limit their ability to make timely mortgage payments. However, as we have reported, little is known about the effectiveness of specific strategies for improving financial literacy. In the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), Congress created a pilot program to provide grants to providers of financial education and counseling services to prospective homebuyers. Pursuant to HERA, the goals of this education and counseling include increasing the knowledge and decision-making capabilities of prospective homebuyers, identifying successful methods resulting in positive behavioral change for financial empowerment, and educating prospective homebuyers about options for building savings. HERA also mandated that we submit a report to Congress evaluating this grant program, which was later named the Financial Education and Counseling (FEC) Pilot Program. Accordingly, the objectives of this report are to describe (1) the characteristics of the organizations providing services under the FEC program and how they were selected, …

Transcript of an oral interview with Paul G. Johnson. Johnson finished high school in 1938 and was working when he joined the US Army Air Corps in early 1942. He qualified for flight training and ultimately trained in Florida on B-17 bombers. He was assigned to the 412th Squadron, 95th Bomb Group i nthe 8th Air Force and sent to the European Theater of Operations. Johnson flew 35 missions and describes his job as a pilot. Toward the end of the war, Johnson was stationed on Guam. He was there when the wasr ended and sailed back to San Francisco.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Traffic fatalities and fatality rates have substantially decreased over the last 10 years, yet far too many people continue to be killed or injured on the nation's roadways. In addition, auto safety defect recalls are on the rise. On average, about 70 percent of vehicles subject to a recall are fixed, leaving the remainder to continue posing risks to vehicle owners, passengers, and pedestrians. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) administers programs that provide grants to states to improve traffic safety and oversees the identification and remedy of vehicle and equipment defects that could pose an unreasonable risk to safety. The upcoming reauthorization of surface transportation programs affords Congress an opportunity to strengthen these grant programs in several ways and to address gaps GAO identified in NHTSA's auto recall process. This statement addresses (1) NHTSA's progress in improving oversight and performance measurement for traffic safety grant programs, (2) NHTSA's oversight of the auto safety defect process, and (3) issues for Congress to consider in reauthorizing funding for traffic and vehicle safety programs. This statement is based primarily on reports GAO has issued since enactment of the Safe, …

The Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) field campaign will provide a detailed set of observations with which to (1) perform radiative and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) closure studies, (2) evaluate a new retrieval algorithm for aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the presence of clouds using passive remote sensing, (3) extend a previously developed technique to investigate aerosol indirect effects, and (4) evaluate the performance of a detailed regional-scale model and a more parameterized global-scale model in simulating particle activation and AOD associated with the aging of anthropogenic aerosols. To meet these science objectives, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility will deploy the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) and the Mobile Aerosol Observing System (MAOS) on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for a 12-month period starting in the summer of 2012 in order to quantify aerosol properties, radiation, and cloud characteristics at a location subject to both clear and cloudy conditions, and clean and polluted conditions. These observations will be supplemented by two aircraft intensive observation periods (IOPs), one in the summer and a second in the winter. Each IOP will deploy one, and possibly two, aircraft depending on available resources. The first aircraft will be equipped with a suite of in situ …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, BOP uses different factors in estimating the daily costs of its facilities and community corrections and incorporating certain additional factors would increase the daily cost per inmate for its facilities. Specifically, BOP estimates daily costs per inmate for its prison facilities using operational costs such as staff salaries and training, inmate food, and medical supplies, among other things, but does not include factors such as construction of new prisons, certain modernization and repair (M&R) projects, or depreciation of its existing facilities. According to BOP, these M&R projects and depreciation are incorporated into budget requests, financial statements, and a user fee BOP computes to bill states for the full costs of housing state prisoners. Adding these costs into BOP’s estimates would raise the costs from between $4.39 and $4.82 per day per inmate for the last 3 fiscal years. For community corrections, BOP estimates daily costs using the contract per diem rates paid to the private companies that operate RRCs and monitor inmates on home detention and the costs of management and oversight by BOP Community Corrections officials and subtracts out subsistence fees paid by inmates in …

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Underwood & Clara Nazro House, in Houston, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Clyde “Bert” Moore. Moore was born in Norman, Indiana 2 October 1923. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1942 and attended boot camp in San Diego, California. After boot camp, he was assigned guard duty at the Bremerton Navy Yard. Following this assignment he underwent training for special weapons at Camp Pendleton. He tells of spending 57 days aboard ship awaiting the invasion of Guam and vividly describes combat including surviving a banzai charge. Following Guam the division trained for the invasion of Iwo Jima. Moore landed on the second day of the invasion. He describes the heat and volcanic ash conditions and the heavy artillery and machine gun fire he encountered. He was awarded the Bronze Star while for service at Iwo Jima. He tells of being hospitalized on Guam and returning to the United States aboard a hospital ship. Soon after his return he received his discharge.

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Application of the Open Meetings Act, chapter 551 of the Government Code, to a coordinated county transportation authority created under chapter 460 of the Transportation Code, and to its committees (RQ-1042-GA)

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a commissioners court may execute a surface lease of county school land that contains a term obligating the lessee to make expenditures for land management and maintenance.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Milton Haby. Haby joined the Army in 1942. He served with the 13th Armored Division, overseeing six parts trucks. He deployed to France in January of 1945. They traveled through Germany, participating in the Ruhr Pocket operation in April. Haby returned to the US an received his discharge in July of 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with William Meriwether. Meriwether was studying to become a doctor when he entered the Army Medical Corps in December, 1942. He continued training as a doctor and was discharged in 1946. He was recalled and commissioned in 1952 and spent one year in Korea as a pathologist with the 48th MASH unit and studied the cause of serious infectious diseases along the DMZ. Meriwether relates details of his career in Army medicine.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert Ulery. Ulery joined the Army in December of 1945. In March 1946 he was sent to Le Havre, France. He served with the 3rd Infantry Division, Artillery Band in Bad Wildungen, Germany. Ulery played the sousaphone in the band, and they traveled all over the American Zone of Germany. He was in Nuremberg when the war criminals were sentenced to death. Ulery shares details of his 13 months living and working in Germany after the war. He returned to the US and was discharged in June of 1947.