This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific relevant topics.

This report provides background information and potential oversight issues for Congress on the Coast Guard's programs for procuring 8 National Security Cutters (NSCs), 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs), and 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRCs).

This report discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, and the Afghan government. It also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai to address corruption within the Afghan government.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2010, states required about 2 percent of all districts to use Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds for early intervening services to address the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic groups in special education. Based on definitions states individually developed to measure this overrepresentation-- referred to in IDEA as significant disproportionality--356 districts were required to provide services. Half of these districts were clustered in five states and 73 were in Louisiana alone. States have used flexibility provided by Education to develop their own definitions of significant disproportionality and GAO's analysis of 16 selected states found wide variation in definitions. Further, GAO found that the way some states defined overrepresentation made it unlikely that any districts would be identified and thus required to provide early intervening services. Nebraska and Louisiana illustrate differing outcomes that can result from different state definitions. In Nebraska, one of 21 states that did not require any districts to provide services in 2010-11, racial and ethnic groups must be identified for special education at a rate three times higher than for other groups for 2 consecutive years. In contrast, racial and ethnic …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force's 89th Airlift Wing flew 2,513 special air missions for senior federal government officials during fiscal years 2008 through 2012, with the number of missions increasing by 13 percent from 463 missions in fiscal year 2008 to 522 missions in fiscal year 2012. The cost of special air missions ranged from about $17 million in fiscal year 2008 to about $26 million in fiscal year 2012, and the fees paid for secure communication services ranged from about $4 million in fiscal year 2008 to $7 million in fiscal year 2012. The federal agencies with the greatest number of special air missions were the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State. Members of Congress had the next highest number of missions. Collectively, these agencies and Congress constituted about 91 percent of all special air missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified nine leading practices to promote successful data-driven performance reviews--referred to as quarterly performance reviews--at the federal level."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Governmentwide, 23 agencies and their 130 subagencies GAO reviewed implemented nearly 700 renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010. The Departments of Defense (DOD), Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), and the Interior were collectively responsible for almost 60 percent of all initiatives."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DOD) abandoned their plans to develop an integrated electronic health record (iEHR) system and are instead pursuing separate efforts to modernize or replace their existing systems in an attempt to create an interoperable electronic health record. Specifically, in February 2013, the secretaries cited challenges in the cost and schedule for developing the single, integrated system and announced that each department would focus instead on either building or acquiring similar core sets of electronic health record capabilities, then ensuring interoperability between them. However, VA and DOD have not substantiated their claims that the current approach will be less expensive and more timely than the single-system approach. Major investment decisions—including terminating or significantly restructuring an ongoing program—should be justified using analyses that compare the costs and schedules of alternative proposals. Yet, the departments have not developed revised cost and schedule estimates for their new modernization efforts and any additional efforts needed to achieve interoperability between the new systems, and compared them with the relevant estimates for their former approach. In the absence of such a comparison, VA and DOD lack …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The KC-46 program 2012 estimates for cost, schedule, and performance are virtually the same as last year's, with the contractor running very close to the planned budget and schedule. Development work is more than one-fourth complete and a successful preliminary design review was held on schedule in April 2012. In response to a prior GAO recommendation, the program now has fully implemented metrics to measure the progress toward its key performance parameters and expects to meet these requirements. There are two areas of concern regarding program cost: first, both the contractor and government estimate the cost of development will exceed the contract ceiling price of $4.9 billion (although government liability is capped at that ceiling); and second, the contractor has already allocated about 80 percent of the management reserves budget, primarily for identified, yet unresolved, development risks, with the bulk of work--about 5 years--remaining. GAO maintains that significant use of these funds early in a program may indicate problems. The program has not yet evaluated how the significant use of these funds early could impact future milestones."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. agencies under Chief of Mission authority and the Department of Defense (DOD) have reported expanding their civilian presence in Afghanistan and took steps to improve their ability to track that presence. Since January 2009, U.S. agencies under Chief of Mission authority more than tripled their civilian presence from 320 to 1,142. However, although State could report total Chief of Mission numbers by agency, in mid-2011 GAO identified discrepancies in State’s data system used to capture more-detailed staffing information such as location and position type. State began taking steps in the fall of 2011 to improve the reliability of its data system. Also, DOD reported expanding its overall civilian presence from 394 civilians in January 2009 to 2,929 in December 2011 to help assist U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. The extent to which DOD’s data is reliable is unknown due to omissions and double counting, among other things. In a 2009 report, GAO noted similar data issues and recommended DOD improve data concerning deployed civilians. DOD concurred with the recommendation and expects the issues will be addressed by a new tracking system to be completed in fiscal …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies responded to the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA) by establishing some new autism activities and continuing others. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) created a new initiative to address specific directives in the CAA. Through this initiative, HRSA expanded its existing training programs by requiring grantees to include training specific to autism. It also established new autism research grants and funded new state grants to improve services for children with autism. HRSA awards its autism grants under the authority of the CAA. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued their autism activities--some of which were undertaken in response to the Children's Health Act of 2000--but did not create new programs as a direct result of the CAA. NIH continued to fund, expand, and coordinate autism research through its Autism Centers of Excellence and autism-specific grants and contracts. CDC continued to fund its regional centers of excellence for autism epidemiology and other activities, such as an awareness campaign. HHS's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)--reauthorized by the CAA--assumed additional responsibilities …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that VA’s estimated savings from two of its six operational improvements lacked analytic support and estimated savings from another were flawed. Without a sound methodology for estimating these savings, VA runs the risk of not achieving them. Furthermore, due in part to flaws GAO identified with another operational improvement—reducing acquisition costs—VA decided to revise it. Because this effort was still in progress, GAO could not evaluate VA’s estimated savings and process for tracking actual savings from this operational improvement. In addition, GAO found that VA lacks a process for tracking actual savings for one operational improvement and its processes may overstate results for two others. Without an accurate process for tracking these savings, VA will be unable to determine whether it has realized the estimated savings reflected in the President’s budget request for fiscal years 2012 and 2013."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has not identified or assessed fraud or noncompliance risks posed by schools that recommend and foreign students approved for optional practical training (OPT), in accordance with DHS risk management guidance. ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) officials consider OPT to be a low-risk employment benefit for foreign students because, in part, they believe foreign students approved for OPT do not have an incentive to jeopardize their legal status in the United States. However, SEVP has not determined potential risks in OPT. Further, officials from the Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit (CTCEU), ICE's investigative unit, and ICE field agents GAO interviewed have identified potential risks involving OPT based on prior and ongoing investigations. For example, ICE field agents identified cases where school officials recommended OPT for foreign students to work outside of their major areas of study, which is not allowed under ICE regulations. In response to a June 2012 GAO recommendation, ICE has taken initial actions to identify risks across SEVP-certified schools but has not identified and assessed OPT risks …

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Well ER-20-11 was drilled for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office in support of the Nevada Environmental Management Operations Underground Test Area (UGTA) Activity at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site), Nye County, Nevada. The well was drilled in September 2012 as part of the Central and Western Pahute Mesa Corrective Action Unit Phase II drilling program. Well ER-20-11 was constructed to further investigate the nature and extent of radionuclidecontaminated groundwater encountered in two nearby UGTA wells, to help define hydraulic and transport parameters for the contaminated Benham aquifer, and to provide data for the UGTA hydrostratigraphic framework model. The 44.5-centimeter (cm) surface hole was drilled to a depth of 520.0 meters (m) and cased with 34.0-cm casing to 511.5 m. The hole diameter was then decreased to 31.1 cm, and the borehole was drilled to a total depth of 915.6 m. The hole was completed to allow access for hydrologic testing and sampling in the target aquifer, which is a lava-flow aquifer known as the Benham aquifer. The completion casing string, set to the depth of 904.3 m, consists of a string of 6⅝-inch (in.) stainless-steel casing hanging from a …

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Pacific Northwest Site Office (PNSO) oversees and manages the DOE contract for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a DOE Office of Science multi-program laboratory located in Richland, Washington. PNSO is responsible for ensuring that all activities conducted on the PNNL site comply with applicable laws, policies, and DOE Orders. The DOE Pacific Northwest Site Office Cultural and Biological Resources Management Plan (DOE/PNSO 2008) addresses the requirement for annual surveys and monitoring for species of concern and to identify and map invasive species. In addition to the requirement for an annual survey, proposed project activities must be reviewed to assess any potential environmental consequences of conducting the project. The assessment process requires a thorough understanding of the resources present, the potential impacts of a proposed action to those resources, and the ultimate consequences of those actions. The PNNL site is situated on the southeastern corner of the DOE Hanford Site, located at the north end of the city of Richland in south-central Washington. The site is bordered on the east by the Columbia River, on the west by Stevens Drive, and on the north by the Hanford Site 300 Area (Figure 1). The environmental …

This report is a compilation of the groundwater sampling results from the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS). The data have been collected since 1993 and include calendar year 2011 results. During 2011, groundwater samples were collected and static water levels were measured at the three pilot wells surrounding the Area 5 RWMS. Samples were collected at UE5PW-1 on March 8, August 2, August 24, and October 19, 2011; at UE5PW-2 on March 8, August 2, August 23, and October 19, 2011; and at UE5PW-3 on March 8, August 2, August 23, and October 19, 2011. Static water levels were measured at each of the three pilot wells on March 1, June 7, August 1, and October 17, 2011. Groundwater samples were analyzed 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 measured. Initial total organic carbon and total organic halides results for samples collected in August 2011 were above previous measurements and, in some cases, above the established investigation limits. However, after field sample pumps and tubing were disinfected with Clorox solution, the results returned to normal levels. Final results …

The STAYSL PNNL software suite provides a set of tools for working with neutron activation rates measured in a nuclear fission reactor, an accelerator-based neutron source, or any neutron field to determine the neutron flux spectrum through a generalized least-squares approach. This process is referred to as neutron spectral adjustment since the preferred approach is to use measured data to adjust neutron spectra provided by neutron physics calculations. The input data consist of the reaction rates based on measured activities, an initial estimate of the neutron flux spectrum, neutron activation cross sections and their associated uncertainties (covariances), and relevant correction factors. The output consists of the adjusted neutron flux spectrum and associated covariance matrix, which is useful for neutron dosimetry and radiation damage calculations.

The goals of this project are to investigate (1) the kinetics and stabilities of engineered cytochrome P450 (P450) small alkane hydroxylases and their evolutionary intermediates, (2) the structural basis for catalytic proficiency on small alkanes of these engineered P450s, and (3) the changes in redox control resulting from protein engineering. To reach these goals, we have established new methods for determining the kinetics and stabilities of multicomponent P450s such as CYP153A6. Using these, we were able to determine that CYP153A6 is proficient for hydroxylation of alkanes as small as ethane, an activity that has never been observed previously in any natural P450. To elucidate the structures of the engineered P450s, we obtained x-ray diffraction data for two variants in the P450PMO (propane monooxygenase) lineage and a preliminary structure for the most evolved variant. This structure shows changes in the substrate binding regions of the enzyme and a reduction in active site volume that are consistent with the observed changes in substrate specificity from fatty acids in the native enzyme to small alkanes in P450PMO. We also constructed semi-rational designed libraries mutating only residues in the enzyme active site that in one round of mutagenesis and screening produced variants that achieved …

This report discusses the NAFTA renegotiation process and major topics of interest in the agreement as well as Congress's role in the negotiation and approval process.

This report discusses the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) which is a newly developed vehicle for the Army and Marine Corps. The major potential issues for Congress include whether an increase in endstrength and force structure might result in an increase in overall JLTV requirements, and possible effects of JLTV Foreign Military Sales.

This report discusses the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) 2018 farm income outlook. The report incorporates USDA's initial February 7, 2018, farm income projections and its November 30, 2017, U.S. agricultural trade outlook update.

This report discusses the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill and the nuclear weapons related activities which are funded under it.

This report discusses the ongoing conflict in Syria, recent developments in Syria such as the siege of Eastern Ghouta, and U.S. policy toward Syria and involvement in the conflict.