Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is required to annually prepare and submit audited financial statements of the U.S. government to the President and Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. An issue meriting concern and close scrutiny that emerged during our fiscal year 2004 CFS audit was the growing number of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies that restated certain of their financial statements for fiscal year 2003 to correct errors. Errors in financial statements can result from mathematical mistakes, mistakes in the application of accounting principles, or oversight or misuse of facts that existed at the time the financial statements were prepared. Frequent restatements to correct errors can undermine public trust and confidence in both the entity and all responsible parties. Further, when restatements do occur, it is important that financial statements clearly communicate, and readers of the restated financial statements understand, that the financial statements originally issued by management in the previous year and the opinion thereon should no longer be …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program--the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on selected foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States. US-VISIT uses these biometric identifiers (digital fingerscans and photographs) to screen persons against watch lists and to verify that a visitor is the person who was issued a visa or other travel document. Visitors are also to confirm their departure by having their visas or passports scanned and undergoing fingerscanning at selected air and sea ports of entry. GAO was asked to testify on (1) the status of US-VISIT and (2) DHS progress in implementing recommendations that GAO made as part of its prior reviews of US-VISIT annual expenditure plans. The testimony is based on GAO's prior reports as well as ongoing work for the House Committee on Homeland Security. GAO's recommendations are directed at helping the department improve its capabilities to deliver US-VISIT capability and benefit expectations on time and within budget. According to DHS, the recommendations have made US-VISIT a stronger program."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), established in 1968, provides property owners with some insurance coverage for flood damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for managing the NFIP. The unprecedented magnitude and severity of the flood losses from hurricanes in 2005 challenged the NFIP to process a record number of claims. These storms also illustrated the extent to which the federal government has exposure for claims coverage in catastrophic loss years. FEMA estimates that Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma will generate claims and payments of about $23 billion--far surpassing the total claims paid in the entire history of the NFIP. This testimony provides information from past and ongoing GAO work on issues including: (1) NFIP's financial structure; (2) the impact of properties with repetitive flood losses on NFIP's resources; (3) proposals to increase the number of policies in force; and (4) the status of past GAO recommendations."

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has developed several different strategies and technologies for the on-site detection of explosives. These on-site detection techniques include a colorimetric test, thin layer chromatography (TLC) kit and portable gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The screening of suspicious containers on-site and the search for trace explosive residue in a post-blast forensic investigation are of great importance. For these reasons, LLNL's Forensic Science Center has developed a variety of fieldable detection technologies to screen for a wide range of explosives in various matrices and scenarios. Ideally, what is needed is a fast, accurate, easy-to-use, pocket-size and inexpensive field screening test for explosives.

The vacuum system of the X-Ray Vacuum Transport System (XVTS) for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray Transport, Optics and Diagnostics (XTOD) system has been analyzed and configured by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's New Technologies Engineering Division (NTED) as requested by the SLAC/LCLS program. The preliminary system layout, detailed analyses and suggested selection of the vacuum components for the XTOD tunnel section are presented in the preliminary design report [1]. This document briefly reviews the preliminary design and provides engineering specifications for the system, which can be used as 'design to' specifications for the final design. Also included are the requirements of plans for procurement, mechanical integration, schedule and the cost estimates.

Among the possible terrorist activities that might threaten national security is the release of an airborne pathogen such as anthrax. Because the potential damage to human health could be severe, experts consider 1 minute to be an operationally useful time limit for identifying the pathogen and taking action. Many commercial systems can identify airborne pathogenic microbes, but they take days or, at best, hours to produce results. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other U.S. government agencies are interested in finding a faster approach. To answer this national need, a Livermore team, led by scientist Eric Gard, has developed the bioaerosol mass spectrometry (BAMS) system--the only instrument that can detect and identify spores at low concentrations in less than 1 minute. BAMS can successfully distinguish between two related but different spore species. It can also sort out a single spore from thousands of other particles--biological and nonbiological--with no false positives. The BAMS team won a 2005 R&D 100 Award for developing the system. Livermore's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program funded the biomedical aspects of the BAMS project, and the Department of Defense's Technical Support Working Group and Defense Advanced Research Project Agency funded the biodefense efforts. Developing …

This report presents background information on the commission's findings, on emergency response standards, and on options Congress might consider to address issues related to emergency preparedness standards.

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This report includes a historical background of the Sunni-Shiite split and the differences in religious beliefs and practices between and within each Islamic sect as well as their similarities.

This report provides a background on Wahhabi Islam and its association to militant fundamentalist groups; it also summarizes recent charges against Wahhabism and responses, including the findings of the final report of the 9/11 Commission and bills relevant to this issue in the second session of the 109th Congress.

This Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) OS3300 Alpha/Beta Monitoring System Software and Hardware Operations Manual describes how to install and operate the software and hardware on a personal computer in conjunction with the EG&G Berthold LB150D continuous air monitor. Included are operational details for the software functions, how to read and use the drop-down menus, how to understand readings and calculations, and how to access the database tables.

This report discusses the disputes over Corps jurisdiction prior to enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as well as the current law applicable to siting offshore wind facilities.

Images taken of interstellar space often display a colorful canvas of portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Dispersed throughout the images are interstellar clouds of dust and gas--remnants ejected from stars and supernovae over billions and billions of years. For more than 40 years, astronomers have observed that interstellar dust exhibits a consistent effect at a spectral wavelength of 2,175 angstroms, the equivalent of 5.7 electronvolts in energy on the electromagnetic spectrum. At this wavelength, light from stars is absorbed by dust in the interstellar medium, blocking the stars light from reaching Earth. The 2,175-angstrom feature, which looks like a bump on spectra, is the strongest ultraviolet-visible light spectral signature of interstellar dust and is visible along nearly every observational line of sight. Scientists have sought to solve the mystery of what causes the 2,175-angstrom feature by reproducing the effect in the laboratory. They speculated a number of possibilities, including fullerenes (buckyballs), nanodiamonds, and even interstellar organisms. However, none of these materials fits the data for the unique spectral feature. Limitations in the energy and spatial resolution achievable with electron microscopes and ion microprobes--the two main instruments used to study samples of dust--have also prevented scientists from finding the answer. A …

Radiography with x rays is a long-established method to see inside objects, from human limbs to weapon parts. Livermore scientists have a continuing need for powerful x rays for such applications as backlighting, or illuminating, inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments and imaging still or exploding materials for the nation's Stockpile Stewardship Program. X-radiography is one of the prime diagnostics for ICF experiments because it captures the fine detail needed to determine what happens to nearly microscopic targets when they are compressed by laser light. For example, Livermore scientists participating in the National Ignition Facility's (NIF's) 18-month-long Early Light experimental campaign, which ended in 2004, used x rays to examine hydrodynamic instabilities in jets of plasma. In these experiments, one laser beam irradiated a solid target of titanium, causing it to form a high-temperature plasma that generated x rays of about 4.65 kiloelectronvolts (keV). These x rays backlit a jet of plasma formed when two other laser beams hit a plastic ablator and sent a shock to an aluminum washer. Livermore physicist Kevin Fournier of the Physics and Advanced Technologies Directorate leads a team that is working to increase the efficiency of converting laser energy into x rays so the resulting …

This report examines the President's budget request for Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service(IRS) in FY2006, some of the key policy issues it raised, and congressional action on the request.

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The SPARC project has entered its installation phase at the Frascati National Laboratories of INFN: its main goal, the promotion of an R&D activity oriented to the development of a high brightness photoinjector to drive SASE-FEL experiments, is being vigorously pursued by a collaboration among ENEA-INFN-CNR-Universita di Roma Tor Vergata-INFM-ST. In this paper we will report on the installation and test of some major components, like Ti:Sa laser system, RF gun and RF power system. Advancements in the control and beam diagnostics systems will also be reported, in particular on the emittance-meter device for beam emittance measurements in the drift space downstream the RF gun. Recent results on laser pulse shaping show the feasibility of producing 10 ps flat-top laser pulses in the UV with rise time below 1 ps. First FEL experiments have been proposed, using SASE, seeding and non-linear resonant harmonics.

This document describes the development and application of a user-friendly and efficient groundwater management model of the Central Nevada Test Area (CNTA) and surrounding areas that will allow the U.S. Department of Energy and state personnel to evaluate the impact of future proposed scenarios. The management model consists of a simple hydrologic model within an interactive groundwater management framework. This framework is based on an object user interface that was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and has been used by the Desert Research Institute researchers and others to couple disparate environmental resource models, manage the necessary temporal and spatial data, and evaluate model results for management decision making. This framework was modified and applied to the CNTA and surrounding Hot Creek Valley. The utility of the management model was demonstrated through the application of hypothetical future scenarios including mineral mining, regional expansion of agriculture, geothermal energy production, and export of water to large urban areas outside the region. While the results from some of the scenarios indicated potential impacts to the region near CNTA and others did not, together they demonstrate the usefulness of the management tool for managers who need to evaluate the impact proposed changes in groundwater …

Photocathode rf guns produce high-energy low-emittance electron beams. DC guns utilizing GaAs photocathodes have proven successful for generating polarized electron beams for accelerators, but they require rf bunching systems that significantly increase the transverse emittance of the beam. With higher extraction field and beam energy, rf guns can support higher current densities at the cathode. The source laser system can then be used to generate the high peak current, relatively low duty-factor micropulses required by the ILC without the need for post-extraction rf bunching. The net result is that the injection system for a polarized rf gun can be identical to that for an unpolarized rf gun. However, there is some uncertainty as to the survivability of an activated GaAs cathode in the environment of an operating rf gun. Consequently, before attempting to design a polarized rf gun for the ILC, SLAC plans to develop an rf test gun to demonstrate the rf operating conditions suitable for an activated GaAs cathode.

For much of the past century, physicists have searched for methods to control the release of energy stored in an atom's nucleus. Nuclear fission reactors have been one successful approach, but finding other methods to capitalize on this potential energy source have been elusive. One possible source being explored is nuclear isomers. An isomer is a long-lived excited state of an atom's nucleus--a state in which decay back to the nuclear ground state is inhibited. The nucleus of an isomer thus holds an enormous amount of energy. If scientists could develop a method to release that energy instantaneously in a gamma-ray burst, rather than slowly over time, they could use it in a nuclear battery. Research in the late 1990s indicated that scientists were closer to developing such a method--using x rays to trigger the release of energy from the nuclear isomer hafnium-178m ({sup 178m}Hf). To further investigate these claims, the Department of Energy (DOE) funded a collaborative project involving Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Argonne national laboratories that was designed to reproduce those earlier results.

With the Nation's coal-burning utilities facing tighter controls on mercury pollutants, the U.S. Department of Energy is supporting projects that could offer power plant operators better ways to reduce these emissions at much lower costs. Sorbent injection technology represents one of the simplest and most mature approaches to controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired boilers. It involves injecting a solid material such as powdered activated carbon into the flue gas. The gas-phase mercury in the flue gas contacts the sorbent and attaches to its surface. The sorbent with the mercury attached is then collected by a particulate control device along with the other solid material, primarily fly ash. We Energies has over 3,200 MW of coal-fired generating capacity and supports an integrated multi-emission control strategy for SO{sub 2}, NO{sub x}, and mercury emissions while maintaining a varied fuel mix for electric supply. The primary goal of this project is to reduce mercury emissions from three 90-MW units that burn Powder River Basin coal at the We Energies Presque Isle Power Plant. Additional goals are to reduce nitrogen oxide (NO{sub x}), sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}), and particulate matter (PM) emissions, allow for reuse and sale of fly ash, demonstrate a reliable mercury …

In many accelerator storage rings running positively charged beams, ionization of residual gas and secondary electron emission (SEE) in the beam pipe will give rise to an electron cloud which can cause beam blow-up or loss of the circulating beam. A preventative measure that suppresses electron cloud formation is to ensure that the vacuum wall has a low secondary emission yield (SEY). The SEY of thin films of TiN, sputter deposited Non-Evaporable Getters and a novel TiCN alloy were measured under a variety of conditions, including the effect of re-contamination from residual gas.