Details of Bush Administration plans for the defense budget have been on hold for several months as senior officials have undertaken a reassessment of defense policy known as the “National Defense Review.” The initial Bush budget outline, A Blueprint for New Beginnings, released on February 28, and the Administration’s official FY2002 budget request, released on April 9, include $325 billion in new budget authority for national defense in FY2002, but that total remains subject to change as the defense review proceeds. Moreover, official Administration defense budget projections beyond FY2002 simply reflect projected growth with inflation in overall annual funding for national defense fromFY2003 through FY2006 rather than the results of any policy assessment.

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Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies spend billions of tax dollars each year to buy services--from clerical support to information technology assistance to the management of national laboratories. The federal government spent more than $87 billion in services--a 24 percent increase in real terms from fiscal year 1990. Some service procurements are not being done efficiently, putting taxpayer dollars at risk. In particular, agencies are not clearly defining their requirements, fully considering alternative solutions, performing vigorous price analyses, and adequately overseeing contractor performance. This testimony (1) describes service contracting trends and the changing acquisition environment, (2) discusses the challenges confronting the government in acquiring services, and (3) highlights some efforts underway to address these challenges. GAO found that purchases of services now account for about 43 percent of federal contracting expenses--the largest single spending category. The growth of services has been driven largely by the government's increased purchases of information technology services and professional, administrative, and management support services. Poor contract management has undermined the government's ability to obtain good value for the money and continues to be a major problem for the two biggest service purchasers-the Departments of Defense and Energy. …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "All the military services extensively use cannibalization--the removal of a working component from one aircraft to install it on another--as a routine aircraft maintenance strategy. However, neither the Department of Defense nor the services know the overall magnitude of this practice. Cannibalizations increase maintenance costs by increasing workloads, may affect morale and the retention of personnel, and sometimes result in the unavailability of expensive aircraft for long periods of time. Cannibalizations also can create unnecessary mechanical problems for maintenance personnel. With the exception of the Navy, the services do not consistently track the specific reasons for cannibalizations. In the broadest sense, cannibalizations are done because of pressures to meet readiness and operational needs and the shortcomings of the supply system. In addition, a Navy study found that cannibalizations are sometimes done because mechanics are not trained well enough to diagnose problems or because testing equipment is either not available or not working. Although the services have undertaken some initiatives to reduce cannibalizations, none of them have developed a specific strategy to reduce the maintenance hours associated with cannibalizations. Because they view cannibalization as a symptom of spare parts …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To better protect the nation's critical computer-dependent infrastructures from computer-based attacks and disruption, the President issued a directive in 1998 that established the National Infrastructure Protection Center as a national focal point for gathering information on threats and facilitating the federal government's response to computer-based incidents. This testimony discusses the center's progress in (1) developing national capabilities for analyzing cyber threat and vulnerability data and issuing warnings, (2) enhancing its capabilities for responding to cyber attacks, and (3) developing outreach and information-sharing initiatives with government and private-sector entities. GAO found that although the center has taken some steps to develop analysis and warning capabilities, the strategic capabilities described in the presidential directive have not been achieved. By coordinating investigations and providing technical assistance the center has provided important support that has improved the Federal Bureau of Investigations' ability to investigate computer crimes. The center has also developed crisis management procedures and drafted an emergency law enforcement sector plan, which is now being reviewed by sector members. The center's information-sharing relationships are still evolving and will probably have limited effectiveness until reporting procedures and thresholds are defined and trust …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This is the third in a series of GAO reports evaluating the military services' efforts to reduce weapons systems operating and support costs. GAO previously reported on Army and Air Force efforts. This report evaluates the Navy and Marine Corps pilot programs. GAO found that the Navy and Marine Corps have begun several efforts to reduce weapon system operating and support costs. For example, they are using an open architecture design method that reduces the cost of component replacement and changes later in system life. In addition, the Navy has other related objectives and initiatives that could significantly reduce operating and support costs. Through these and other initiatives, the Navy and Marine Corps have reported progress in reducing operating and support cost in its pilot programs."

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The Office of Space and Defense Power Systems of the Department of Energy (DOE) provides Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) for applications where conventional power systems are not feasible. For example, radioisotope thermoelectric generators were supplied by the DOE to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for deep space missions including the Cassini Mission launched in October of 1997 to study the planet Saturn. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been involved in developing materials and technology and producing components for the DOE for more than three decades. For the Cassini Mission, for example, ORNL was involved in the production of carbon-bonded carbon fiber (CBCF) insulator sets, iridium alloy blanks and foil, and clad vent sets (CVS) and weld shields (WS). This report has been divided into three sections to reflect program guidance from the Office of Space and Defense Power Systems for fiscal year (FY) 2001. The first section deals primarily with maintenance of the capability to produce flight quality (FQ) CBCF insulator sets, iridium alloy blanks and foil, CVS, and WS. In all three cases, production maintenance is assured by the manufacture of limited quantities of FQ components. The second section deals with several technology activities to improve …

A database was generated of estimates of geographically referenced carbon densities of forest vegetation in tropical Southeast Asia for 1980. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to incorporate spatial databases of climatic, edaphic, and geomorphological indices and vegetation to estimate potential (i.e., in the absence of human intervention and natural disturbance) carbon densities of forests. The resulting map was then modified to estimate actual 1980 carbon density as a function of population density and climatic zone. The database covers the following 13 countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia (Campuchea), India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The data sets within this database are provided in three file formats: ARC/INFOTM exported integer grids, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) files formatted for raster-based GIS software packages, and generic ASCII files with x, y coordinates for use with non-GIS software packages. This database includes ten ARC/INFO exported integer grid files (five with the pixel size 3.75 km x 3.75 km and five with the pixel size 0.25 degree longitude x 0.25 degree latitude) and 27 ASCII files. The first ASCII file contains the documentation associated with this database. Twenty-four of the ASCII files were generated …

The need to control gas and leachate production and minimize refuse volume in landfills has motivated the development of landfill simulation models that can be used by operators to predict and design optimal treatment processes. T2LBM is a module for the TOUGH2 simulator that implements a Landfill Bioreactor Model to provide simulation capability for the processes of aerobic or anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste and the associated flow and transport of gas and liquid through the refuse mass. T2LBM incorporates a Monod kinetic rate law for the biodegradation of acetic acid in the aqueous phase by either aerobic or anaerobic microbes as controlled by the local oxygen concentration. Acetic acid is considered a proxy for all biodegradable substrates in the refuse. Aerobic and anaerobic microbes are assumed to be immobile and not limited by nutrients in their growth. Methane and carbon dioxide generation due to biodegradation with corresponding thermal effects are modeled. The numerous parameters needed to specify biodegradation are input by the user in the SELEC block of the TOUGH2 input file. Test problems show that good matches to laboratory experiments of biodegradation can be obtained. A landfill test problem demonstrates the capabilities of T2LBM for a hypothetical …

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This paper presents a plan for increasing the mapped resource base for geothermal exploration in the Western US. We plan to image large areas in the western US with recently developed high resolution hyperspectral geobotanical remote sensing tools. The proposed imaging systems have the ability to map visible faults, surface effluents, historical signatures, and discover subtle hidden faults and hidden thermal systems. Large regions can be imaged at reasonable costs. The technique of geobotanical remote sensing for geothermal signatures is based on recent successes in mapping faults and effluents the Long Valley Caldera and Mammoth Mountain in California.

A novel synthesis of the title compound was achieved by direct amination using Vicarious Nucleophilic Substitution (VNS) methodology. Reaction of 1,1,1-trimethylhydrazinium iodide with 3,5-dinitropyrazole in DMSO produces 4-amino-3,s-dinitro-1H-pyrazole as a 1:1 crystal solvate with DMSO. Recrystallization from water yields the monohydrated crystal. Recrystallization of the monohydrate from butyl acetate yields the compound in pure form. Crystallographic data and results of small-scale safety tests are reported. These data indicate that LLM-116 is a promising candidate as an insensitive high explosive.