Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has been providing assistance to Colombia since the early 1970s to help reduce illicit drugs. In 1999, the Colombian government introduced Plan Colombia--program that, among other things, proposed reducing illicit drug activities by 50 percent over 6 years. In fiscal years 2000-03 alone, the United States provided more than $2.5 billion in counternarcotics assistance. Despite this aid, Colombia remains the world's leading producer and distributor of cocaine and a major source of the heroin used in the United States. This testimony discusses the status of U.S. counternarcotics assistance to the Colombian Army and for a U.S.-supported Colombian police aerial eradication program. It also addresses challenges Colombia and the United States face in sustaining these programs."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1990, GAO has designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of major weapon system acquisitions a high risk area. DOD has taken some action to improve acquisition outcomes, but its weapon programs continue to take longer, cost more, and deliver fewer capabilities than originally planned. These persistent problems--coupled with current operational demands--have impelled DOD to work outside of its traditional acquisition process to acquire equipment that meet urgent warfighter needs. Poor outcomes in DOD's weapon system programs reverberate across the entire federal government. Over the next 5 years, DOD plans to invest about $900 billion to develop and procure weapon systems--the highest level of investment in two decades. Every dollar wasted on acquiring weapon systems is less money available for other priorities. This testimony describes DOD's current weapon system investment portfolio, the problems that contribute to cost and schedule increases, and the potential impacts of recent legislative initiatives and DOD actions aimed at improving outcomes. It also provides some observations about what is needed for DOD to achieve lasting reform. The testimony is drawn from GAO's body of work on DOD's acquisition, requirements, and funding processes, as …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks precipitated a shift in how the FBI uses its investigative and intelligence resources to prevent future terrorist incidents. The attacks led to the FBI's commitment to transform and reorganize itself. Today's testimony discusses (1) the FBI's progress in transforming to focus on counterterrorism and intelligence-related priorities, (2) competition the FBI faces from other agencies and the private sector for intelligence staff, and (3) human capital flexibilities that may enhance the FBI's ability to address its priorities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, the U. S. airline industry has confronted financial losses of previously unseen proportions. From 2001 through 2003, the industry reported losses of about $23 billion, and two of the nation's largest airlines went into bankruptcy. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has provided struggling airlines with $7.0 billion in direct assistance and many billions more in indirect assistance in the form of loan guarantees, a tax holiday, and pension relief. Under the 2003 Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 108-11) and Vision 100--Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-176), Congress mandated that GAO review measures taken by air carriers to reduce costs, improve their revenues and profits, and strengthen their balance sheets. Later this year, GAO will provide a report to Congress in response to these mandates. This statement provides a preliminary summary of that work and focuses on three main questions: (1) what have been the major challenges to the airline industry since 1998; (2) what costcutting measures have airlines reported taking to remain financially viable; and (3) what is the financial condition of the airline industry?"

Air Force Logistics Support Centers: COBRA Program USAF

Andrews, MD, Will Rogers AGS, Tinker, OK, and Randolph, TX: COBRA Program USAF

Beale Air Force Base, CA and Selfridge Air National Guard B: COBRA Program USAF

Birmingham International Airport Air Guard Station, AL: COBRA Program USAF

Cannon Air Force Base, NM: COBRA Program USAF

Capital AGS, IL and Hulman Regional APT AGS, IN: COBRA Program USAF

Duluth International Airport Air Guard Station, MN: COBRA Program USAF

Eielson AFB, AK, Moody AFB, GA, and Shaw AFB, SC: COBRA Program USAF

Ellington Air Guard Station, TX: COBRA Program USAF

Close Deseret Chemical Depot

Boise Air Terminal Air Guard Station, ID: COBRA Program USAF

Bradley IAP, CT, Barnes, MA, Selfridge, MI, Shaw, SC, and M: COBRA Program USAF

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. As required by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) must prioritize transit projects for funding by evaluating, rating, and recommending projects on the basis of specific financial commitment and project justification criteria, such as cost-effectiveness, economic development effects, land use, and environmental benefits. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. Using the statutorily identified criteria, FTA evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program. This testimony discusses the (1) key challenges associated with the New Starts program and (2) options that could help expedite project development in the New Starts program. This testimony is based on GAO's extensive body of work on the New Starts program and ongoing work--as directed by Congress. For this work, GAO reviewed FTA documents and interviewed FTA officials, sponsors of New Starts projects, and representatives from industry associations. …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses GAO's report on U.S. efforts to address terrorist safe havens. Terrorist safe havens provide security for terrorists, allowing them to train recruits and plan operations. U.S. officials have concluded that various terrorist incidents demonstrate the dangers emanating from terrorist safe havens, such as the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, planned, in part, from safe havens in Pakistan, and the attempted airliner bombing on December 25, 2009, planned from safe havens in Yemen. The discovery of Osama Bin Laden in a compound in Pakistan, from which, according to U.S. officials, he played an active role in al Qaeda focused on attacking the United States, makes this hearing particularly timely. The testimony today focuses on (1) U.S. national strategies related to addressing terrorist safe havens, (2) terrorist safe havens identified by the Department of State (State) and the threats emanating from these havens, and (3) the extent to which the U.S. government has identified efforts to deny terrorists safe havens."

Several practical aspects of rf acceleration (by a MEQALAC accelerator, for example) of positive and negative ions for MFE neutral injection were considered. The beam transport, gas flow, differential pumping, and compatibility with MFE beam lines were examined. It was found that rf acceleration has several advantages over dc acceleration, especially if high energy (over 100 keV) and/or high purity (over 99%) is required. Therefore rf acceleration should be considered especially in connection with negative ions, which also have competitive advantages under such requirements. Beam densities for rf may be lower than dc beam densities because of space charge limitations and electrode transparency. However, the overall dimensions of an rf system are competitive with or smaller than the dimensions of a dc system of equal current and voltage because the gas pumping and electrical insulation are included within the rf electrode assembly. Ion source development is required to produce an array of many small beams suitable for injection into a MEQALAC.

The present invention is directed to a fuel-air control system for a combustor in which coal-derived gas of varying heat content is used. To maintain the temperature in the combustor at an essentially constant value the fuel-to-air ratio is adjusted by using a temperature actuated variable pressure regulator in the gas feed line to compensate for the variability of the heat content of the gas. The velocity of the products of combustion is maintained at an essentially constant flow rate by controlling the mass flow of the air and fuel through linked valves on the gas and air feed lines.

Rutherford scattering of neutral particles by plasma ions is examined as a method for determining plasma ion in the central cell fo the Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX). When a scattering configuration, consisting of a 20-keV-, 10-A-deuterium neutral beam and an energy analyzer with a 1% resolution, is arranged such that only neutral particles scattered by plasma ions over an angle of 10/sup 0/ are accepted, central-cell ion temperatures in the 30- to 1000-eV range can be measured. The count rate registered by the detector(s) is estimated to be 2000 counts/ms. Consequently, good statistical accuracy and time resolution are attainable simultaneously. The results of the calculation are presented such that the scaling of the count rates and the energy broadening with scattering angle, neutral-beam energy, ion temperature, and plasma density can easily be deduced. Neutral helium beams are also considered; they have some advantages over deuterium beams. The background signal, caused by neutral particles entering the detector after two successive charge-exchange collisions, is examined and ways to completely eliminate this background are indicated.

A breeding ratio of at least 1.2 was a design goal for CRBRP. The value for the initial core (using plutonium with 11% /sup 240/Pu) calculated with ENDF/B-IV data is 1.27. Engineering mock-up studies for CRBRP were made in ZPPR-11. Analysis of ZPPR-11 using ENDF/B-IV data showed consistent underprediction of K/sub eff/ by about 1.5% and overpredictions of the /sup 238/U capture to /sup 239/Pu fission ratio (C8/F9) between 5% and 8%. These results are typical for all LMFBR critical assemblies at ANL. The following approach was used to determine the breeding ratio: sensitivity analysis of a range of fast reactor benchmarks and a fit to the experimental data by data adjustment; tests of the adjusted data against experiments in ZPPR-11; calculations for CRBRP with ENDF/B-IV data and the adjusted data to predict the breeding ratio bias; and estimates of k/sub eff/ and breeding ratio uncertainties using data sensitivities for CRBRP.

This report provides data on the number of veterans and VA health care users, and discusses the allegations of long delays in treatments.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, the Department of Labor (Labor) updated the rule that determines who is entitled to overtime pay of "time and a half" when they work more than 40 hours a week. As part of the rule-making process, Labor was required to estimate the impact of the updated overtime rule and publish the results in the Federal Register. Labor contracted with the CONSAD Research Corporation (CONSAD) to assist the agency in studying the impact of both the proposed and final overtime rule. Because of Congress' interest in these studies and how they were conducted, we agreed to identify: (1) CONSAD's contractual responsibilities in assisting Labor with estimating the impact of the updated overtime rule on workers and (2) CONSAD's actions in carrying out these contractual responsibilities. To determine CONSAD's responsibilities, we obtained and analyzed two contracts between Labor and CONSAD. The first contract covered CONSAD's responsibilities related to Labor's impact study for the proposed overtime rule, while the second contract covered CONSAD's responsibilities related to Labor's impact study for the final overtime rule."