This report provides a brief summary of the President's Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 (the CPFA Act or the Act) and delineates some of the substantive differences between it and H.R. 3126, as introduced. It then analyzes some of the policy implications of the proposal, focusing on the separation of safety and soundness regulation from consumer protection, financial innovation, and the scope of regulation. The report then raises some questions regarding state law preemption, sources of funding, and rule-making procedures that the Act does not fully answer.

Military personnel issues typically generate significant interest from many Members of Congress and their staffs. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) selected a number of the military personnel issues considered in deliberations on the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2010. This report provides a brief synopsis of sections that pertain to personnel policy. This report focuses exclusively on the annual defense authorization process. It does not include appropriations, veterans' affairs, tax implications of policy choices or any discussion of separately introduced legislation.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its more than $24 billion Deepwater program to replace aging vessels and aircraft with new or upgraded assets, the Coast Guard is preparing the National Security Cutter (NSC) for service. GAO previously reported on Deepwater assets' deployment delays and the Coast Guard's management of the Deepwater program. GAO was legislatively directed to continue its oversight of the Deepwater program. As a result, this report addresses: (1) the operational effects, if any, of delays in the delivery of the NSC and its support assets of unmanned aircraft and small boats; (2) Coast Guard plans for mitigating any operational effects and any associated costs of these plans; and (3) the extent to which the Coast Guard has plans, to include cost estimates, for phasing in logistics support of the NSC while phasing out support for the High Endurance Cutter (HEC) it is replacing. GAO's work is based on analyses of the (1) operational capabilities and maintenance plans of the NSC and its support assets and (2) data on the HECs' condition; comparison of an NSC and HEC; and, interviews with Coast Guard officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2008, about 31 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program and more than 10 million children participated in the School Breakfast Program each school day. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) spent $11.7 billion on the school meal programs in that year. The majority of school meals are provided for free or at a reduced price to low-income students. Some states and school districts have chosen to implement programs that eliminate the reduced-price fee (known as ERP programs) and instead provide free meals to students eligible for the reduced fee. GAO was asked to provide information on (1) what is known about the states and districts that have eliminated the reduced-price fee for school meals, (2) the experiences of states and districts that have ERP programs with respect to participation, errors, and costs, and (3) the factors that may help or hinder the establishment or continuation of ERP programs. To obtain this information, GAO interviewed FNS officials, interviewed officials from state- and district-level programs, and conducted a Web-based survey of the 35 districts identified as having …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army's strategy for training its reserve component calls for units to conduct training on the primary missions for which they were organized and designed as well as the missions units are assigned in support of ongoing operations. The training is to be conducted over a 5-year cycle with a focus on primary missions during the early years and assigned missions during the later years. In response to mandates, GAO assessed the extent to which (1) the Army is able to execute its strategy for training reserve component forces for their primary and assigned missions; (2) mobilization and deployment laws, regulations, goals, and policies impact the Army's ability to train and employ these forces; and (3) access to military schools and skill training facilities and ranges affects the preparation of reserve component forces. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed relevant training strategies and policies, laws, and data and surveyed 22 Army reserve component units returning from deployments in the past 12 months."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For many years, GAO has reported that weaknesses in information security are a widespread problem that can have serious consequences--such as intrusions by malicious users, compromised networks, and the theft of intellectual property and personally identifiable information--and has identified information security as a governmentwide high-risk issue since 1997. Concerned by reports of significant vulnerabilities in federal computer systems, Congress passed the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), which authorized and strengthened information security program, evaluation, and reporting requirements for federal agencies. In accordance with the FISMA requirement that the Comptroller General report periodically to Congress, GAO's objectives were to evaluate (1) the adequacy and effectiveness of agencies' information security policies and practices and (2) federal agencies' implementation of FISMA requirements. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed agency, inspectors general, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and GAO reports."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) relies on a global network of defense critical infrastructure so essential that the incapacitation, exploitation, or destruction of an asset within this network could severely affect DOD's ability to deploy, support, and sustain its forces and operations worldwide and to implement its core missions, including current missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of its importance to DOD operations, this defense critical infrastructure could be vulnerable to attacks by adversaries, and vulnerable to natural disasters and hazards, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Since September 2003, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs (ASD[HD&ASA]) has been responsible for developing and ensuring implementation of critical infrastructure protection policy and program guidance. To identify and help assure the availability of this mission-critical infrastructure, in August 2005 DOD established the Defense Critical Infrastructure Program (DCIP), assigning overall responsibility for the program to ASD(HD&ASA). In April 2008, DOD issued an instruction that further assigned responsibilities and prescribed procedures for the implementation of DCIP, among other things. In October 2008, DOD formalized the process for identifying and prioritizing its critical infrastructure. Since …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1978, the Essential Air Service (EAS) program has subsidized air service to eligible communities that would otherwise not have scheduled service. The cost of this program has risen as the number of communities being served and subsidies to air carriers have increased. At the same time, the number of carriers providing EAS service has declined. Given continuing concerns over the EAS program's long-term prospects, GAO was asked to review the program. GAO reviewed (1) the characteristics and current status of the EAS program, (2) factors affecting the program's ability to provide air service, (3) options for revising the program, and (4) tools for assessing the program, the options for its revision, and the program's performance. GAO interviewed stakeholders and reviewed the results of an expert panel convened by GAO, Department of Transportation (DOT) data and program documentation, and potential methodologies for assessing federal programs."

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It is now accepted that biological effects may occur in cells that were not themselves traversed by ionizing radiation but are close to those that were. Little is known about the mechanism underlying such a bystander effect, although cell-to-cell communication is thought to be important. Previous work demonstrated a significant bystander effect for clonogenic survival and oncogenic transformation in C3H 10T(1/2) cells. Additional studies were undertaken to assess the importance of the degree of cell-to-cell contact at the time of irradiation on the magnitude of this bystander effect by varying the cell density. When 10% of cells were exposed to a range of 2-12 alpha particles, a significantly greater number of cells were inactivated when cells were irradiated at high density than at low density. In addition, the oncogenic transformation frequency was significantly higher in high-density cultures. These results suggest that when a cell is hit by radiation, the transmission of the bystander signal through cell-to-cell contact is an important mediator of the effect, implicating the involvement of intracellular communication through gap junctions. Additional studies to address the relationship between the bystander effect and the adaptive response were undertaken. A novel apparatus, where targeted and non-targeted cells were grown in …

This report outlines the science and publications that occurred at EMSL during the 3rd quarter of FY09.

Simulations from the University of Wisconsin Non-Hydrostatic Modeling System (UW-NMS) along with those from other models indicate a strong tendency to overproduce ice, resulting in a decimation of the liquid portion of mixed-phase stratus through the Bergeron-Findeissen process. Immersion freezing was illustrated to be a major contributor to ice production within these cloud layers, and aerosol properties were illustrated to be an important consideration in the simulation of this process. In particular, the soluble mass fraction and aerosol insoluble mass type were demonstrated to influence simulation of the immersion freezing process, Data collected by the Arctic High Spectral Resolution Lidar and Millimeter Cloud Radar during the M-PACE period was analyzed in order to provide a statistical dataset for validation of simulations of mixed-phase stratus. 270 hours of single-layer cases were reviewed, and mean values for cloud base height, cloud thickness, cloud optical thickness, cloud temperature, wind direction, and liquid and ice particle size, particle number density, and water content were derived.

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We present a practical approach to calculate the complex band structure of an electrode for quantum transport calculations. This method is designed for plane wave based Hamiltonian with nonlocal pseudopotentials and the auxiliary periodic boundary condition transport calculation approach. Currently there is no direct method to calculate all the evanescent states for a given energy for systems with nonlocal pseudopotentials. On the other hand, in the auxiliary periodic boundary condition transport calculation, there is no need for all the evanescent states at a given energy. The current method fills this niche. The method has been used to study copper and gold nanowires and bulk electrodes.

The authors present a straightforward method for the inclusion of quantum nuclear vibrational effects in molecular dynamics calculations of shock Hugoniot temperatures. Using a grueneisen equation of state and a quasi-harmonic approximation to the vibrational energies, they derive a simple, post-processing method for calculation of the quantum corrected Hugoniot temperatures. They have used our novel technique on ab initio simulations of both shock compressed water and methane. Our results indicate significantly closer agreement with all available experimental temperature data for these two systems. Our formalism and technique can be easily applied to a number of different shock compressed molecular liquids or covalent solids, and has the potential to decrease the large uncertainties inherent in many experimental Hugoniot temperature measurements of these systems.

We have made substantial progress toward our objectives outlined in our BPA supported proposal entitled 'Columbia River Basin Juvenile Salmonids: Survival and Growth in the Columbia River Plume and northern California Current' which we report on herein. During 2008, we were able to successfully conduct 3 mesoscale cruises. We also were able to conduct 7 biweekly predator cruises, along with substantial shore-based visual observations of seabirds. Detailed results of the mesoscale cruises are available in the Cruise Reports and summarized in the next section. We have taken a proactive approach to getting the results of our research to fisheries managers and the general public. We have begun to make annual predictions based on ocean conditions of the relative survival of juvenile coho and Chinook salmon well before they return as adults. This is based on both biological and physical indicators that we measure during our surveys or collect from outside data sources. Examples of our predictions for 2009 and 2010 are available on the following web site: http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/research/divisions/fed/oeip/a-ecinhome.cfm.

This report focuses on the potential implications of China's naval modernization for future required U.S. Navy capabilities. This report is based on unclassified open-source information, such as the annual Department of Defense (DOD) report to Congress on China's military power, and published reference sources such as Jane's Fighting Ships.

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Navy's proposal to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) at Mayport, Florida. Transferring a CVN from Norfolk, Virginia, to Mayport would also shift the local economic activity associated with homeporting a CVN, which some sources estimate as being worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

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This report provides information about the FY2010 Authorization and Appropriations on Defense.The FY2010 national defense authorization bills drafted by the house and senate armed services.

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This report discusses the possibility of increasing the number of Navy surface ships powered by nuclear energy, including the Navy's planned CG(X) cruiser. The report explores a 2006 Navy study that discusses budget considerations, the cost of a nuclear-powered ship compared to a ship powered by crude oil, and other suggestions relating to this proposed expansion. The overall report has a specific emphasis on the planned CG(X) cruiser, and how the implementation of this cruiser may be delayed by current budget proposals.

This report reviews policy proposals and interim contracts, analyzes the positions of various Iraqi political actors, and discusses potential implications for U.S. foreign policy goals in Iraq.