BRAC Commission Material Photo Staff Directory

BRAC Commission Material – BRAC Crystal City Office Library Patron Log containing the names, organizations, signatures, dates, login & logout times, and visitor badge numbers

BRAC Commission Material – BRAC Crystal City Office 2005 Visitor Log

BRAC Commission Material – General Counsel Commission FOIA Request Response – Concerning Rock Island Arsenal (IL)

Contains the BRAC Commission Legislative Proposals - Feb 2006 PDF Version

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Appropriate construction of Local Government Code chapter 373A authorizing a city to establish homestead preservation districts and reinvestment zones (RQ-0471-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Gillespie county attorney's authority to use money in the hot check fund to sponsor a children's book (RQ-0473-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services may contract with a governmental entity to provide substitute care and case management services (RQ-0475-GA)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Open Meetings Act requires specific notice of a non-binding vote on a "personal endorsement" motion (RQ-0477-GA)

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1936, the Social Security Administration established the Social Security number (SSN) to track worker's earnings for Social Security benefit purposes. Since its creation, the SSN has evolved beyond its original purpose and has become the identifier of choice for public and private sector entities. Today, the SSN is a key piece of information often sought by identity thieves. Once the SSN is obtained fraudulently, it can then be used to create false identities for financial misuse or assuming another individual's identity. Congress and some states have recognized the importance of restricting the use and display of SSNs. GAO has issued a number of reports and testimonies about the various aspects of SSN use in both public and private sectors and what could be done to further protect individual's SSNs. Accordingly, this testimony focuses on describing (1) the use of SSNs by government agencies and certain private sector entities, (2) the federal laws that regulate the use and disclosure of SSNs, and (3) the gaps that remain in protecting the SSN and what more could be done."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Navy's long-range shipbuilding plan spells out its approach to meeting the Navy's future needs. This plan shows the Navy is embarking on an ambitious, expensive undertaking to develop, design, and construct a number of new ship classes. The Navy expects these vessels to successfully execute missions in a variety of environments through use of advanced technologies, while utilizing reduced crews and greater automation to lower costs. The Navy also expects these vessels to be constructed in quantities that sustain the industrial base and expand the overall size of the Navy. The plan calls for the number of ships to increase by about 10 percent to an average of about 309 ships through 2036. This effort will cost billions of dollars. At the request of Projection Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, GAO examined the Navy's shipbuilding plan and is providing this discussion of 1) the multiple objectives the plan proposes to meet; 2) the challenges that must be met to execute the plan; and 3) ways the Navy can reduce the tension between the demand for and supply of shipbuilding funds."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Polar-orbiting environmental satellites provide data and imagery that are used by weather forecasters, climatologists, and the military to map and monitor changes in weather, climate, the oceans, and the environment. They are critical to long-term weather prediction, including advance forecasts of a hurricane's path and intensity. Our nation's current operational polar-orbiting environmental satellite program is a complex infrastructure that includes two satellite systems, supporting ground stations, and four central data processing centers. In the future, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is to combine the two current systems into a single, state-of-the-art environment-monitoring satellite system. NPOESS is considered critical to the United States' ability to maintain the continuity of data required for weather forecasting and global climate monitoring though the year 2020. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have formed a tri-agency integrated program office to manage NPOESS. GAO was asked to determine the NPOESS program's current status and plans and to discuss considerations in moving the program forward."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States is engaged in an unconventional war, not a war against military forces of one country, but an irregular war against terrorist cells with global networks. Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom are sustained military operations, which are taking a toll on the condition and readiness of military equipment that, in some cases, is more than 20 years old. The Army and Marine Corps will likely incur large expenditures in the future to reset (repair or replace) a significant amount of equipment when hostilities cease. The Army has requested about $13 billion in its fiscal year 2006 supplemental budget request for equipment reset. Today's testimony addresses (1) the environment, pace of operations, and operational requirements in Southwest Asia, and their affects on the Army's and Marine Corps's equipping and maintenance strategies; (2) equipment maintenance consequences created by these equipping and maintenance strategies; and (3) challenges affecting the timing and cost of Army and Marine Corps equipment reset. GAO's observations are based on equipment-related GAO reports issued in fiscal years 2004 through 2006, as well as ongoing related work."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Congressional oversight of rulemaking using the CRA can be an important and useful tool for monitoring the regulatory process and balancing and accommodating the concerns of American citizens and businesses with the effects of federal agencies' rules. This statement provides an overview of the purpose and provisions of CRA; GAO's role and activities in fulfilling its responsibilities under the Act; and trends on CRA within the broader context of developments in presidential and congressional oversight of federal agencies' rulemaking."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States controls the export of high performance computers for national security and foreign policy reasons. High performance computers have both civilian and military applications and operate at or above a defined performance threshold (which was formerly measured in millions of theoretical operations per second [MTOPS], but is now measured in Weighted TeraFlops [WT]). The U.S. export control policy currently organizes countries into "tiers," with tier 3 representing a higher level of concern related to U.S. national security interests than tiers 1 and 2. A license is required to export computers above a specific performance level to countries such as China, India, Israel, Pakistan, and Russia. Policy objectives of U.S. computer export controls are to (1) limit the acquisition of highest-end, high performance computer systems by potential adversaries and countries of proliferation concern and (2) ensure that U.S. domestic industries supporting important national security computer capabilities can compete in markets where there are limited security or proliferation risks. Over the last few years, the effectiveness of U.S. export controls in meeting these policy objectives has been challenged by market and technological changes in the computer and microprocessor …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During recent congressional hearings and in public speeches, statements made by the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) Chairman and another board member raised congressional interest in the ability of NCUA to collect and objectively analyze data on credit union membership and executive compensation. More generally, these statements also raised issues about the agency's overall vigilance as a regulator and the independence and objectivity of NCUA's board and senior staff from the industry being regulated. As a result, Congress asked us to expand upon our current work looking at the tax-exempt status of credit unions to include a review of governance policies and procedures for NCUA's board of directors and senior staff and more specifically how the policies and procedures address independence and objectivity issues. This correspondence (1) compares controls and related procedures applicable to NCUA that help ensure the independence and objectivity of its board members with those of other federal financial regulatory agencies and relevant recommended management practices identified in academic and industry literature and (2) describes NCUA's use of Schedule C staff compared with that of other federal financial regulatory agencies."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Automated Targeting System (ATS)--a computerized model that CBP officers use as a decision support tool to help them target oceangoing cargo containers for inspection--is part of CBP's layered approach to securing oceangoing cargo. GAO reported in February 2004 on challenges CBP faced in targeting oceangoing cargo containers for inspection and testified before Congress in March 2004 about the findings in that report. The report and testimony outlined recommendations aimed at (1) better incorporating recognized modeling practices into CBP's targeting strategy, (2) periodically adjusting the targeting strategy to respond to findings that occur during the course of its operation, and (3) improving implementation of the targeting strategy. This statement for the record discusses preliminary observations from GAO's ongoing work related to ATS and GAO's 2004 recommendations addressing the following questions: (1) What controls does CBP have in place to provide reasonable assurance that ATS is effective at targeting oceangoing cargo containers with the highest risk of smuggled weapons of mass destruction? (2) How does CBP systematically analyze security inspection results and incorporate them into ATS? and (3) What steps has …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of the end of March 2006, over 1.3 million U.S. military servicemembers had served or were serving in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). These servicemembers, including members of the reserves and National Guard, may be eligible to receive health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) while serving on active duty or upon separating from active duty. Although the Department of Defense (DOD) provides health care services to servicemembers under TRICARE, legislation passed by the Congress in May 1982 authorized VA to provide health care services to servicemembers in time of war or national emergency, when DOD may have insufficient resources to care for casualties. Through December 16, 2005, DOD had arranged for 193 active duty servicemembers with serious injuries--traumatic brain injuries and other complex trauma, such as missing limbs--to receive medical and rehabilitative care at VA polytrauma rehabilitation centers (PRC). In addition, about 30 percent (over 144,000) of the servicemembers who had separated from active duty following service in OEF or OIF have sought VA health care, including over 4,000 who received inpatient care at VA medical facilities. In September 2005, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As a part of Congress's continuing efforts to oversee the activities of the nonprofit sector, it asked us to review executive compensation issues at selected private, nonprofit hospital systems to gain an understanding of the policies and practices related to the salaries, benefits, travel, gifts, and entertainment expenses paid by these hospital systems. Our study's key questions were as follows: (1) What corporate governance structure do selected hospital systems report as having in place over executive compensation? (2) What is the basis for the compensation and benefits earned by, awarded to, or paid to the executives as reported by selected hospital systems? (3) What internal controls do selected hospital systems report as having in place over the approval, payment, and monitoring of executive travel and entertainment expenses, gifts, and other perquisites? On June 5, 2006, we briefed Congressional staff on the results of our work. This report transmits the briefing provided to Congressional staff, as amended to reflect some additional observations."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "TRICARE is the Department of Defense's (DOD) health care system for active duty and retired uniformed service members and their families. TRICARE consists of four separate programs. Three of these programs--TRICARE Prime, a managed care option; TRICARE Extra, a preferred provider option; and TRICARE Standard, a fee for service option--cover active duty personnel, their dependents, and retirees under age 65. Prior to 2001, TRICARE beneficiaries would lose their TRICARE coverage when they reached age 65, and Medicare--the federal health insurance program that provides medical benefits to over 42 million elderly and disabled Americans--would become their primary health insurer. However, in 2001, the Congress expanded TRICARE by establishing a fourth program, known as TRICARE for Life (TFL). TFL provides supplementary health care coverage for TRICARE beneficiaries who are entitled to Medicare Part A, and enrolled in Part B. It pays for many services that Medicare only partially covers. While TRICARE beneficiaries do not have to pay for their TFL coverage, they are required to pay premiums for Medicare Part B. Section 625 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) provided enrollment incentives to TRICARE …

The Illinois State Geological Survey and the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium are conducting CO{sub 2} sequestration and enhanced oil recovery testing at six different sites in the Illinois Basin. The capital and operating costs for equipment to capture and liquefy CO{sub 2} from ethanol plants in the Illinois area were evaluated so that ethanol plants could be considered as an alternate source for CO{sub 2} in the event that successful enhanced oil recovery tests create the need for additional sources of CO{sub 2} in the area. Estimated equipment and operating costs needed to capture and liquefy 68 metric tonnes/day (75 tons/day) and 272 tonnes/day (300 tons/day) of CO{sub 2} for truck delivery from an ethanol plant are provided. Estimated costs are provided for food/beverage grade CO{sub 2} and also for less purified CO{sub 2} suitable for enhanced oil recovery or sequestration. The report includes preliminary plant and equipment designs and estimates major capital and operating costs for each of the recovery options. Availability of used equipment was assessed.

High performance computational science and engineering simulations have become an increasingly important part of the scientist's problem solving toolset. A key reason is the development of widely used codes and libraries that support these applications, for example, Netlib, a collection of numerical libraries [33]. The term community codes refers to those libraries or applications that have achieved some critical level of acceptance by a user community. Many of these applications are on the high-end in terms of required resources: computation, storage, and communication. Recently, there has been considerable interest in putting such applications on-line and packaging them as network services to make them available to a wider user base. Applications such as data mining [22], theorem proving and logic [14], parallel numerical computation [8][32] are example services that are all going on-line. Transforming applications into services has been made possible by advances in packaging and interface technologies including component systems [2][6][13][28][37], proposed communication standards [34], and newer Web technologies such as Web Services [38]. Network services allow the user to focus on their application and obtain remote service when needed by simply invoking the service across the network. The user can be assured that the most recent version of the …

This report presents a summary of research projects in the area of low energy nuclear reactions and structure, carried out between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2005 and supported by U.S. DOE grant number DE-FG03-03NA00074. Cross sections measured with high resolution have been subjected to an Ericson theory analysis to infer information about the nuclear level density. Other measurements were made of the spectral shape of particles produced in evaporation processes; these also yield level density information. A major project was the development of a new Hauser-Feshbach code for analyzing such spectra. Other measurements produced information on the spectra of gamma rays emitted in reactions on heavy nuclei and gave a means of refining our understanding of gamma-ray strength functions. Finally,reactions on light nuclei were studied and subjected to an R-matrix analysis. Cross sections fora network of nuclear reactions proceedingthrough a given compound nucleus shouldgreatly constrain the family of allowed parameters. Modifications to the formalism andcomputer code are also discussed.

Executive Summary: Initially the funds were sufficient funds were awarded to support one graduate student and one post-doc. Lange, though other funds, also supported a graduate intern from ETH Zurich, Switzerland for a period of 6 months. The initial direction was to study the chemical solution deposition method to understand the microstructural and mechanical phenomena that currently limit the production of thick film, reliable superconductor wires. The study was focused on producing thicker buffer layer(s) on Ni-alloy substrates produced by the RABiTS method. It focused on the development of the microstructure during epitaxy, and the mechanical phenomena that produce cracks during dip-coating, pyrolysis (decomposition of precursors during heating), crystallization and epitaxy. The initial direction of producing thicker layers of a know buffer layer material was redirected by co-workers at ORNL, in an attempt to epitaxially synthesize a potential buffer layer material, LaMnO3, via the solution route. After a more than a period of 6 months that showed that the LaMnO3 reacted with the Ni-W substrate at temperatures that could produce epitaxy, reviewers at the annual program review strongly recommended that the research was not yielding positive results. The only positive result presented at the meeting was that much thicker films …