Report that covers the history and current status of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Particular attention is paid to recent privacy implications and potential intrusiveness of drone operations that have emerged as a significant issue before Congress. It also looks at the current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) timeline to establish six test ranges throughout the United States to study unmanned aircraft integration technical issues.

Report that discusses the Supreme Court's ruling in Arizona v. United States, and considers the implications that the decision may have for immigration enforcement activity by states and localities.

Report that discusses the constitutionality and the legal effects of extending centralized review of rulemaking to independent regulatory commissions (IRC).

Report that looks at vehicle fuel costs, fuel consumption in the United States, and examines the estimated costs to new vehicles that may arise from the Obama Administration's new passenger vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for vehicle model years (MY) 2017-2025.

Report providing a brief overview of the climate change, power plant, and air quality standard issues, as well as information on other Clean Air Act issues that the 112th Congress has addressed.

Report that provides a history and background of the Senior Executive Service (SES), examines the central features of the SES, and discusses some areas in which advocates for SES reform have called for change.

Report exploring super Political Action Committees, what they are, how they developed, how much they raised and spent during the 2010 election cycle, and a preliminary analysis of the 2012 cycle.

Report that offer a list of 200 congressional liaison offices.

Report that analyzes the legal issues associated with religious exemptions to photo identification laws, lawsuits that have challenged state photo requirements, and factors that may be relevant in future decisions that may arise related to federal photo identification requirements and state voter identification requirements.

Report that discusses the current political state of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan government. This report also discusses Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, particularly U.S. efforts to urge President Hamid Karzai to address corruption within the Afghan government. Election fraud and corruption in Afghanistan are also discussed.

Report that contains information on how to ascertain if an individual is eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits.

Report that covers concerns and issues relating to governance, elections, election fraud/nepotism, human rights, and Afghan culture in Afghanistan. It discusses the pros and cons of U.S.A. intervention in the shaping of these endeavors.

Report that discusses the effects of economic sanctions against Iran, support to the Iranian democracy movement, opposition against Iranian human rights violations, and Iranian support for Syrian human rights violations.

This report provides the results of recent elections in Latin America and the Caribbean. It contains three tables organized by region that list the date of each country's independence, the name of the newly elected president or prime minister, and the projected date of the next election. Information in this report was gathered from numerous sources, including the U.S. State Department, the CIA's Open Source, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and other news sources.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The four Department of Defense (DOD) components GAO examined have active processes for referring identified cases of contractor misconduct for appropriate action, including suspension or debarment. The components identify numerous cases of actual or alleged contractor misconduct each year from various internal and external sources. The figure below shows the process for identifying and referring cases to the suspension and debarment official for consideration."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOL and OSC began the USERRA demonstration project on August 9, 2011, meeting the time frame (within 60 days of our report on the project's design) required by the VBA. From August 9, 2011, to May 9, 2012, DOL has received 87 USERRA demonstration project cases and OSC has received 123 cases. The data reported in this study cover only 9 months of the demonstration project and do not represent the overall results of the 36-month project nor are we drawing any conclusions of the relative performance at either agency. As both agencies continue to collect and track data, we will be able to provide an in-depth evaluation of relative performance. We did not report customer satisfaction survey data in this assessment due to the short amount of time the survey has been available to claimants and the low survey response rate. Also, while both agencies track time spent on cases on an ongoing basis, OSC only compiles cost data on those cases that have been closed while DOL compiles cost data on open and closed cases. Therefore, we plan to evaluate and compare the relative …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Nearly all of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program managers GAO surveyed reported their programs had experienced significant challenges. Sixty-eight of the 71 respondents reported they experienced funding instability, faced workforce shortfalls, or their planned capabilities changed after initiation, and most survey respondents reported a combination of these challenges. DHS lacks the data needed to accurately measure program performance, but GAO was able to use survey results, information DHS provided to Congress, and an internal DHS review from March 2012 to identify 42 programs that experienced cost growth, schedule slips, or both. GAO gained insight into the magnitude of the cost growth for 16 of the 42 programs, which increased from $19.7 billion in 2008 to $52.2 billion in 2011, an aggregate increase of 166 percent."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to 2010 data from the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), 10,187 subjects--individuals and entities involved in fraud cases--were investigated for health care fraud, including fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). These subjects included different types of providers and suppliers--such as physicians, hospitals, durable medical equipment suppliers, home health agencies, and pharmacies--that serve Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP beneficiaries. For criminal cases in 2010, medical facilities--including medical centers, clinics, or practices--and durable medical equipment suppliers were the most-frequent subjects investigated. Hospitals and medical facilities were the most-frequent subjects investigated in civil fraud cases, including cases that resulted in judgments or settlements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCOs) reported that they are implementing several leading practices important to making strategic decisions about training delivery, such as determining the best mix of decentralized and centralized training and considering government-wide reform when planning training. However, many CHCOs reported they are not implementing some practices that support making more cost-effective training investment decisions, such as prioritizing training so that the most important needs are met first and evaluating the benefits of training. In addition, many CHCOs do not have information from component or sub-agency leaders regarding their level of investments and priorities. Consequently, some agencies are duplicating internal across their agencies. Federal agencies also need reliable information on how much they spend on training and for what purposes. However, several CHCOs reported they do not completely and reliably track training costs agency-wide."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's review of the reimbursements the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) made to the American Red Cross (Red Cross) related to the 77 presidentially declared major disasters in 2008 found"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While the number of community banks and credit unions has declined in recent years, they have remained important lenders to small businesses and other local customers. From 1985 through 2010, the number of banks under $10 billion in assets and credit unions declined by over 50 percent to 7,551 and 7,339, respectively. The decline resulted largely from consolidations, which were facilitated by changes in federal law that made it easier for banks and credit unions to expand geographically. Another factor that may have contributed to consolidations is economies of scale, which refer to how an institution's size is related to its costs. Although the existence of economies of scale in banking has been subject to debate, some recent research suggests that banks can save costs by expanding. Despite the decline in their number, community banks and credit unions have maintained their relationship-banking model, relying on their relationships with customers and local knowledge to make loans. Such institutions can use their relationship-based information to make loans to small businesses and other borrowers that larger banks may not make because of their general reliance on more automated processes. …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To verify license applicants' identity, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have procedures that may detect counterfeit documents. For example, all states are now verifying key personal information, such as Social Security numbers (SSN) through online queries to a Social Security Administration (SSA) database, a significant increase from about a decade ago. This effort helps ensure that the identity information presented belongs to a valid identity and also is not associated with a deceased person. Additionally, most states verify non-citizen applicants' immigration documents with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure these individuals have lawful status in the United States. Many states are also using facial recognition techniques to better detect attempts to obtain a license under another's identity. While most states have taken steps required by the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Act), officials in some states indicated that they may not comply with certain provisions--such as re-verifying SSNs for license renewals--because of state laws or concerns that these requirements are unnecessary and burdensome."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Approximately two-thirds of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) major information technology (IT) investments are meeting their cost and schedule commitments (i.e., goals). Specifically, out of 68 major IT investments in development, 47 were meeting cost and schedule commitments. The remaining 21—which total about $1 billion in spending—had one or more subsidiary projects that were not meeting cost and/or schedule commitments (i.e., they exceeded their goals by at least 10 percent, which is the level at which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) considers projects to be at increased risk of not being able to deliver planned capabilities on time and within budget.)"