This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping. It also appends citations to state law in the area and contains a bibliography of legal commentary as well as the text of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This report also includes a brief summary of the recently expired Protect America Act, P.L. 110-55 and of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, P.L. 110-261 (H.R. 6304).

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (the 2002 Farm Bill) required GAO to report annually on how states have used funds received under the Master Settlement Agreement and the Phase II agreement. This letter is the first in a series of reports responding to the 2002 Farm Bill requirement. Specifically, this letter provides information on (1) the amount of funds that have been distributed to each of the participating states under the Phase II agreement and (2) how the states have allocated these funds to tobacco growers, quota owners, and others."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has escalated in recent years because of drug trafficking and related organized crime activities, with over 12,000 fatalities since 2006. At the same time, gang activity in Central America has increased, further fueling the violence within the region. In an effort to confront the challenges posed by criminal violence, in October 2007, the United States and Mexico announced the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion counternarcotics and anticrime assistance package for countries in the region. The Merida Initiative brings a shift in both scale and scope to U.S. assistance to the region, particularly Mexico. For example, under Merida, the average annual counternarcotics and related law enforcement assistance to Mexico increased from about $57 million from 2000 through 2006 to $400 million for fiscal year 2008. Similarly, collaboration between the United States and Mexico has intensified, providing an unprecedented opportunity to address the mutual threat of drug trafficking and organized crime affecting the region. In response to Congressional concerns regarding the pace of assistance, we are providing information on the status of funding provided under the Merida Initiative as of September 30, 2009. Specifically, we …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researchers generally disseminate their agency-funded research results through publications, presentations, agency releases, and media interviews. In 2007, GAO reviewed dissemination policies at NASA and two other agencies and found that NASA's policies were generally clear, but GAO's survey of NASA researchers raised concerns that many of them did not understand some of the policies and were generally unaware of how to appeal dissemination decisions. Congress in 2008 directed GAO to determine whether NASA is implementing its policies in a clear and consistent manner. To meet that requirement, GAO determined (1) what changes have been made to NASA's policies since 2007, (2) the views of NASA researchers on whether the policies have been more effectively communicated since 2007, and (3) what changes have occurred since 2007 in NASA's processes for researchers to follow if they wish to appeal decisions about the dissemination of their research results. GAO conducted a Web-based survey of all 2,790 NASA researchers and had a 57.5 percent response rate."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Rural America has become more diverse: technology and the spread of suburbia have linked rural areas to urban areas, resulting in diminished distinctions between the two. The Rural Housing Service (RHS) applies statutory requirements for eligibility that may not reflect changes in rural areas or best determine which areas qualify for its housing programs. GAO's objectives included assessments of how eligibility is defined for RHS programs and how changes in the current eligibility requirements might impact the RHS mission of meeting rural housing needs."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Civil Rights Division (Division) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is the primary federal entity charged with enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin (i.e., protected classes). The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review the Division's enforcement efforts and its Interactive Case Management System (ICM). This testimony addresses (1) the activities the Division undertook from fiscal years 2001 through 2007 to implement its enforcement responsibilities through its Employment Litigation, Housing and Civil Enforcement, Voting, and Special Litigation sections, and (2) additional data that could be collected using ICM to assist in reporting on the four sections' enforcement efforts. This statement is based on GAO products issued in September and October 2009."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In most of the requests approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to transfer licenses to own or operate nuclear power plants, the financial arrangements have sought to ensure that adequate funds will be available to decommission those plants. However, when new owners proposed to continue relying on periodic deposits to external sinking funds, NRC's reviews were not always rigorous enough to ensure that decommissioning funds would be adequate. Varying cleanup standards and proposed new decommissioning methods introduce additional uncertainty about the future costs of decommissioning nuclear power plants. Changes to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's financial reporting standard will require, for the first time, owners of facilities that require significant end-of-life cleanup expenditures--such as nuclear power plants--to consistently report estimated decommissioning costs as liabilities in their financial statements. However, the new accounting standard is not intended to, and will not, establish a legal requirement that these licensees set aside adequate funding for decommissioning costs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the U.S. Customs Service's Compliance Measurement Examination (COMPEX) and Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Inspections Traveler Examination (INTEX). These programs, which help Customs and INS assess the nature and extent of enforcement risks at ports of entry, compare violations found during targeted inspections with violations found during random inspections. GAO found that both Customs and INS inspectors did not always adhere to guidance on sample selection and did not always conduct inspections with the minimum level of thoroughness required. As a result, statistical data generated by the programs may not reliably reflect the extent to which travelers who seek entry into the U.S. are in violation of customs or immigration laws. GAO also found that the COMPEX and INTEX programs both draw from the same population of international travelers; have similar purposes and goals; and often use Customs and INS inspectors who work side by side, particularly at land border ports of entry. Customs and INS might realize efficiencies if the two programs were combined."

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a quantitative, chemically specific technique with a probing depth of a few angstroms to a few nanometers. It is therefore ideally suited to investigate the chemical nature of the surfaces of catalysts. Because of the scattering of electrons by gas molecules, XPS is generally performed under vacuum conditions. However, for thermodynamic and/or kinetic reasons, the catalyst's chemical state observed under vacuum reaction conditions is not necessarily the same as that of a catalyst under realistic operating pressures. Therefore, investigations of catalysts should ideally be performed under reaction conditions, i.e., in the presence of a gas or gas mixtures. Using differentially pumped chambers separated by small apertures, XPS can operate at pressures of up to 1 Torr, and with a recently developed differentially pumped lens system, the pressure limit has been raised to about 10 Torr. Here, we describe the technical aspects of high-pressure XPS and discuss recent applications of this technique to oxidation and heterogeneous catalytic reactions on metal surfaces.

We exposed samples of B4C, amorphous C, chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD)-diamond C, Si, and SiC to single 25 fs-long pulses of 32.5 nm free-electron-laser radiation at fluences of up to 2.2 J/cm{sup 2}. The samples were chosen as candidate materials for x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) optics. We found that the threshold for surface-damage is on the order of the fluence required for thermal melting. For larger fluences, the crater depths correspond to temperatures on the order of the critical temperature, suggesting that the craters are formed by two-phase vaporization [1]. XFELs have the promise of producing extremely high-intensity ultrashort pulses of coherent, monochromatic radiation in the 1 to 10 keV regime. The expected high output fluence and short pulse duration pose significant challenges to the optical components, including radiation damage. It has not been possible to obtain direct experimental verification of the expected damage thresholds since appropriate x-ray sources are not yet available. FLASH has allowed us to study the interaction of high-fluence short-duration photon pulses with materials at the shortest wavelength possible to date. With these experiments, we have come closer to the extreme conditions expected in XFEL-matter interaction scenarios than previously possible.

Due to higher than expected hydrogen generation during the Tank 51-Sludge Batch 4 (SB4) qualification run, DWPF engineering requested the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to expand the ongoing catalytic hydrogen generation program. The work presented in this Technical Report was identified as part of SRNL/Liquid Waste Organization (LWO) meetings to define potential causes of catalytic hydrogen generation as well as from an external technical review panel commissioned to evaluate SRNL hydrogen related data and programs. New scope included improving the understanding of SRAT/SME process chemistry, particularly as it related to acid consumption and hydrogen generation. The expanded hydrogen program scope was covered under the technical task request (TTR): HLW-DWPF-TTR-2007-0016. A task technical and quality assurance plan (TT&QAP) was issued to cover focus areas raised in meetings with LWO plus a portion of the recommendations made by the review panel. A supporting analytical study plan was issued. It was also noted in the review of catalytic hydrogen generation that control of the DWPF acid stoichiometry was an important element in controlling hydrogen generation. A separate TTR was issued to investigate ways of improving the determination of the acid requirement during processing: HLWDWPF-TTR-0015. A separate TT&QAP was prepared for this task …

We present a description and scenario results from our recently-developed long-term model of United States industrial sector energy consumption, which we have incorporated as a module within the ObjECTS-MiniCAM integrated assessment model. This new industrial model focuses on energy technology and fuel choices over a 100 year period and allows examination of the industrial sector response to climate policies within a global modeling framework. A key challenge was to define a level of aggregation that would be able to represent the dynamics of industrial energy demand responses to prices and policies, but at a level that remains tractable over a long time frame. In our initial results, we find that electrification is an important response to a climate policy, although there are services where there are practical and economic limits to electrification, and the ability to switch to a low-carbon fuel becomes key. Cogeneration of heat and power using biomass may also play a role in reducing carbon emissions under a policy constraint.

Over the past three decades, Earth scientists have made great strides in understanding our planet’s workings and history. Yet this progress has served principally to lay bare more fundamental questions about the Earth. Expanding knowledge is generating new questions, while innovative technologies and new partnerships with other sciences provide new paths toward answers. A National Academies committee was established to frame some of the great intellectual challenges inherent in the study of the Earth and planets. The goal was to focus on science, not implementation issues, such as facilities or recommendations aimed at specific agencies. The committee canvassed the geological community and deliberated at length to arrive at 10 questions: 1. How did Earth and other planets form? 2. What happened during Earth’s “dark age” (the first 500 million years)? 3. How did life begin? 4. How does Earth’s interior work, and how does it affect the surface? 5. Why does Earth have plate tectonics and continents? 6. How are Earth processes controlled by material properties? 7. What causes climate to change—and how much can it change? 8. How has life shaped Earth—and how has Earth shaped life? 9. Can earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and their consequences be predicted? 10. How …

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This dissertation documents the development of a broadband electron spectrometer (ESM) for GeV class Laser Wakefield Accelerators (LWFA), the production of high quality GeV electron beams (e-beams) for the first time in a LWFA by using a capillary discharge guide (CDG), and a statistical analysis of CDG-LWFAs. An ESM specialized for CDG-LWFAs with an unprecedented wide momentum acceptance, from 0.01 to 1.1 GeV in a single shot, has been developed. Simultaneous measurement of e-beam spectra and output laser properties as well as a large angular acceptance (> {+-} 10 mrad) were realized by employing a slitless scheme. A scintillating screen (LANEX Fast back, LANEX-FB)--camera system allowed faster than 1 Hz operation and evaluation of the spatial properties of e-beams. The design provided sufficient resolution for the whole range of the ESM (below 5% for beams with 2 mrad divergence). The calibration between light yield from LANEX-FB and total charge, and a study on the electron energy dependence (0.071 to 1.23 GeV) of LANEX-FB were performed at the Advanced light source (ALS), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Using this calibration data, the developed ESM provided a charge measurement as well. The production of high quality electron beams up to 1 GeV …

The purpose of this techbase project was to investigate the use of parallel array data types to reduce the memory footprint of the Livermore Equation Of State (LEOS) library. Addressing the memory scalability of LEOS is necessary to run large scientific simulations on IBM BG/L and future architectures with low memory per processing core. We considered using normal MPI, one-sided MPI, and Global Arrays to manage the distributed array and ended up choosing Global Arrays because it was the only communication library that provided the level of asynchronous access required. To reduce the runtime overhead using a parallel array data structure, a least recently used (LRU) caching algorithm was used to provide a local cache of commonly used parts of the parallel array. The approach was initially implemented in a isolated copy of LEOS and was later integrated into the main trunk of the LEOS Subversion repository. The approach was tested using a simple test. Testing indicated that the approach was feasible, and the simple LRU caching had a 86% hit rate.

Laboratory experiments have been conducted to investigate the fuel effects on the turbulent premixed flames produced by a gas turbine low-swirl injector (LSI). The lean-blow off limits and flame emissions for seven diluted and undiluted hydrocarbon and hydrogen fuels show that the LSI is capable of supporting stable flames that emit < 5 ppm NO{sub x} ({at} 15% O{sub 2}). Analysis of the velocity statistics shows that the non-reacting and reacting flowfields of the LSI exhibit similarity features. The turbulent flame speeds, S{sub T}, for the hydrocarbon fuels are consistent with those of methane/air flames and correlate linearly with turbulence intensity. The similarity feature and linear S{sub T} correlation provide further support of an analytical model that explains why the LSI flame position does not change with flow velocity. The results also show that the LSI does not need to undergo significant alteration to operate with the hydrocarbon fuels but needs further studies for adaptation to burn diluted H{sub 2} fuels.

The imaging techniques enable the possibility of higher-level quality control and defect analysis of solar cell materials in in-line production processes.

The tracking resolution and vertex finding capabilities of the SLD experiment depended upon a precise knowledge of the location and orientation of the elements of the SLD pixel vertex detector (VXD3) in 3D space. At the heart of the procedure described here to align the 96 CCDs is the matrix inversion technique of singular value decomposition (SVD). This tool was employed to unfold the detector geometry corrections from the track data in the VXD3. The algorithm was adapted to perform an optimal {chi}{sup 2} minimization by careful treatment of the track hit residual measurement errors. The tracking resolution obtained with the aligned geometry achieved the design performance. Comments are given on how this method could be used for other trackers.

The 1607-F4 waste site is the former location of the sanitary sewer system that serviced the former 115-F Gas Recirculation Building. The system included a septic tank, drain field, and associated pipeline that were in use from 1944 to 1965. The 1607-F4 waste site received unknown amounts of sanitary sewage from the 115-F Gas Recirculation Building and may have potentially contained hazardous and radioactive contamination. In accordance with this evaluation, the verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of verification sampling demonstrated that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also showed that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

The use of lightweight and highly formable advanced materials in automobile and truck manufacturing has the potential to save fuel. Advances in tooling technology would promote the use of these materials. This report describes an energy savings analysis performed to approximate the potential fuel savings and consequential carbon-emission reductions that would be possible because of advances in tooling in the manufacturing of, in particular, non-powertrain components of passenger cars and heavy trucks. Separate energy analyses are performed for cars and heavy trucks. Heavy trucks are considered to be Class 7 and 8 trucks (trucks rated over 26,000 lbs gross vehicle weight). A critical input to the analysis is a set of estimates of the percentage reductions in weight and drag that could be achieved by the implementation of advanced materials, as a consequence of improved tooling technology, which were obtained by surveying tooling industry experts who attended a DOE Workshop, Tooling Technology for Low-Volume Vehicle Production, held in Seattle and Detroit in October and November 2003. The analysis is also based on 2001 fuel consumption totals and on energy-audit component proportions of fuel use due to drag, rolling resistance, and braking. The consumption proportions are assumed constant over time, but …

High temporal and spatial resolution measurements in the boundary of the DIII-D tokamak show that edge localized modes (ELMs) are produced in the low field side, are poloidally localized and are composed of fast bursts ({approx}20 to 40 {micro}s long) of hot, dense plasma on a background of less dense, colder plasma ({approx}5 x 10{sup 18} m{sup {+-}3}, 50 eV) possibly created by the bursts themselves. The ELMs travel radially in the scrapeoff layer (SOL), starting at the separatrix at {approx}450 m/s, and slow down to {approx}150 m/s near the wall, convecting particles and energy to the SOL and walls. The temperature and density in the ELM plasma initially correspond to those at the top of the density pedestal but quickly decay with radius in the SOL. The temperature decay length ({approx}1.2 to 1.5 cm) is much shorter than the density decay length ({approx}3 to 8 cm), and the latter decreases with increasing pedestal (and SOL) density. The local particle and energy flux at the midplane wall during the bursts are 10% to 50% ({approx}1 to 2 x 10{sup 21} m{sup {+-}2} s{sup {+-}1}) and 1% to 2 % ({approx}20 to 30 kW/m{sup 2}) respectively of the LCFS average fluxes, …

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According to the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) program guidelines, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) will be produced in the form of 3-10 kW modules for residential use. In addition to residential use, these modules can also be used in apartment buildings, hospitals, etc., where a higher power rating would be required. For example, a hospital might require a 250 kW power generating capacity. To provide this power using the SECA SOFC modules, 25 of the 10 kW modules would be required. These modules can be aggregated in different architectures to yield the necessary power. This report will show different approaches for aggregating numerous SOFC modules and will evaluate and compare each one with respect to cost, control complexity, ease of modularity, and fault tolerance.