Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, hosted Ask the White House yesterday. Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: January 2006
Iraq Reconstruction Funds Still Unaccounted For
WSJ free feature: Some Iraq Rebuilding Funds Go Untraced – Investigators Have Yet to Pursue U.S. Contracting Money That May Be Missing: “More than 18 months after the Pentagon disbanded the Coalition Provisional Authority that ran Iraq, neither the Justice Department nor a special inspector general has moved to recover large sums suspected of disappearing… Continue Reading
House and Senate Democrats Sponsor Honest Leadership & Open Government Act
Honest Leadership & Open Government Act: “The Act will reinvigorate Congressional ethics rules and institute broad-based lobbying reforms to ensure that the representatives of the people are operating in the peopl’s interest, not the special interests.” [press release from House Democratic Leader Pelosi] Continue Reading
Legislation Seeks to Prohibit Sale of Cell Phone Records
Follow-up to yesterday’s posting, Stronger Safeguards Sought As Cell Records Sold on Web – two related press releases on new legislation to protect the privacy of cell phone logs which are available for sale online. press release: “Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced legislation to combat the growing black market of cell phone call… Continue Reading
Comparison of Congressional Oversight During Clinton and Bush Administrations
“In a pair of new reports, Rep. Henry A. Waxman examines the failure of the Republican-controlled Congress to investigate wrongdoing by the Bush Administration and the very different approach toward oversight taken by the Republican-controlled Congress during the Clinton Administration. An additional report released in 2001 documents numerous examples of allegations against the Clinton Administration… Continue Reading
Oversight Reports on Hurricane Katrina Recovery
Memorandum for the Record: GSA OIG Biweekly Reporting on Hurricane Oversight, released 01/10/2006 PCIE and ECIE – Oversight of Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery, A 90-Day Progress Report to Congress, December 30, 2005 (PDF, 141 pages), released 01/13/2006 Hurricane Relief Oversight Continue Reading
Users Evaluate Websites in Blink of An Eye
Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! Authors: Lindgaard, Gitte, Fernandes, Gary, Dudek, Cathy, Browñ, J. – Behaviour and Information Technology, Volume 25, Number 2, Number 2/March-April 2006, pp. 115-126(12) Abstract: “Three studies were conducted to ascertain how quickly people form an opinion about web page visual appeal. In… Continue Reading
IE7 Has “Delete Browsing History” Feature
From the IE Blog, news that the upcoming IE7 will have a ‘Delete Browsing History’ feature that allows users to easily eliminate a range of information on their browsing activities, all from one menu. This information includes temporary Internet files, cookies, the history of websites most recently visited, form data, and passwords. Also note: “…if… Continue Reading
Stronger Safeguards Sought As Cell Records Sold on Web
Press release: “Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) Ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, released responses from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [2 pages, PDF] and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [2 pages, PDF] in response to his inquiry into reports of the commercial availability of consumer telephone records by companies… Continue Reading
Technology Solutions Promoted to Enhance Border Security
Rice-Chertoff Joint Vision: Secure Borders and Open Doors in the Information Age: “Since 9/11, the Bush Administration has set many changes in motion to improve border security while still welcoming visitors to the United States. There have been two great challenges: to harmonize all these changes for maximum effect while maintaining the right balance between… Continue Reading
Counterterrorism Funding Oversight Lacking According to GAO
Combating Terrorism: Determining and Reporting Federal Funding Data, GAO-06-161, January 17, 2006. Highlights. “Seven of 34 agencies that reported receiving funding related to combating terrorism activities to OMB used different methodologies to estimate the portion of their authorized funding that supports such activities. These 7 agencies account for about 90 percent of the total fiscal… Continue Reading
Lawsuit Filed Against Bush and NSA Over Domestic Spying
Press release: “In New York, on January 17, 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit against President George W. Bush, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA), and the heads of the other major security agencies, challenging the NSAs surveillance of persons within the United States without judicial approval or statutory… Continue Reading
