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Monthly Archives: April 2006

Release of Foreign Relations Volume

Press release: “The Department of State has released Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, volume VI, Vietnam, January 1969-July 1970, the first of five volumes to cover the end of the Vietnam war. The Presidential election of November 1968 had demonstrated just how divisive Vietnam had become in American society and politics. Vietnam was… Continue Reading

Image Based Searching Using Cell Phone Photos

From Microsoft Research, Photo2Search: Explore the Real World via Camera Phone “Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information—whether it be a Web… Continue Reading

GAO Report Emphasizes Need for Inter-Agency Info Sharing to Combat Terrorism

Information Sharing: The Federal Government Needs to Establish Policies and Processes for Sharing Terrorism-Related and Sensitive but Unclassified Information, Full-text GAO-06-385, March 17, 2006, Highlights. “More than 4 years after September 11, the nation still lacks governmentwide policies and processes to help agencies integrate the myriad of ongoing efforts, including the agency initiatives we identified,… Continue Reading

University Prof Launches Free Site Evaluating Health Care Journalism

“HealthNewsReview.org is a website dedicated to: improving the accuracy of news stories about medical treatments, tests and procedures ; helping consumers evaluate the evidence for and against new ideas in health care. We support and encourage the ABCs of health journalism: Accuracy, Balance, Completeness…HealthNewsReview.org reviews news stories that make a therapeutic claim about: specific treatments,… Continue Reading

47 AGs Submit Letter to IRS On Sharing Personal Info on Tax Returns

Follow-up to April 4, 2006 posting, IRS Hearing on Privacy Standards and Sale of Taxpayer Data, this related April 3 press release: “Forty-seven Attorneys General submitted a letter (9 pages, PDF) to the Internal Revenue Service objecting to proposed IRS rules that would make it easier for businesses to share and use personal information included… Continue Reading

DHS OIG Issues Report Critical of FEMA’s Katrina Response

A Performance Review of FEMA’s Disaster Management Activities in Response to Hurricane Katrina (PDF, 218 pages), 04/14/2006. “This report assesses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) performance as it conducted its disaster management responsibilities in response to Hurricane Katrina. We examined whether the laws, regulations, policies, procedures, plans, guidelines, and resources were adequate and operational,… Continue Reading

2006 State Homeland Security Directors Survey

“..the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) conducted its second annual survey of the 55 state homeland security directors during December 2005 and January 2006. The results of this survey reflect the responses of 40 homeland security directors from the states, territories, and commonwealths comprising the United States….At all levels of government,… Continue Reading