Audit Report, Department of Energy’s Receipt of Royalty Oil, DOE/IG-0786 January 2008 (22 pages, PDF): “We concluded that the Department had not implemented an effective internal control system over the receipt of royalty oil at the market centers.” Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: January 2008
New GAO Reports: IRS Information Security, Improving Freight Mobility
Information Security: IRS Needs to Address Pervasive Weaknesses GAO-08-211, January 8, 2008: “IRS made limited progress toward correcting previously reported information security weaknesses. It has corrected or mitigated 29 of the 98 information security weaknesses that GAO reported as unresolved at the time of its last review. For example, IRS implemented controls for user IDs… Continue Reading
Human Rights Watch: Irans Broadening Clampdown on Independent Activism
“Individuals from an ever widening range of groups in Iran are subject to arrest on security grounds for political activism and peaceful dissent against the government. Those arrested are frequently detained in facilities operating outside the regular prison administration, most notoriously in Section 209 of Tehrans Evin Prison, where they may be subjected to torture… Continue Reading
United States and Libya Sign Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement
Fact Sheet: U.S.-Libya Science and Technology Cooperation: Bilateral Framework Science and Technology Cooperation Agreements State Department Media Note: “The United States and the Great Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya [January 3, 2008] signed a bilateral Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State. Under Secretary of State for Democracy… Continue Reading
DOT OIG Aviation Industry Performance Report
Aviation Industry Performance Report (58 pages, PDF): “On December 27, we issued the ninth in a series of our periodic updates to our Aviation Industry Performance Report. The report graphically identifies trends in aviation demand and capacity, aviation system performance, airline finances and service to small communities. This edition of the report focused on the… Continue Reading
GAO – Social Security Disability: Better Planning, Management, and Evaluation Could Help Address Backlogs
Social Security Disability: Better Planning, Management, and Evaluation Could Help Address Backlogs, GAO-08-40, December 7, 2007: “For years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has experienced processing delays and significant backlogs of disability claims. At the end of fiscal year 2006, some 1.5 million disability claims were awaiting a decision. About 576,000 of these claims were… Continue Reading
UK Report: National Security for the Twenty-First Century
Current notions of defence, foreign affairs, intelligence and development are redundant in the new security environment… National Security for the Twenty-first Century, Charlie Edwards, DEMOS: “The government remains structured around functions and services with separate budgets for defence, foreign affairs, intelligence and development. Whitehall departments, intelligence agencies and the police forces that make up the… Continue Reading
Federal Fish and Wildlife Statement for Polar Bear Decision
Press release: “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working diligently to reach a final decision on the proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. We expect to provide a final recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior and finalize the decision within the next month.” Related… Continue Reading
CBO Monthly Budget Review – January 2008
CBO Monthly Budget Review – January 2008: “The federal budget deficit was about $107 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008, CBO estimatesabout $27 billion more than in the same period last year. Outlays have risen by 9 percent compared with their level in the first three months of 2007, whereas revenues have… Continue Reading
FBI Releases Preliminary Crime Statistics for January-June 2007
Press release: “According to the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report released today, the nation experienced a 1.8 percent decrease in violent crime and a 2.6 percent decrease in property crime during the first six months of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. The report is based on information from law enforcement agencies… Continue Reading
CBO: Society of Government Economists Distinguished Lecture on Economics
Society of Government Economists Distinguished Lecture on Economics, Peter R. Orszag, January 5, 2008 (25 pages, PDF) Continue Reading
White House: Fact Sheet: Six Years of Student Achievement Under No Child Left Behind
Fact Sheet: Six Years of Student Achievement Under No Child Left Behind, January 7, 2008 “The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law in January 2002 and reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Under this legislation, the Commissioner of Education Statistics is to conduct national and state NAEP assessments… Continue Reading
