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Daily Archives: February 13, 2008

New GAO Reports: DOD Personnel Clearances, Runway Safety, Primary Care Professionals

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  • DOD Personnel Clearances: DOD Faces Multiple Challenges in Its Efforts to Improve Clearance Processes for Industry Personnel, GAO-08-470T, February 13, 2008 – “The Department of Defense (DOD) maintains approximately 2.5 million security clearances on servicemembers, federal DOD civilian employees, industry personnel for DOD and 23 other federal agencies, and employees in the legislative branch. Delays in determining eligibility for a clearance can heighten the risk that classified information will be disclosed to unauthorized sources, increase contract costs, and pose problems in attracting and retaining qualified personnel.”
  • DOD Personnel Clearances: Improved Annual Reporting Would Enable More Informed Congressional Oversight, GAO-08-350, February 13, 2008
  • Department of Homeland Security: Progress Made in Implementation of Management and Mission Functions, but More Work Remains, GAO-08-457T, February 13, 2008 – “The Department of Defense (DOD) industry personnel security clearance program has long-standing delays and backlogs in completing clearance requests and difficulties in accurately projecting its future needs for investigations to be conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).”
  • Runway Safety: Progress on Reducing Runway Incursions Impeded by Leadership, Technology, and Other Challenges, GAO-08-481T, February 13, 2008 – “Recent data indicate that runway incursions, which are precursors to aviation accidents, are growing. Although the number and rate of incursions declined after reaching a peak in fiscal year 2001 and remained relatively constant for the next 5 years, they show a recent upward trend.”
  • Primary Care Professionals: Recent Supply Trends, Projections, and Valuation of Services, GAO-08-472T, February 12, 2008 – “Most of the funding for programs under title VII of the Public Health Service Act goes toward primary care medicine and dentistry training and increasing medical student diversity. Despite a longstanding objective of title VII to increase the total supply of primary care professionals, health care marketplace signals suggest an undervaluing of primary care medicine, creating a concern about the future supply of primary care professionals–physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and dentists.”

    • A comprehensive vision for an integrated European border management system for the 21st Century

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    The Commission today set out its vision [Word doc] of how to develop the EU’s external border management system. These consist of a mix of concrete measures (on the FRONTEX Agency and on control of maritime borders) and longer term reflections on ways of recording entry and exit of third country nationals. This approach will… Continue Reading

    Domestic Uranium Production Report and Electric Power Monthly

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    Domestic Uranium Production Report – Quarterly (02/13/2008): “Fourth quarter 2007 update, preliminary 2007 uranium production total, and operating status of U.S. uranium mills and in-situ-leach plants.” Electric Power Monthly (02/12/2008): “The latest EPM issue (February 2008) is now available on EIA’s Electricity page. Data being published in the February 2008 EPM include November 2007 data.… Continue Reading

    FTC Testifies on Efforts to Stop Mortgage Foreclosure ‘Rescue’ Fraud

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    Press release: “The Federal Trade Commission today told the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging that the Commission, partnering with other federal agencies and state and local governments, is working to prevent mortgage foreclosure “rescue” fraud through law enforcement and consumer outreach. Noting an estimated 75 percent increase in foreclosure filings from 2006 to 2007,… Continue Reading

    Freight Transportation Services Index Fell 1.3 Percent in December from November

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    Press release: “The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) fell 1.3 percent in December from its November level turning down after two monthly increases in the largest monthly decline since November 2006, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today (Table 1).” The freight transportation index consists of: For-hire trucking, Railroad freight… Continue Reading

    FTC Releases List of Top Consumer Fraud Complaints in 2007

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    “The FTC today released the list of top consumer fraud complaints received by the agency in 2007. The list, contained in the publication Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data January-December 2007, showed that for the seventh year in a row, identity theft is the number one consumer complaint category. Of 813,899 total complaints received… Continue Reading

    Secretary Kempthorne Announces Proposal to Remove the Brown Pelican from the Endangered Species List

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    Press release: “The brown pelican, a species battered by more than a century of threats including widespread poaching and the pesticide DDT, is back from the brink. During a special event held in Louisiana, also known as “the pelican state” and a major contributer to the bird’s recovery, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced… Continue Reading

    Measuring the Quality of Office of Inspector General Reports Issued in Fiscal Year 2007

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    Measuring the Quality of Office of Inspector General Reports Issued in Fiscal Year 2007, February 12, 2008: “The purpose of this annual quality assurance review is to report on the set of criteria the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used to measure quality in the audit and evaluation… Continue Reading