DOJ Office of Information and Privacy – Guidance on Preparing Backlog Reduction Plans (posted 06/27/2008): “This memorandum provides guidance for preparing Backlog Reduction Plans. All agencies with backlogs which have not made progress in reducing those backlogs over the last two years are required to prepare Backlog Reduction Plans by September 8, 2008. Each agency… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: June 2008
One-half of surveyed adults think the pharma industry has a very large influence on doctors choice of Rx medicine
News release: “A majority of Americans (64%) say that it is important to know their physicians financial ties to pharmaceutical companies and 68% would support legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose gifts to doctors, according to the results of a new survey released…by the Prescription Project. The pharmaceutical industry spends more than $7 billion annually… Continue Reading
Biggest Expansion to Internet in Forty Years Approved for Implementation
News release, June 26, 2008: “The Board of ICANN today approved recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet’s addressing system. “The Board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion… Continue Reading
Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounder: U.S-Pakistan Military Cooperation
U.S-Pakistan Military Cooperation, Greg Bruno, Staff Writer, Jayshree Bajoria, Staff Writer, June 26, 2008 “Military cooperation between the United States and Pakistan has undergone a tactical renaissance since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Moribund at the end of the Cold War, when concerns about nuclear proliferation and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan diminished… Continue Reading
Treasury Department Releases New Guidance on Health Savings Accounts
“The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today released Notice 2008-59, which provides employers and employees with a new set of formal questions and answers on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Since HSAs were created as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, Treasury and the IRS have issued a… Continue Reading
President Bush rescinds North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror
President Bush Discusses North Korea: “The policy of the United States is a Korean Peninsula free of all nuclear weapons. This morning, we moved a step closer to that goal, when North Korean officials submitted a declaration of their nuclear programs to the Chinese government as part of the six-party talks…First, I’m issuing a proclamation… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: Defense Production Act, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Individual Retirement Accounts, Peacekeeping
Defense Production Act: Agencies Lack Policies and Guidance for Use of Key Authorities, GAO-08-854, June 26, 2008 Critical Infrastructure Protection: Further Efforts Needed to Integrate Planning for and Response to Disruptions on Converged Voice and Data Networks, GAO-08-607, June 26, 2008 Individual Retirement Accounts: Government Actions Could Encourage More Employers to Offer IRAs to Employees,… Continue Reading
Statutes at Large 109th Congress, 2nd Session Available Online
“The United States Statutes at Large, typically referred to as the Statutes at Large, is the permanent collection of all laws and resolutions enacted during each session of Congress. The Statutes at Large is prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Every public and private… Continue Reading
Hearing: Laptop Searches and Other Violations of Privacy Faced by Americans Returning from Overseas Travel
Laptop Searches and Other Violations of Privacy Faced by Americans Returning from Overseas Travel, Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, June 25, 2008. From the Statement of Senator Russ Feingold: “So the constitutional question we face today is this: When the government looks through the contents of your laptop,… Continue Reading
Interior OIG Evaluation of Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program Highly Redacted
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) posted the PDF version: [Y-RR-FWS-0007-2007] Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) Progress Evaluation of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Endangered Species Program, that was released on June 25, 2008. This statement appears on the cover page, Portions of this report have been redacted pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(5)… Continue Reading
The Common Framework for Networked Personal Health Information: Overview and Principles
“The framework below proposes a set of practices that, when taken together, encourage appropriate handling of personal health information as it flows to and from personal health records (PHRs) and similar applications or supporting services. Click on the individual documents below to read descriptions and to view or download them as PDF documents. Or, download… Continue Reading
GAO Bid Protest Decision on Boeing Tanker Protest
Follow up to June 18, 2008 posting, GAO Sustains Boeing Bid Protest, the GAO Bid Protest Decision (The decision was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release.) “Protest is sustained, where the agency, in making the award decision, did not assess the relative merits of the proposals… Continue Reading
