Defense Acquisitions: Army Aviation Modernization Has Benefited from Increased Funding but Several Challenges Need to Be Addressed, GAO-09-978R, September 28, 2009 Defense Acquisitions: Department of Defense Needs a Unified Strategy for Balancing Investments in Tactical Wheeled Vehicles, GAO-09-968R, September 28, 2009 Democracy Assistance: U.S. Agencies Take Steps to Coordinate International Programs but Lack Information on… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: September 2009
Google Family of Sites Remain Atop Search Engine Chart
“Since launching Bing, Microsoft sites have seen a significant increase in search queries, but Google still controls nearly two-thirds of the U.S. search query market, according to a new report released last week. In August, Google sites, including Google, YouTube, and other Google-owned websites, handled 64.6 percent of all searches originating in the United States,… Continue Reading
Deloitte: Cloud computing – A collection of working papers
Deloitte: Cloud computing – A collection of working papers, released September 17, 2009 and published on July 31, 2009. “Cloud Computing frequently is taken to be a term that simply renames common technologies and techniques that we have come to know in IT. It may be interpreted to mean data center hosting and then subsequently… Continue Reading
OCCs Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities: Second Quarter 2009
OCCs Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities: Second Quarter 2009 “A total of 1,110 insured U.S. commercial banks reported derivatives activities at the end of the second quarter, an increase of 47 banks from the prior quarter. Nonetheless, most derivatives activity in the U.S. banking system continues to be dominated by a small… Continue Reading
FDIC: Credit Quality Declines in Annual Shared National Credits Review
News release: “Credit quality declined sharply for loan commitments of $20 million or more held by multiple federally supervised institutions, according to the 32nd annual review of Shared National Credits (SNC). The credit risk of these large loan commitments was shared among U.S. bank organizations, foreign bank organizations (FBO), and nonbanks such as securitization pools,… Continue Reading
Survey: Nearly Half of Employers Now Auto-Enroll Employees in 401(k) Plans
News release: “In a trend that is likely to continue, nearly half of U.S. companies are automatically enrolling workers into 401(k) plans to encourage them to save for retirement, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. The survey also found that the number of companies that use target-date or lifecycle… Continue Reading
EPA: PCBs in Caulk of Buildings 1950-1978
News release: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a series of steps that building owners and school administrators should take to reduce exposure to PCBs that may be found in caulk in many buildings constructed or renovated between 1950 and 1978. The agency is also conducting new research to better understand the risks posed… Continue Reading
DOJ OIG Testimony on Reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act
Statement of Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary concerning Reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act, September 23, 2009 “Our reports recognized the significant challenges the FBI faced and the major organizational changes it was undergoing during our review period. Nevertheless, we concluded that the FBI engaged… Continue Reading
CDC Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report
“Each week CDC analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView. During the week of September 13-19, 2009, a review of the key indictors found that influenza activity continued to increase in the United States compared to the prior weeks.” Related… Continue Reading
France: Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress
The Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress has been created at the beginning of 2008 on French government’s initiative. Increasing concerns have been raised since a long time about the adequacy of current measures of economic performance, in particular those based on GDP figures. Moreover, there are broader concerns about the… Continue Reading
DOJ Limits Use of State Secrets Privilege
EPIC: “…the Department of Justice announced a new policy that limits the governments use of the state secrets privilege. The state secrets privilege is a rule of evidence intended to prevent genuine matters of national security from being disclosed in open court. However, recently it has been misused by both the Bush and Obama administrations… Continue Reading
Unemployed Workers Competing for Limited Job Prospects
Using Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting, this New York Times graphic documents that “only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed.” See also accompanying article. Related postings on financial system Continue Reading
