Audit Report, AUD-2014-012, March 25, 2014: “The pre-foreclosure property inspection process needs improvement to ensure that pre-foreclosure inspection objectives are achieved in the most effective manner. There is limited assurance that the Enterprises have effective controls in place to ensure the quality of inspections conducted and that inspectors issue reports consistent with contractual requirements. Overall, several servicers reviewed… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: March 2014
Federal Reserve survey provides information on mobile financial services
News release: “The use of mobile phones to access a bank account, credit card, or other financial account continued to increase in prevalence among adults in the United States last year, according to the Federal Reserve Board’s latest report on the use of mobile financial services. As of December 2013, 33 percent of all mobile… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Architect of the Capitol, VA Information Security
ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL: Incorporating All Leading Practices Could Improve Accuracy and Credibility of Projects’ Cost Estimates, GAO-14-333: Published: Mar 25, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 25, 2014: “GAO’s Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide (Cost Guide) defines 12 leading practices that are associated with four characteristics—comprehensive, well documented, accurate , and credible —that are important to developing high-quality, reliable project-cost estimates.” INFORMATION SECURITY: VA Needs… Continue Reading
Census Data Mapper – Beta
“The Census Data Mapper is a web mapping application intended to provide users with a simple interface to view, save and print county-based demographic maps of the United States. The data are from the 2010 Census.” Continue Reading
2014 Global Retirement Index
“The Natixis CoreData Global Retirement Index is an international comparison tool with an objective of providing a global benchmark for retirees and future retirees to evaluate and compare the suitability of nations globally in meeting retirement expectations, needs and ambitions. Welfare in retirement is an increasingly relevant issue in modern societies as demographic compositions continue… Continue Reading
UK – Bring your own device (BYOD)
Bring your own device guidance: “Bring your own device is a term which refers to when employees use their personal computing devices (typically smart phones and tablets) in the workplace. Permitting devices which you do not have sufficient control over to connect to the corporate IT systems can introduce a range of security vulnerabilities and other data… Continue Reading
Foreign exchange intervention and banking system balance sheet in emerging market economies
Foreign exchange intervention and the banking system balance sheet in emerging market economies (Working Paper) by Blaise Gadanecz, Aaron Mehrotra and Madhusudan Mohanty, March 24, 2014. “Large-scale forex intervention in emerging market economies (EMEs) aimed at resisting currency appreciation has major implications for the composition of banking system balance sheets. The domestic monetary consequences depend on the nature of central bank… Continue Reading
Key Academic Research on Detention and Asylum
Silverman, Stephanie J., Key Academic Research on Detention and Asylum (September 01, 2013). Detention and Asylum Research Cluster Publications, 2013. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2413148 “This annotated bibliography is meant to serve as a resource for exploring academic work on detention and asylum. It is grouped thematically according to a series of overarching categories. A weakness… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Electronic Health Records, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS: HHS Strategy to Address Information Exchange Challenges Lacks Specific Prioritized Actions and Milestones, GAO-14-242: Published: Mar 24, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 24, 2014: “Providers and stakeholders GAO interviewed in four states with ongoing electronic health information exchange efforts cited key challenges to exchange, in particular, issues related to insufficient standards, concerns about how privacy… Continue Reading
Suitability and Security Processes Review
Via FAS, Report to the President, February 2014. This work was carried out by the Suitability and Security Clearance Performance Accountability Council (PAC). “Government vetting processes generally involve two distinct activities: investigation activities which include application and information collection; and adjudication activities which include information assessment and decision making. A security investigation is defined as any investigation required… Continue Reading
Trends in Tuberculosis – United States, 2013
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Weekly, March 21, 2014 / 63(11);229-233. Trends in Tuberculosis — United States, 2013 “In 2013, a total of 9,588 new tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States, with an incidence rate of 3.0 cases per 100,000 population, a decrease of 4.2% from 2012. This report summarizes provisional TB surveillance data… Continue Reading
NACS v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System – Opinion
No. 13-5270 NACS, FORMERLY KNOWN AS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONVENIENCE STORES, ET AL., APPELLEES v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM, APPELLANT. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:11-cv-02075). Decided March 21, 2014. “TATEL, Circuit Judge: Combining features of credit cards and checks, debit cards have become not… Continue Reading
