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June 12, 2007
Headlines - Subcommittee Asks GAO to Investigate New FBI Center Designed to Amass Records on Citizens
- GAO Evaluates Talking Books for the Blind Program
- Marine-Base Housing Contained Drinking Water Contaminated with Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) for Nearly 30 Years Says Federal Health Agency
- FDA Implementing Initiative to Reduce Tomato-Related Foodborne Illnesses
- Anti-phishing Research Group at Indiana University
- International Forum to Share Best Practices in Utilizing Performance Information
- Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
- 31% - Campaign Watchers on the Net
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Yearbook 2007
- CBO Reports: Current Accounting Deficit, Effectiveness of Medical Treatments, Medicare's Spending for Physicians' Services
- 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report Released
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 Subcommittee Asks GAO to Investigate New FBI Center Designed to Amass Records on Citizens Press release: "The leaders of the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight have asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) [ copy of the letter] to investigate the proposed creation of a new federal facility aimed at identifying terrorists. The Subcommittee is concerned that, without the proper safeguards in place, billions of personal records that will be stored there may be vulnerable to theft or abuse. The FBI is currently seeking $12 million to develop a new, mammoth, data-mining center that will collect billions of records on individuals suspected of terrorist connections over the next few years. The new National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) proposed in the Department of Justice's FY2008 budget justification document, will include 90,000 square feet of office space and a total of 59 staff, including 23 contractors and five FBI agents. "Documents predict the NASC will include six billion records by FY2012. This amounts to 20 separate 'records' for each man, woman and child in the United States," wrote the Subcommittee leaders." GAO Evaluates Talking Books for the Blind Program Talking Books for the Blind, GAO-07-871R, June 12, 2007. "The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a part of the Library of Congress, operates a free national talking (audio) book program for qualified blind, visually impaired, or physically disabled residents of the United States and its territories, as well as qualified U.S. citizens residing abroad. NLS produces and distributes analog cassette players and talking books and periodicals recorded on audio cassettes to approximately 434,000 individual subscribers and 33,000 institutions through a network of 132 participating libraries and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)...The Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Appropriations asked us to review NLS planning and management of its digital talking book development and acquisition project. Specifically, our objectives were to determine to what extent NLS (1) performed sufficient analyses to select technologies for the next generation of the talking book system and (2) effectively managed the development of the selected digital talking book technology and mode of distribution." Marine-Base Housing Contained Drinking Water Contaminated with Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) for Nearly 30 Years Says Federal Health Agency Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Press Release, June 12, 2007: "Water in the drinking water system for the Tarawa Terrace family housing area at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, affecting possibly 75,000 residents, was contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent, during the period November 1957 through February 1987, an analysis by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) concludes." ASTDR Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Topic Home: "The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has been assessing the effects of exposure to drinking water containing VOCs since 1993. ATSDR activities include a 1997 Public Health Assessment, the 1998 Study on Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and a telephone interview of parents of children who were carried or conceived at Camp Lejeune during 1968-1985. In addition, the current study, titled "Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Specific Birth Defects and Childhood Cancers at United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina," began in Spring 2005." View Analyses of Groundwater Flow, Contaminant Fate and Transport, and Distribution of Drinking Water at Tarawa Terrace and Vicinity, U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina FDA Implementing Initiative to Reduce Tomato-Related Foodborne Illnesses Press release: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will begin a multi-year Tomato Safety Initiative to reduce the incidence of tomato-related foodborne illness in the United States...The Tomato Safety Initiative complements the Leafy Greens Initiative launched in 2006." Anti-phishing Research Group at Indiana University "The anti-phishing research group at Indiana University, stop-phishing.com, is striving to understand, detect and prevent online fraud, and in particular, to reduce the economic viability of phishing attacks. We achieve this goal through a cross-disciplinary research agenda in which we consider all facets of the problem, ranging from psychological aspects and technology matters to legal issues and interface design considerations. We are attuned to needs and concerns within the financial sector, among privacy advocates, and of common users, and are dedicated to turning the tide." 31% - Campaign Watchers on the Net Pew Research Center DataBank, June 12, 2007: "Nearly a third (31%) of American adults used the internet during the 2006 campaign to get political news and information and discuss the races through email; the number of Americans using the internet as their main source of political material doubled since the last mid-term election in 2002." Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Yearbook 2007 "The Yearbook is SIPRI's annual compendium of data and analysis of developments in security and conflicts, military spending and armaments and non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament. The SIPRI Yearbook 2007: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security was launched at a press conference on 11 June 2007." Download the press release and chapter summaries booklet (28 pages) 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report Released "The purpose of this Report is to call the world's attention to the existence of modern-day slavery, and the desperate need to eliminate it the same way the world ended the African slave trade more than a century ago. Human trafficking plagues every country including the United States. The Report covers 164 countries and territories, together comprising 85 percent of the world. It ranks 151 countries and territories where some 100 cases of human trafficking or more have been identified. It spells out what countries are doing on prosecution, protection, and prevention, and what more we can do together on all three fronts." Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report 2007 [HTML version and PDF version]
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