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Free weekday coverage on current issues
July 05, 2007
Headlines - Map and List Provide Links to All Current Google Products
- GSA Issues Procedure Rules for New Civilian Board of Contract Appeals
- CRS Report - Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues
- On the Trail of Military Intelligence History: A Guide to the Washington, DC, Area
- New GAO Report on Data Breaches and ID Theft
- American Lawyer Media Sold to Incisive Media
- Habeus Corpus Restoration Act of 2007
- Challenge to Google's Amicus Filing in Microsoft Joint Status Report
- Companion Website to New Book: Introduction to Information Retrieval
- Report Mapping the Growth of Older America
- Report - Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace
 Map and List Provide Links to All Current Google Products From Zorgloob Logiciels, a very large, visual representation of the extensive range and variety of Google products [via Google Blogoscoped]. If you prefer all this information in a list format, along with associated icons, descriptions of the services (in French) and links directly to them, one can find that information here. GSA Issues Procedure Rules for New Civilian Board of Contract Appeals "This document contains the rules of procedure of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (Board), which will govern all proceedings before the Board. The Board was established within GSA by section 847 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 to hear and decide contract disputes between Government contractors and Executive agencies (other than the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority) under the provisions of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 and regulations and rules issued thereunder. Effective January 6, 2007, boards of contract appeals that existed at the General Services Administration and the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs were terminated, and their cases were transferred to the new Civilian Board of Contract Appeals." Federal Register: July 5, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 128)] [Rules and Regulations] [ Page 36793-36819] CRS Report - Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues Private Security Contractors in Iraq: Background, Legal Status, and Other Issues, updated June 21, 2007 (33 pages, PDF). [via Secrecy News] Related government documents and news: Hearing, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, May 10, 2007: from the transcript of testimony by Jeremy Scahill, reporter and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army - "Many Americans are under the impression that the US currently has about 145,000 active duty troops on the ground in Iraq. What is seldom mentioned is the fact that there are at least 126,000 private personnel deployed alongside the official armed forces. These private forces effectively double the size of the occupation force..." latimes.com - Private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq New York Times: Contractor Deaths in Iraq Soar to Record Iraq by the Numbers, Tomdispatch.com, Posted June 28, 2007 On the Trail of Military Intelligence History: A Guide to the Washington, DC, Area "A new pamphlet from the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) History Office describes locations in and around Washington, D.C. that have significant associations with the history of U.S. military intelligence." [via Secrecy News] On the Trail of Military Intelligence History: A Guide to the Washington, DC, Area, U.S. Army INSCOM History Office, 2007 (36 pages, PDF) New GAO Report on Data Breaches and ID Theft Personal Information: Data Breaches Are Frequent, but Evidence of Resulting Identity Theft Is Limited; However, the Full Extent Is Unknown. GAO-07-737, June 4, 2007. "While comprehensive data do not exist, available evidence suggests that breaches of sensitive personal information have occurred frequently and under widely varying circumstances. For example, more than 570 data breaches were reported in the news media from January 2005 through December 2006, according to lists maintained by private groups that track reports of breaches. These incidents varied significantly in size and occurred across a wide range of entities, including federal, state, and local government agencies; retailers; financial institutions; colleges and universities; and medical facilities. The extent to which data breaches have resulted in identity theft is not well known, largely because of the difficulty of determining the source of the data used to commit identity theft." American Lawyer Media Sold to Incisive Media Follow up to March 22, 2007 posting, Sale of American Lawyer Media Considered by Owner Wasserstein, from a press release today: "Incisive Media will acquire ALM from U.S. Equity Partners, L.P. for a total value of approximately $630 million (approximately 315 million pounds Sterling) in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, upon satisfaction of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. ALM owns and publishes 33 national and regional magazines and newspapers focused on the legal and real estate communities, including The American Lawyer(R), The New York Law Journal(R), Corporate Counsel(R), The National Law Journal(R) and Real Estate Forum...ALM's Law.com(R) is the Web's leading legal news and information network, while ALM's GlobeSt.com is the Web's leading information source for commercial real estate professionals." Habeus Corpus Restoration Act of 2007 Follow up to June 24, 2007 posting, Skelton/Conyers Introduce Habeas Reform Legislation, see these additional related government documents: S.185 - A bill to restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States. Sponsor: Sen Specter, Arlen [PA] (introduced 1/4/2007) - Senate Report 110-90, June 26, 2007: "This legislation repeals those provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) that eliminated the jurisdiction of any court to hear or consider applications for a writ of habeas corpus filed by aliens who have been determined by the United States to be properly detained as enemy combatants, or are awaiting such determination. The legislation would therefore permit detainees held by the United States Government as enemy combatants, or as potential enemy combatants, to file writs of habeas corpus and other related actions in the United States District Courts, subject to limitations on habeas that pre-dated the DTA. It also allows courts to consider legal challenges to military commissions only as provided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice or by a habeas corpus proceeding." CRS Report RL33180 - Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court, June 26, 2007, (45 pages, PDF) June 29, 2007: Supreme Court reverses and agrees to hear appeals in Guantanamo Bay detainee cases. Companion Website to New Book: Introduction to Information Retrieval Introduction to Information Retrieval - "This is the companion website for the following book: Christopher D. Manning, Prabhakar Raghavan and Hinrich Schütze, Introduction to Information Retrieval, Cambridge University Press, 2008." Report Mapping the Growth of Older America The Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program - Mapping the Growth of Older America, by William H. Frey: "Aging baby boomers constitute this decade's fastest growing age group, expanding nearly 50 percent in size from 2000 to 2010. This group-more highly educated, with more professional women, and more diverse than its predecessors-will add new stresses to suburban and Sun Belt locations where they are predominantly "retiring in place" with demands for health, transportation, and other services." Report - Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace, Seymour E. Goodman and Herbert S. Lin, Editors, Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States, National Research Council, 272 pages, pre-publication copy, 2007. "Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace examines the vulnerabilities of the Internet and offers a strategy for future research aimed at countering cyber attacks. The report also explores the nature of online threats and some of the reasons why past research for improving cybersecurity has had less impact than anticipated." Table of Contents - links to full text by section PDF Executive Summary, 33 pages, PDF See also the "Cyber Security Research and Development Act (PL 107-305, enacted November 27, 2002) which authorized this study to provide advice regarding the appropriate locus for federal cybersecurity research.
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