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August 15, 2007
Headlines - DOD OIG Audit of Defense Logistics Agency's Warstopper Program
- CBO Report - Assessing Pay and Benefits for Military Personnel
- Analysis - Two Decades of American News Preferences
- New GAO Reports on Freight Railroads and Regulatory Transparency
- Federal Reserve Board Finance and Economics Discussion Series Papers
- Impact of Higher Natural Gas Prices on Local Distribution Companies and Residential Customers
- DHS Announces Plans for National Applications Office
- New York Police Department Report on Radicalization in the West and the Homegrown Threat
- American Customer Satisfaction Index for PCs - Apple Remains Leader
- WSJ Reports on DHS Plan to Expand Domestic Surveillance
- FCC Revises 700 MHz Rules to Advance Interoperable Public Safety Communications and Promote Wireless Broadband Deployment
- Joint DHS/DOD OIG Report on FBI, ICE Investigations into Terror Financing
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 DOD OIG Audit of Defense Logistics Agency's Warstopper Program D-2007-116 Defense Logistics Agency's Warstopper Program (686KB) (Project D2006-D000LD-0096.000) PDF and Summary. "DoD personnel and Government contractors who are involved in the Defense Logistics Agency's Warstopper Program should read this report. It discusses the execution and overall management of the Warstopper Program to satisfy requirements for sudden and sustained increases in production (surge and sustainment) of selected critical industrial and medical items." Analysis - Two Decades of American News Preferences Two Decades of American News Preferences, Analysis by Michael J. Robinson - Released: August 15, 2007 (36 pages, PDF): "Although the size and scope of the American news media have changed dramatically since the 1980s, audience news interests and preferences have remained surprisingly static. Of the two major indices of interest that are the focus of this report -- overall level of interest in news and preferences for various types of news -- neither has changed very much. This has been especially true for news preferences; Americans continue to follow -- or to ignore -- the same types of stories now as they did two decades ago. News "tastes," measured among 19 separate categories of news, have barely shifted at all: Disaster News and Money News continue to be of greatest interest to the U.S. public; Tabloid News and Foreign News remain the least interesting." New GAO Reports on Freight Railroads and Regulatory Transparency Freight Railroads: Electronic Supplement on Rates and Other Industry Trends, 1985-2005 (GAO-07-292SP), an E-supplement to GAO-07-291R GAO-07-292SP, August 15, 2007 Freight Railroads: Updated Information on Rates and Other Industry Trends, GAO-07-291R, August 15, 2007 Reexamining Regulations: Opportunities Exist to Improve Effectiveness and Transparency of Retrospective Reviews, GAO-07-791, July 16, 2007 Federal Reserve Board Finance and Economics Discussion Series Papers 2007-36 (August) Why Do Firms Offer Risky Defined Benefit Pension Plans? David A. Love, Paul A. Smith, and David Wilcox Abstract | Full paper (PDF) 2007-35 (August) Executive Compensation: A New View from a Long-Term Perspective, 1936-2005, Carola Frydman and Raven E. Saks, Abstract | Full paper (PDF) 2007-34 (August) News, Noise, and Estimates of the "True" Unobserved State of the Economy, Dennis J. Fixler and Jeremy J. Nalewaik, Abstract | Full paper (PDF) 2007-33 (August) Robust Monetary Policy with Imperfect Knowledge, Athanasios Orphanides and John C. Williams, Abstract | Full paper (PDF) 2007-32 (August) Labor Reallocation over the Business Cycle: New Evidence from Internal Migration, Raven E. Saks and Abigail Wozniak, Abstract | Full paper (PDF) 2007-31 (August) Federal Home Loan Bank Advances and Commercial Bank Portfolio Composition, W. Scott Frame, Diana Hancock, and Wayne Passmore Abstract | Full paper (PDF) Impact of Higher Natural Gas Prices on Local Distribution Companies and Residential Customers Impact of Higher Natural Gas Prices on Local Distribution Companies and Residential Customers (08/15/2007), 48 pages, PDF: "This report examines some of the problems faced by natural gas consumers as a result of increasing heating bills in recent years and problems associated with larger amounts of uncollectible revenue and lower throughput for the local distribution companies (LDCs) supplying the natural gas. The report also discusses Federal, State, and utility assistance programs for consumers, and focuses on various innovative rate mechanisms used by LDCs, along with the use of physical and financial hedging as a risk-mitigating strategy. Lastly, the report analyzes the risk of LDCs and how the risk has changed since regulatory reform in the utility industry." Monthly Energy Chronology July 2007 (08/15/2007): "For information about the latest developments in world energy markets, please see the updated Monthly Energy Chronology. The report contains details of events that occurred in July 2007." DHS Announces Plans for National Applications Office Press release: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Applications Office (NAO) is the executive agent to facilitate the use of intelligence community technological assets for civil, homeland security and law enforcement purposes within the United States. The office will begin initial operation by fall 2007 and will build on the long-standing work of the Civil Applications Committee, which was created in 1974 to facilitate the use of the capabilities of the intelligence community for civil, non-defense uses in the United States...As a principal interface between the Intelligence Community and the Civil Applications, Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Domains, the National Applications Office will provide more robust access to needed remote sensing information to appropriate customers.." New York Police Department Report on Radicalization in the West and the Homegrown Threat New York Police Department report, Radicalization in the West and the Homegrown Threat, by Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt, Senior Intelligence Analysts, NYPD Intelligence Division, August 2007 (90 pages, PDF) American Customer Satisfaction Index for PCs - Apple Remains Leader American Customer Satisfaction Index, Scores By Industry, Personal Computers Commentary by Professor Claes Fornell: "Apple and Dell contribute the most to the decline in customer satisfaction for personal computers. ACSI scores for both drop by 5%, though Apple remains the industry leader with a score of 79, well ahead of the HP division of Hewlett-Packard at 76. Dell, once the ACSI leader in the industry, drops and finds itself near the bottom of the group." WSJ Reports on DHS Plan to Expand Domestic Surveillance WSJ: "The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S. The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement." FCC Revises 700 MHz Rules to Advance Interoperable Public Safety Communications and Promote Wireless Broadband Deployment FCC press release, July 31, 2007: "In a Second Report & Order (Order) adopted today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revised the 700 MHz band plan and service rules to promote the creation of a nationwide interoperable broadband network for public safety and to facilitate the availability of new and innovative wireless broadband services for consumers. The 700 MHz Band spectrum, which runs from 698-806 MHz, currently is occupied by television broadcasters and will be made available for other wireless services, including public safety and commercial services, as a result of the digital television (DTV) transition. The Digital Television and Public Safety Act of 2005 (DTV Act) set a firm deadline of February 17, 2009, for the completion of the DTV transition. The DTV Act also requires the FCC to commence an auction of the previously unauctioned commercial spectrum in the 700 MHz Band no later than January 28, 2008." Joint DHS/DOD OIG Report on FBI, ICE Investigations into Terror Financing Press release from Sen. Charles Grassley: "A new joint report from the Inspectors General at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice finds that disputes between agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have resulted in ICE agents reportedly choosing "to ignore" or "drop" leads and even entire cases that might have a connection to terrorist activity...The newly completed review is a follow-up report examining 10 other cases that started at ICE and were taken over by the FBI as part of an inter-agency agreement for better cooperation that was reached in 2003 by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The review finds that 7 out of 10 terrorist financing cases suffered from lack of cooperation between the FBI and ICE until the cases were transferred to FBI-controlled Joint Terrorism Task Forces." Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, July 2007 - Coordination Between FBI and ICE on Investigations of Terrorist Financing See also Sen. Grassley's June 15, 2006 Letter to FBI Director Mueller
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