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Free weekday coverage on current issues
September 17, 2007
Headlines - National Security Archive Publishes Documents Describing Controversial Agency and
- New GAO Reports on SEC and Legal Services Corporation
- DOE OIG Audit Report of Nuclear Complex for DHS
- DOJ Fact Sheet: Project Safe Neighborhoods
- DOJ OIG Report on Security Conditions in H. Carl Moultrie I Courthouse
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- European Commission's Decision on Microsoft's Abuse of Dominant Position Upheld
- New Website Alerts Regulators and Scientific Communities on Food Safety Issues
- New Look for ClinicalTrials.gov
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 National Security Archive Publishes Documents Describing Controversial Agency and Database "Today the National Security Archive publishes a collection of documents concerning the organization and operations of the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity and the TALON/CORNERSTONE database it has maintained. As the Defense Department announced on August 21, today that database will be terminated while work on new procedures for reporting of threats to the Defense Department and its facilities continues. In the interim, threat reports will be transmitted to the FBI. The declassified documents published today include the key Department of Defense directive on the collection of information about Americans, as well as documents on the organization and missions of CIFA, an evaluation of charges of mismanagement by CIFA executives, and examples of data collected about protest activities as part of the Threat And Local Observation Notice (TALON) system. Central to the collection are the documents that show the internal and public response by the Defense Department to questions raised about the propriety of the data base - specifically, its collection and retention of data on political protests. Also, included is a DoD Inspector General report on the operation of the TALON system, identifying a number of problems in operation of the system." New GAO Reports on SEC and Legal Services Corporation Securities and Exchange Commission: Additional Actions Needed to Ensure Planned Improvements Address Limitations in Enforcement Division Operations, GAO-07-830, August 15, 2007, Full Report (PDF, 48 pages) Legal Services Corporation: Governance and Accountability Practices Need to Be Modernized and Strengthened, GAO-07-993, August 15, 2007, Full Report (PDF, 76 pages) DOJ Fact Sheet: Project Safe Neighborhoods Fact Sheet - Project Safe Neighborhoods: America's Network Against Gun Violence - "The Project Safe Neighborhoods strategy involves five elements: partnerships, strategic planning, training, outreach and accountability. The U.S. Attorney in each of the 94 federal judicial districts works side-by-side with local law enforcement and other officials to tailor the PSN strategy to fit the unique gun and gang crime problems in that district. Criminals are prosecuted under federal, state or local laws, depending on which jurisdiction can provide the most appropriate punishment. PSN task forces engage in community outreach and media campaigns to deter gun and gang crime, and deploy grant funds to support effective prosecution and prevention programs. Both at the local and national levels, PSN also ensures that law enforcement officers and prosecutors have the training necessary to make the program work." United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples "The General Assembly [September 13, 2007] adopted a landmark declaration outlining the rights of the world's estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlawing discrimination against them – a move that followed more than two decades of debate. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been approved after 143 Member States voted in favour, 11 abstained and four – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States – voted against the text. A non-binding text, the Declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues." European Commission's Decision on Microsoft's Abuse of Dominant Position Upheld Press release: "The European Commission welcomes today's ruling by the Court of First Instance upholding the European Commission's 2004 decision on Microsoft's abuse of its dominant market position and confirming the totality of the fine imposed. In this decision, Microsoft was fined €497 million for infringing the EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant market position (Article 82) by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for media players (see IP/04/382 and MEMO/04/70). This conduct hindered innovation in the markets concerned to the detriment of consumers. To put an end to this abusive behaviour, the Commission ordered Microsoft to disclose interoperability information which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers and to offer a version of its Windows operating system without Windows Media Player. The Court's ruling confirms that the Commission was right to prohibit Microsoft's anti-competitive conduct which harmed competition to the detriment of consumers." See also this Link for a complete chronology of the case. New Website Alerts Regulators and Scientific Communities on Food Safety Issues " FoodSHIELD is a web-based platform designed to create community between the various laboratories and regulatory agencies that make up our nation's food and agricultural sectors. Through secure, integrated resources such as detailed agency profiles, departments of agriculture and health, as well as laboratories, have the ability to communicate and coordinate with their peers in other states." New Look for ClinicalTrials.gov "In September 2007, ClinicalTrials.gov will launch a new user interface, which represents the first significant change to the interface since February 2000. The new user interface will run in parallel with the previous version and after appropriate testing, the new user interface will permanently replace the previous version (approximately two to four weeks after launch). This article describes the new features, including highlighted search terms, more display options, and additional capabilities for viewing studies and search results by topic. Improvements were also made to "Advanced Search" and the display by location on the world map."
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