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Keystone XL Pipeline Project: Key Issues

Description: Report that describes the Keystone XL pipeline proposal and the process required for federal approval. It summarizes key arguments for and against the pipeline put forth by the pipeline's developers, federal agencies, environmental groups, and other stakeholders.
Date: May 9, 2012
Creator: Parfomak, Paul W.; Nerurkar, Neelesh; Luther, Linda & Vann, Adam
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

Confessions of a Horseshoer

Description: Confessions of a Horseshoer offers a close and personal look at the mind-set of a professional horseshoer (farrier) who also happens to be a college professor. The book, an ironic and playful view of the many unusual animals (and people) Ron Tatum has encountered over thirty-seven years, is nicely balanced between straightforward presentation, self-effacing humor, and lightly seasoned wisdom. It captures the day-to-day life of a somewhat cantankerous old guy, who has attitude and strong opinion… more
Access: Restricted to UNT Community Members. Login required if off-campus.
Date: May 15, 2012
Creator: Tatum, Ron
Partner: UNT Press

Ground Pounder: a Marine's Journey Through South Vietnam, 1968-1969

Description: In early February of 1968, at the beginning of the Tet Offensive, Private First Class Gregory V. Short arrived in Vietnam as an eighteen-year-old U.S. Marine. Amid all of the confusion and destruction, he began his tour of duty as an 81mm mortarman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which was stationed at Con Thien near the DMZ. While living in horrendous conditions reminiscent of the trenches in World War I, his unit was cut off and constantly being bombarded by the North Vietnamese … more
Access: Restricted to UNT Community Members. Login required if off-campus.
Date: May 15, 2012
Creator: Short, Gregory V.
Partner: UNT Press
open access

Criticality in Cooperative Systems

Description: Cooperative behavior arises from the interactions of single units that globally produce a complex dynamics in which the system acts as a whole. As an archetype I refer to a flock of birds. As a result of cooperation the whole flock gets special abilities that the single individuals would not have if they were alone. This research work led to the discovery that the function of a flock, and more in general, that of cooperative systems, surprisingly rests on the occurrence of organizational collap… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Vanni, Fabio
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Recovery Act: Tax Debtors Have Received FHA Mortgage Insurance and First-Time Homebuyer Credits

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured over $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers with $77.6 million in federal tax debt who benefited from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of these borrowers, 3,815 individuals claimed and received $27.4 million in Recovery Act First-Time Homebuyer Credits (FTHBC). This analysis includes tax debtors who (1) benefited from FHA’s increas… more
Date: May 29, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Force Structure: Army and Marine Corps Efforts to Review Nonstandard Equipment for Future Usefulness

Description: Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, the Army and the Marine Corps have taken steps to determine the future usefulness of nonstandard equipment but have not finalized all of the decisions on whether to add such equipment to unit authorization documents. As of November 2011, the Army had reviewed 409 equipment systems through its Capabilities Development for Rapid Transition process, determining that about 11 percent of that equi… more
Date: May 31, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Inspectors General: HUD Office of Inspector General Resources and Results

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the 5-year period from fiscal year 2007 through 2011, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) had budget and staffing resources that were consistent with other OIGs, and a monetary return for each budget dollar which exceeded the average return for Cabinet-level OIGs. During the 5-year period, the HUD OIG had total budgetary resources ranging from… more
Date: May 31, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Management Enhancements Needed to Improve Efforts to Detect and Deter Duty Evasion

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detects and deters evasion of antidumping and countervailing (AD/CV) duties through a three-part process that involves (1) identifying potential cases of evasion, (2) attempting to verify if evasion is occurring, and (3) taking enforcement action. To identify potential cases of evasion, CBP targets suspicious import activity, analyzes trends in import data, and f… more
Date: May 17, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Uranium Mining: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of Financial Assurances

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Forest Service, and the Department of Energy (DOE) are the key agencies that oversee uranium exploration and extraction on federal land, but GAO identified three areas where their oversight processes differ. First, these agencies have different processes for notification of uranium exploration or extraction activities on federal land. Second, the agencies require… more
Date: May 17, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Unemployed Older Workers: Many Face Long-Term Joblessness and Reduced Retirement Security

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Unemployment rates for workers of all ages have risen dramatically since the start of the recent recession in December 2007, and workers age 55 and over have faced particularly long periods of unemployment. The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for older workers increased from 3.1 percent in December 2007 to a high of 7.6 percent in February 2010, before it decreased to 6.0 percent in April 2012. As in … more
Date: May 15, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

HUD Has Identified Performance Measures for Its Block Grant Programs, but Information on Impact Is Limited

Description: Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Information on the overall effectiveness (or impact) of the CDBG and HOME programs is limited. According to HUD officials, the agency has faced challenges in evaluating the impact of CDBG and HOME because, among other things, such an evaluation would have to compare neighborhoods that received program assistance with those that did not. Our previous work has also identified the difficulties of evaluating… more
Date: May 15, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Consumer Product Safety Commission: A More Active Role in Voluntary Standards Development Should Be Considered

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) enforces compliance with mandatory federal safety standards, it is also required by law to rely on voluntary safety standards when it determines that the standard adequately addresses the product hazard and is likely to have substantial compliance. Voluntary standards—developed by industry, consumer, and government participants through a consensus p… more
Date: May 21, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Homelessness: Fragmentation and Overlap in Programs Highlight the Need to Identify, Assess, and Reduce Inefficiencies

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Homelessness programs are fragmented across multiple agencies and some show evidence of overlap. In fiscal year 2010, eight federal agencies obligated roughly $2.8 billion to administer 26 homelessness programs. Three agencies—the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Veterans Affairs (VA)—are responsible for the majority of programs and dollars, 22 of … more
Date: May 10, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: State Maintenance of Effort Requirements and Trends

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant’s maintenance of effort (MOE) provisions include specified state spending levels and general requirements on the use of funds. For example, these provisions generally require that each state spend at least 80 percent (75 percent if the state meets certain performance standards) of the amount it spent on welfare and related programs in fiscal year … more
Date: May 17, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Terrorist Watchlist: Routinely Assessing Impacts of Agency Actions since the December 25, 2009, Attempted Attack Could Help Inform Future Efforts

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2010, the federal government finalized guidance to address weaknesses in the watchlist nominations process that were exposed by the December 2009 attempted attack and to clarify how agencies are to nominate individuals to the watchlist. The nominating agencies GAO contacted expressed concerns about the increasing volumes of information and related challenges in processing this information. Never… more
Date: May 31, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Social Security Administration: Technology Modernization Needs Improved Planning and Performance Measures

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, SSA has reported spending more than $5 billion on the development, modernization, and enhancement of its IT systems and capabilities. SSA officials identified 120 initiatives undertaken from 2001 to 2011 that the agency considered to be key investments in modernization. These comprise a subset of the hundreds of projects and modernization activities SSA undertakes yearly, which vary greatly in lev… more
Date: May 9, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Managing Critical Isotopes: DOE's Isotope Program Needs Better Planning for Setting Prices and Managing Production Risks

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Isotope Development and Production for Research and Applications program (Isotope Program) provides over 300 different isotopes for commercial and research applications. The Isotope Program is responsible for 243 stable isotopes that are no longer produced in the United States but are sold from the program’s existing inventory and for 55 radioactive isotopes, called radi… more
Date: May 23, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Managing for Results: GAO's Work Related to the Interim Crosscutting Priority Goals under the GPRA Modernization Act

Description: Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The act requires that OMB develop federal government priority goals (crosscutting goals) and a federal government performance plan, which is to be updated annually and released concurrently with the President’s budget. Specifically, it requires OMB, starting with the 2015 budget and in coordination with agencies and in consultation with the Congress, to develop—every 4 years—long-term, outcome-oriented g… more
Date: May 31, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Border Patrol Strategy: Progress and Challenges in Implementation and Assessment Efforts

Description: Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO’s prior work has highlighted progress and challenges in various areas related to Border Patrol’s implementation of its 2004 National Strategy, which could provide insights as Border Patrol transitions to its 2012 Strategic Plan. Border Patrol officials stated that the 2012 Strategic Plan will rely on Border Patrol and federal, state, local, tribal, and international partners working together to use a risk… more
Date: May 8, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

2020 Census: Additional Steps Are Needed to Build on Early Planning

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Census Bureau’s (Bureau) early planning and preparation efforts for the 2020 Census are consistent with most leading practices in each of the three management areas GAO reviewed. For example, with respect to its effort to transform its decennial organization, top Bureau leadership has been driving the transformation, and the agency has focused on a key set of principles as it begins to roll-out the … more
Date: May 17, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Health Center Program: Improved Oversight Needed to Ensure Grantee Compliance with Requirements

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) relies on three main methods to oversee grantees’ compliance with the 19 key program requirements."
Date: May 29, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Indigent Defense: DOJ Could Increase Awareness of Eligible Funding and Better Determine the Extent to Which Funds Help Support This Purpose

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Justice (DOJ) administered 13 grant programs from fiscal years 2005 through 2010 that recipients could use to support indigent defense, 4 of which required recipients to use all or part of the funding for this purpose. DOJ also provides training to indigent defense providers, among other things."
Date: May 9, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Defense Inventory: Actions Underway to Implement Improvement Plan, but Steps Needed to Enhance Efforts

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) set two goals—reducing on-order and on-hand excess inventory—with percentage targets for each based on the best available data in fiscal year 2009 as part of its Comprehensive Inventory Management Improvement Plan (Plan). Sustained management oversight led to reductions in on-order and on-hand excess inventory in fiscal year 2010 prior to the Plan’s implementation, and th… more
Date: May 3, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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