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Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress [May 21, 2018]
"The diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened interest in, and concerns about, the region's future. Issues such as Arctic territorial disputes; commercial shipping through the Arctic; Arctic oil, gas, and mineral exploration; endangered Arctic species; and increased military operations in the Arctic could cause the region in coming years to become an arena of international cooperation or competition. The United States, by virtue of Alaska, is an Arctic country and has substantial political, economic, energy, environmental, and other interests in the region. Decisions that Congress makes on Arctic-related issues could significantly affect these interests. This report provides an overview of Arctic-related issues for Congress, and refers readers to more in-depth CRS reports on specific Arctic-related issues. Congressional readers with questions about an issue discussed in this report should contact the author or authors of the section discussing that issue. The authors are identified by footnote at the start of each section."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
O'Rourke, Ronald
2018-05-21
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Increasing Police Accountability and Improving Use of Force Policies in the United States
From the Abstract: "Communities, and their respective police departments, have significant impacts on the social and legal matters they are involved with, making it crucial for both parties to strive to maintain strong, collaborative relationships. Positive interactions between police and the public are therefore extremely vital and beneficial to all involved. Police officers should be held accountable for their transgressions and subject to transparency for their on-duty actions through legal records. Several issues lie in the policies and procedures which requires more attention in its analysis. Changing policies and procedure in the United States regarding police use of force to remedy inconsistencies calls for a national standard and educational rework. Similar conclusions have been reached by the DOJ [Department of Justice] and NIJ [National Institute of Justice] regarding the problems of policing. The problems urgently require reform in order to create sustainability through an updated, and better managed utilized database on police records during the hiring process. This paper will explore the lack of de-escalation methods used in situations where police unnecessarily used force to take control of situations, instead of reserving their use of force as a last resort. Excessive use of force issues that stem from a lack of police accountability will also be explored."
San José State University. ScholarWorks
Kwong, Leica
2018-05-21
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Domestic and International Firearm Laws: Can Implementation Be Used to Nationally Decrease Firearm Violence and Mass Shootings
From the Abstract: "The issue of firearm violence in the United States is highly controversial, as there are sound arguments on both sides of the discussion. Advocates of stricter gun laws often refer to both international and domestic examples that highlight the effectiveness of more restrictive firearm policies. Japan and Australia are two such countries that are continually referred to when a tragedy, such as a mass shooting, occurs in the United States and initial reactions often emphasis a need for fewer guns in the general public. Opposition to the proposed reforms of firearm policies cite the importance of the Second Amendment which grants their right to bear arms. To better understand both sides of the argument, this paper examines the effectiveness of firearm policies on an international and domestic level, and seeks to address whether or not such policies would aid in addressing firearm crime."
San José State University. ScholarWorks
Banuelos, Kenneth
2018-05-21
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S. Rept. 115-250: Reliable Investment in Vital Energy Reauthorization Act, Report to Accompany S. 1336, Including Cost Estimate of the Congressional Budget Office, May 21, 2018
"The purpose of S. 1336 is to reauthorize hydroelectric production incentives and hydroelectric efficiency improvement incentives, and for other purposes."
United States. Government Publishing Office
2018-05-21
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Human Aided Reinforcement Learning in Complex Environments
From the abstract: "Reinforcement learning algorithms enable computer programs (agents) to learn to solve tasks through a trial-and-error process. As an agent takes actions in an environment, it receives positive and negative signals that shape its future behavior. To assist the process of learning, and to learn the task faster and more accurately, a human expert can be added to the system to guide an agent in solving the task. This project seeks to expand on current systems that combine a human expert with a reinforcement learning agent. Current systems use human input to modify the signal the agent receives from the environment, which works particularly well for reactive tasks. In more complex tasks, these systems do not work as intended. The manipulation of the environment's signal structure results in undesired and unexpected results for the agent's behavior following human training. Our systems attempt to incorporate humans in ways that do not modify the environment, but rather modify the decisions the agent makes at critical times in training. One of our solutions (Time Warp) allows the human expert to revert back several seconds in the training of the agent to provide an alternate sequence of actions for the agent to take. Another solution (Curriculum Development) allows the human expert to set up critical training points for the agent to learn. The agent then learns how to solve these necessary subskills prior to training in the entire world. Our systems seek to solve the planning requirement by employing a human expert during critical times of learning, as the expert sees fit. Our approaches to the planning requirement will allow the human expert-agent model to be expanded to more complex environments than the previous human systems developed. We hypothesize our project will increase the rate at which a reinforcement learning agent learns a solution to a specific task, and increase the quality of solutions to problems that require planning into the future, while successfully employing the use of a human teacher that guides the agents."
United States Naval Academy
Burn, Carter B.
2018-05-21
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Stability of Nonlinear Swarms on Flat and Curved Surfaces
Swarming is a near-universal phenomenon in nature. Many mathematical models of swarms exist, both to model natural processes and to control robotic
agents. We study a swarm of agents with spring-like at-traction and nonlinear self-propulsion. Swarms of this type have been studied numerically, but to
our knowledge, no proofs of stability yet exist. We are motivated by a desire to understand the system from a mathematical point of view. Previous
numerical experiments have shown that the system either converges to a rotating circular limit cycle with a fixed center of mass, or the agents clump
together and move along a straight line. We show that this is not always the case, and the behavior is sometimes more nuanced. Our specific goal is to
investigate stability of the system's circular rotating state. The system is translation-invariant, and when the center of mass comes to a halt, the agents
decouple from each other. We apply methods from the stability theory of dynamical systems, including Lienard's Theorem, Lasalle's Invariance Principle,
and Lyapunov's direct and indirect methods, to globally characterize the behavior of these decoupled systems, and to locally characterize the desired
behavior of the entire swarm. We confirm our theoretical findings with numerical experiments.
United States Naval Academy
Kolon, Carl C.
2018-05-21
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Prediction of Regional Voting Outcomes Using Heterogeneous Collective Regression
From the abstract: "Increasingly, many important domains in the world can be viewed as networks of linked nodes: people connected by social network 'friendships,' webpages connected by hyperlinks, and even geo-political areas connected by proximity and common interests. To leverage these links for prediction and analysis tasks, Machine Learning researchers have developed multiple techniques for link-based classification (LBC). While LBC can substantially improve prediction accuracy in some domains, current limitations greatly restrict its applicability when used to evaluate heterogeneous domains (e.g., when the collection of 'nodes' under study are actually drawn from multiple populations). Additionally, traditional LBC predicts only categorical outputs, while link-based regression and the prediction of continuous outputs have been left largely unexplored. One such application that requires continuous outputs involves elections. Predicting the voting outcome of national or regional elections is a challenging yet important problem, and has great implications for regional and international security. [...] This study used a collaborative filtering approach to implicitly leverage the correlation present between 'nearby' regions. They did not, however, consider formulating the regions as a network. This project presents the first extension of LBC algorithms to multiple predictive 'models' and continuous outputs (thus yielding heterogeneous collective regression, HCR). To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, we apply it to the voting outcome prediction task [...] Overall, we demonstrate that, for the voting prediction task, HCR can be highly effective, robust to multiple choices of regression parameters and linking strategies, and computationally practical. This success opens the door to the application of HCR to other analysis tasks for link-based data."
United States Naval Academy
Liedtka, David J.
2018-05-21
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Persistent Target Detection and Tracking by an Autonomous Swarm
From the abstract: "This paper presents an autonomous multivehicle control algorithm capable of persistently searching and tracking targets in a defined search area subject to operational endurance constraints of individual agents. A small-scale system serves as proof of concept for larger systems that are employed in operational environments. The underlying goal is to design a modular control architecture that can be modified to any type of autonomous vehicle, search area, or target. In practical application, a target can be anything from heat signatures to radioactive material; therefore, this project will simulate a generic emitter-detector pair as a placeholder relationship for real world applications. The control strategy accounts for the appearance, motion, and disappearance of multiple targets in the search space constituting the utility of creating a team of multiple search agents. When agent battery level drops below a predetermined threshold, the agent returns to a base station to recharge and be relaunched into the mission. Remaining agents must account for this loss and gain of other team members as they exit the search environment. The contributions of this work are 1) the design of search trajectories for autonomous vehicles with limited endurance, 2) incorporation of return-to-base and recharge time requirements, and 3) coordination of multiple vehicles by developing a decision-making model to and assign agents to operational modes. Each of these components enable persistent multivehicle operations. Simulation results are intended for implementation on a system of quadrotors complemented by a system capable of autonomously recharging vehicles to sustain a multivehicle team beyond the mission life of a single vehicle."
United States Naval Academy
Gainer, John J., Jr.
2018-05-21
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H. Rept. 115-697: Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2019, Report, Together with Minority Views to Accompany H.R. 5895
"The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill [H.R. 5895: Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019] making appropriations for energy and water development for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes."
United States. Government Publishing Office
2018-05-21
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S. Rept. 115-253: Amending Section 203 of the Federal Power Act, Report to Accompany H.R. 1109, May 21, 2018
From the Purpose: "The purpose of H.R. 1109 is to amend section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) to correct the misinterpretation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) of the merge or consolidate clause within that section of the Act, and to thereby reduce the compliance burden of certain transactions valued under $10 million, including significant legal and regulatory costs which are collected from customers."
United States. Government Publishing Office
2018-05-21
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FEMA Daily Operations Briefings, May 20 - 26, 2018
This document is a compilation of all the FEMA Daily Operations Briefings from May 20 - 26, 2018. The FEMA Daily Operations Briefing provides an overview of the current emergency management situation nationwide and includes a summary of current significant events, weather activity, recent emergency declarations and projections for the coming week.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
2018-05-20?
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U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians [May 18, 2018]
"Under the Obama and Trump Administrations, the executive branch and Congress have taken significant measures to reduce and delay U.S. aid to the Palestinians. Questions surround the future of this aid as policymakers try to evaluate whether it is effective in accomplishing its specific programmatic purposes, as well as in improving regional stability and U.S. political influence. Some observers, including Israelis, express concern about various aspects of the aid while also voicing caution that more major changes could affect stability and Israeli security. Reductions and delays in aid appear to have come partly from U.S.-Palestinian political tension connected with the Trump Administration's policy on Jerusalem. Additionally, in March 2018 Congress enacted the Taylor Force Act (Title X of P.L. 115-141). This law augments existing legislative provisions to suspend U.S. bilateral economic assistance for the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless and until Palestinian officials cease certain payments deemed under U.S. law to be 'for acts of terrorism.'"
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Zanotti, Jim
2018-05-18
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War in Yemen: A Compilation of Legislation in the 115th Congress [May 18, 2018]
"The 115th Congress continues to debate the extent and terms of the United States' involvement in the ongoing conflict in Yemen, where fighting has continued unabated since March 2015. Lawmakers have questioned the extent to which successive Administrations have adhered to existing law relating to providing security assistance, including sales or transfers of defense goods and defense services, while upholding international human rights standards (e.g., 22 U.S.C. §2754 or 22 U.S.C. §2304). They also have proposed new legislation that would condition or prohibit the use of U.S. funds for some activities related to Yemen and extend legislative oversight over the executive branch's policy toward the war in Yemen."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Sharp, Jeremy Maxwell
2018-05-18
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Multiyear Procurement (MYP) and Block Buy Contracting in Defense Acquisition: Background and Issues for Congress [May 18, 2018]
"This report provides background information and issues for Congress on multiyear procurement (MYP) and block buy contracting (BBC), which are special contracting mechanisms that Congress permits the Department of Defense (DOD) to use for a limited number of defense acquisition programs. Compared to the standard or default approach of annual contracting, MYP and BBC have the potential for reducing weapon procurement costs by several percent. Potential issues for Congress concerning MYP and BBC include whether to use MYP and BBC in the future more frequently, less frequently, or about as frequently as they are currently used; whether to create a permanent statute to govern the use of BBC, analogous to the permanent statute that governs the use of MYP; and whether the Coast Guard should begin making use of MYP and BBC. Congress's decisions on these issues could affect defense acquisition practices, defense funding requirements, and the defense industrial base."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
O'Rourke, Ronald; Schwartz, Moshe
2018-05-18
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Internet Freedom in China: U.S. Government Activity, Private Sector Initiatives, and Issues of Congressional Interest [May 18, 2018]
"By the end of 2017, the People's Republic of China (PRC) had the world's largest number of internet users, estimated at over 750 million people. At the same time, the country has one of the most sophisticated and aggressive internet censorship and control regimes in the world. PRC officials have argued that internet controls are necessary for social stability, and are intended to 'enhance people's cultural taste' and 'strengthen spiritual civilization.' The PRC government employs a variety of methods to control online content and expression, including website blocking and keyword filtering; regulating and monitoring internet service providers; censoring social media; and arresting 'cyber dissidents' and bloggers who broach sensitive social or political issues. The government also monitors the popular mobile app WeChat. WeChat began as a secure messaging app, similar to WhatsApp, but it is now used for much more than just messaging and calling (e.g., mobile payments)--and all the data shared through the app is also shared with the Chinese government."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Figliola, Patricia Moloney
2018-05-18
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U.S. Department of State Personnel: Background and Selected Issues for Congress [May 18, 2018]
"Shortly following his confirmation as Secretary of State in April 2018, Secretary Mike Pompeo lifted the hiring freeze that former Secretary Rex Tillerson left in place for over a year. Subsequent guidance issued after the hiring freeze indicates that the department intends to increase Foreign and Civil Service personnel levels in a manner consistent with the language and funding Congress included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141). The Trump Administration has taken additional actions affecting Department of State personnel, including designing 'keystone modernization projects' within its Leadership and Modernization Impact Initiative. These projects seek to strengthen workforce readiness and enhance performance management and employee accountability, among other goals. The State Department is also prioritizing efforts to address long-standing concerns regarding the perceived lack of diversity in the Foreign Service. The Trump Administration has moved more slowly than previous Administrations in transmitting nominations for senior Department of State positions to the Senate for advice and consent; meanwhile, the Senate has taken longer than it has in the past to provide advice and consent for many of those nominations that have been transmitted."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Gill, Cory R.
2018-05-18
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Regulating School Bus Safety [May 18, 2018]
"An estimated 25% of students ride school buses to school and school-related events annually. Nationwide, an average of six school bus passengers die each year in traffic crashes. School buses have the lowest death rate of any mode of transporting children to school in the United States. Yet incidents such as the fatal May 17 crash of a school bus and a dump truck in New Jersey may revive a debate about whether federal regulations could make school buses even safer. The National Transportation Safety Board is meeting on May 22 to consider a Special Investigation Report based on investigation of two 2016 school bus crashes; the report may include recommendations to improve school bus transportation safety."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Peterman, David Randall
2018-05-18
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Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Gun-Launched Guided Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress [May 18, 2018]
"This report provides background information and issues for Congress on three new ship-based weapons the Navy is developing that could improve the ability of Navy surface ships to defend themselves against missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and surface craft: the Surface Navy Laser Weapon System (SNLWS), the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG), and the gunlaunched guided projectile (GLGP), previously known as the hypervelocity projectile (HVP).1 The Navy refers to the initial (i.e., Increment 1) version of SNLWS as HELIOS, an acronym meaning high-energy laser with integrated optical dazzler and surveillance. Any one of these three new weapons, if successfully developed and deployed, might be regarded as a 'game changer' for defending Navy surface ships against enemy missiles and UAVs. If two or three of them are successfully developed and deployed, the result might be considered not just a game changer, but a revolution. Rarely has the Navy had so many potential new types of surface-ship air-defense weapons simultaneously available for development and potential deployment. The issue for Congress is whether to approve, reject, or modify the Navy's funding requests and proposed acquisition strategies for these three potential new weapons. Congress's decisions on this issue could affect future Navy capabilities and funding requirements and the defense industrial base."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
O'Rourke, Ronald
2018-05-18
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Serial No. 115-676, Part 2: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 201;9 Supplemental Report to Accompany H.R. 5515
From the summary: "H.R. 5515 would authorize appropriations totaling an estimated $709 billion for the military functions of the Department of Defense (DoD), for certain activities of the Department of Energy (DOE), and for other purposes. In addition, the bill would prescribe personnel strengths for each active-duty and selected-reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces. CBO [Congressional Budget Office] estimates that appropriation of the authorized and necessary amounts would result in outlays of $685 billion over the 2019-2023 period. The bill also contains provisions that would affect the costs of defense programs funded through discretionary appropriations in 2020 and future years. Those provisions mainly would affect force structure, compensation and benefits, and various procurement programs. CBO has analyzed the costs of a select number of those provisions and estimates that they would, on a net basis, increase the cost of those programs relative to current law by about $48 billion over the 2020-2023 period."
United States. Government Publishing Office
2018-05-18
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Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: H.R. 5239, Cyber Sense Act of 2018
This is a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate for H.R. 5239. From Summary: "H.R. 5239 would direct the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish a program to identify and promote products and technologies to mitigate the threat of cyber-related disruptions to the bulk power system. (The bulk power system comprises facilities and control systems necessary for operating an interconnected network for transmitting electric energy and facilities that generate electricity necessary to maintain the reliability of that network.) CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5239 would cost $56 million over the 2019-2023 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5239 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029."
United States. Congressional Budget Office
2018-05-18
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Use-of-Force Doctrine in Policing [webcast]
"Reports of police use of excessive force appear weekly in the media and have generated outrage in many communities. Officers actions are currently judged by the Graham v Connor 'standard of reasonableness', but the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) does not believe that goes far enough and recommend policy changes. Tracy Avelar (CHDS Master's cohort 1505/1506) is a Captain with the Foster City CA Police Department. Her research focused on evaluating whether adopting PERF's recommended standards would make a difference in practice and in public perception. This question is again coming to light with legislation being introduced in California to change the standard from 'reasonable' to 'necessary'. The interview also includes reflections on my own actions when put in use of force scenarios."
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.). Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Karimi, Bijan P.
2018-05-18
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MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 18, 2018
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [It] is the agency's primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations. This issue of MMWR contains the following: "Hepatitis Awareness Month and Testing Day, May 2018"; "Community-Based Services to Improve Testing and Linkage to Care Among Non-U.S.-Born Persons with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection -- Three U.S. Programs, October 2014-September 2017"; "Outbreaks Associated with Treated Recreational Water -- United States, 2000-2014"; "Trends in Antiretroviral Therapy Eligibility and Coverage Among HIV-Infected Children Aged
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
2018-05-18
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H. Rept. 115-684: Veterans Opioid Abuse Prevention Act, Report to Accompany H.R. 3832, Including Cost Estimate of the Congressional Budget Office, May 18, 2018
"The Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 3832) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the executive director of a national network of State-based prescription monitoring programs under which Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers shall query such network, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill as amended do pass."
United States. Government Publishing Office
2018-05-18
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H. Rept. 115-687: To Direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to Increase the Number of Peer-To-Peer Counselors Providing Counseling for Women Veterans, and for Other Purposes, Report to Accompany H.R. 4635, May 18, 2018
"The Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 4635) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to increase the number of peer-to-peer counselors providing counseling for women veterans, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass."
United States. Government Publishing Office
2018-05-18
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Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements: Issues for Congress [May 17, 2018]
"Congress plays a central role in the negotiation, approval and implementation of U.S. trade agreements, reflecting its constitutional authority over foreign commerce. Congress shapes the Administration's trade agreement negotiations through enacting statutory U.S. trade negotiating objectives, ongoing consultations and oversight, and ratification of concluded agreements through implementing legislation. It also oversees trade agreement implementation and the enforcement of commitments. U.S. trade agreements can affect many facets of U.S. economic activity, including the cost and availability of goods and services in the United States, the competitiveness of U.S. firms both domestically and abroad, employment opportunities for U.S. workers, as well as broader U.S. strategic interests. The Trump Administration has altered U.S. trade agreement policy by withdrawing from the then-pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), starting renegotiations or modification of two existing free trade agreements (FTAs), and stating a preference for bilateral FTAs. It also has put forth a more skeptical approach toward multilateral trade agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO), and has viewed bilateral trade imbalances as a measure of trade agreement success or failure. As Congress works with the Trump Administration in establishing and implementing U.S. trade policy, it may have interest in more closely examining the implications of the type and content of U.S. trade agreements and those pursued by major U.S. trading partners that exclude the United States."
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Williams, Brock R.
2018-05-17
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Issues in Autonomous Vehicle Deployment [May 17, 2018]
"Autonomous vehicles, which would carry out many or all of their functions without the intervention of a driver, may bring sweeping social and economic changes in their wake. The elderly, disabled Americans, urban residents, and those who do not own a car may have new travel options. Travel on public roads and highways could become less congested. Highway travel could become safer as well: U.S. roadway fatalities rose in 2015 and 2016, the first annual increases in more than 50 years, and a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has shown that 94% of crashes are due to human errors, which autonomous vehicles could reduce. As a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) report noted, highly automated vehicles 'hold a learning advantage over humans. While a human driver may repeat the same mistakes as millions before them, a [highly automated vehicle] can benefit from the data and experience drawn from thousands of other vehicles on the road.'"
Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Canis, Bill
2018-05-17
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Social Security Administration: Observations on Use and Costs of Social Security Cards, Statement of Elizabeth H. Curda, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Social Security, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives
"SSA [Social Security Administration] has issued about 500 million SSNs [ [Social Security numbers] and cards since the first design of the SSN and card in 1936. SSA provides a card to each individual when it issues an SSN, as required by law, and also issues replacement cards upon request. Concerns about costs and identity security in an increasingly paperless society have raised the question of whether a paper SSN card is still needed. GAO [Government Accountability Office] was asked to examine the use of the card. This testimony focuses on (1) federal requirements for individuals to present an SSN card; 2) stakeholder views on the purposes for which the cards are used; and (3) potential implications of eliminating SSN cards and developing alternative approaches."
United States. Government Accountability Office
Curda, Elizabeth
2018-05-17
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Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: H.R. 5174, Energy Emergency Leadership Act
This is a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate for H.R. 5174. From Summary: "H.R. 5174 would amend the Department of Energy (DOE) Organization Act to include functions related to energy emergencies and energy security among the duties to be assigned by the Secretary of Energy to one of DOE's assistant secretaries. Under the bill, that assistant secretary would be responsible for activities related to the physical and cybersecurity of energy infrastructure; planning and coordinating responses to energy emergencies; and providing security-related technical assistance to state, local and tribal governments. Using information from DOE, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5174 would not significantly affect the federal budget. H.R. 5174 would not affect the scope or cost of DOE's activities related to energy emergencies or energy security; as a result, CBO expects that any changes in federal spending under the bill - which would be subject to appropriation - would be small. H.R. 5174 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5174 would not affect direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029."
United States. Congressional Budget Office
2018-05-17
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EMR-ISAC: InfoGram, Volume 18 Issue 20, May 17, 2018
The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center's (EMR-ISAC) InfoGram is a weekly publication of information concerning the protection of critical infrastructures relevant to members of the Emergency Services Sector. This issue includes the following articles: "Silence is deadly: the first step in addressing the rise in suicides"; "FBI report: Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017"; and "Electric car batteries pose minimal but extended fire risk".
Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (U.S.)
2018-05-17
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Executive Order 13834: Efficient Federal Operations
From Section 1, Policy: "The Congress has enacted a wide range of statutory requirements related to energy and environmental performance of executive departments and agencies (agencies), including with respect to facilities, vehicles, and overall operations. It is the policy of the United States that agencies shall meet such statutory requirements in a manner that increases efficiency, optimizes performance, eliminates unnecessary use of resources, and protects the environment. In implementing this policy, each agency shall prioritize actions that reduce waste, cut costs, enhance the resilience of Federal infrastructure and operations, and enable more effective accomplishment of its mission."
United States. Office of the Federal Register
Trump, Donald, 1946-
2018-05-17
