Blog Commemorating 9/11

Starting July 5 the Homeland Security Digital Library will publish one blog a week leading up to the ten year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The blogs will honor those who died by highlighting lessons learned and societal changes made to ensure another such attack does not occur. The blog schedule is:

• July 5 – Terrorism, Terrorists and Threats
  
• July 12 – The Department of Homeland Security
  
• July 19 – The 9/11 Commission Recommendations
  
• July 26 – Emergency Preparedness
  
• August 2 – Border Security and Immigration
  
• August 9 – Transportation and Travel
  
• August 16 – Freedoms and Rights
  
• August 23 – Protecting Critical Infrastructure
  
• August 30 – Communication
  
• September 6 – Commemorating 9/11

Access On the Homefront Blog entries at https://www.hsdl.org/hslog/.

Pentagon Papers Released 6/13/11

On June 13, 2011 at noon ET the National Archives will release online all 7,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers, the informal name for the "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force" commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. According to the National Archives, this version is unique for the following reasons:

• No redactions compared to previous versions
  
• Presented as Leslie Gelb presented it to Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford on Jan. 15, 1969
  
• Includes all the supplemental back-documentation.
  
• Includes the complete account of peace negotiations, significant portions of which were not previously available either in the House Armed Services Committee redacted copy or in the Gravel Edition.

For more information including how to access a hard copy, see the Press Release.

Counterinsurgency Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operations

The Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Defense Intelligence Counterinsurgency (COIN) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations is now available. The Department of Defense asked the task force to "identify how Department of Defense (DoD) intelligence can most effectively support COIN [counterinsurgency] operations." According to an introductory memorandum, the Task Force "examined the multi-phase COIN challenge, which includes the need to continue to support COIN operations in Afghanistan; prepare for emerging and urgent COIN ISR operations that will have to be met using current resources, and building a capability to deal with long-term COIN scenarios using new concepts of operations (CONOPS) and resources."

Where does your tax money go?

Now that you've paid your 2010 taxes, are you wondering how your tax money is spent? Louis Garcia and Andrew Johnson, computer engineers from Minneapolis, wondered the same. They created an easy way to view how the federal budget is spent in relation to your tax dollars. Called What We Pay For, the database assumes that tax dollars are pooled into one lump sump to spend on the programs and operations of the federal government. To be sure their data was accurate, the engineers randomly sampled over a hundred records at different levels. They also provide a feedback section for reporting any issues. For more information, check their About page.

In today's world of mashups Anil Kandangath got permission to use the data from What We Pay For to create an interactive chart for quick viewing. His Where Did My Tax Dollars Go? lets you choose the following categories to see proportionally how taxes are spent: single, married (filing jointly), married (filing separately), qualified widow(er), and head of household. Kandangath also has a tab for suggestions to improve the site.

Income Tax Deadline Extended Until April 18, 2011

If you are rushing to complete your income tax return by April 15, relax a little. Because April 15 is Emancipation Day, a District of Columbia holiday, and D.C. holidays impact tax deadlines in the same manner as federal holidays, the tax deadline has been extended until Monday, April 18, 2011. For more information see IRS Kicks Off 2011 Tax Season with Deadline Extended to April 18.

Open Government Initiatives Going Dark

According to Federal News Radio, an internet-only all-news station focusing on the Federal Government and those who do business with it, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will shut down several public and internal government websites started under President Obama's Open Government Initiative because of a lack of e-government funding. Unless something changes, funding will begin to run out April 20 for the public sites:

• Data.gov,  
• IT Dashboard, and 
• paymentaccuracy.gov

Funding is projected to run out soon after July 30 for

• USASpending.gov and
• Apps.gov/now

Internal government sites reported to face the budgetary ax include some sites related to the FEDRamp cloud computing cybersecurity effort and:

• Performance.gov (login required even to view the homepage), and
• FedSpace
.

For the complete story see OMB prepares for open gov sites to go dark in May (March 31, 2011 - 2:46pm).

Other organizations are providing information about these proposed cuts too. William Matthews of GovernmentExecutive.com discusses the scaling back or elimination of these open-government/transparency sites in his April 12, 2011 news story entitled Transparency websites hit by budget ax. (To read the article, click on Continue to Government Executive at the top of the advertising page the link initially accesses.) On April 12 Bill Shuman of the Sunlight Foundation also posted a blog entry entitled Major Cuts for Online Tech Transparency Progs. In the entry Shuman provides a link to bill H.R. 1473 containing the appropriations, a brief Save the Data video, and an opportunity to sign a letter to Congress asking members to protect funding for these sites.

Discontinuing Statistical Abstract

For many Statistical Abstract is the first source of statistical information they consult. Data that would take countless hours to compile is often available there in a table with source information included.  It appears that 2012 budget cuts will mean the demise of this statistical bible. Under the topic "Statistical Abstract and the Consolidated Federal Funds Report, and other noted publications from the Statistical Compendia Branch (Census Bureau)" the Government Printing Office (GPO) help site states:

Question

We've heard the Census Bureau has announced it is going to discontinue the Statistical Abstract and the Consolidated Federal Funds Report. Can you confirm this information? Answer A representative of the agency states: "The just released 2012 budget does not include funding for the Statistical Compendia Branch which would mean the elimination of not only the Statistical Abstract, but all titles produced by that branch (State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, County and City Data Book, USA Counties, Quick Facts). No new editions would be produced in print or online. We have already started work on the Statistical Abstract 2012 edition and are still working on the local area products. We will continue to work on these products and have a contingency plan to have the Statistical Abtract 2012 out by the end of September, due to our uncertain future." The Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) was proposed for termination in the FY 2012 Budget.  The FY 2010 CFFR will be the last publication. The data can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/govs/cffr/.

The proposed elimination of the Statistical Compendia Branch originated in the U.S. Census Bureau's Budget Estimates as Presented to Congress, February 2011. Librarians across the country are uniting in protest of the proposed cut and starting a campaign to write Congressmen. *Concerns expressed by librarians include:

• The abstract aggregates social, economic, and political indicators. It is time-consuming and difficult to compile this information. The multitude of government statistical programs and publications can be difficult for many members of the public to understand and use, much less compile.
  
• The abstract provides source information for the statistics provided.
• The printed abstract includes some copyrighted material that will no longer be easily accessible without it. According to the preface of the 2011 Statistical Abstract (under Statistical Abstract on other media), "The Abstract is available on the Internet and on CD-ROM. Both versions contain the same material as the book, except for a few copyrighted tables for which we did not receive permission to release in these formats."
• A similar abstract is published by many developed countries around the world as a tool to understand the state of a nation's social, political and economic functioning. Terminating the Statistical Abstract program would lower the United States international standing as free and open society that values unfettered access to information.

*Much of this information was organized into a sample letter by Hailey Mooney.

Access Who Represents Me to find contact information for members of Congress from Texas.

To see a 45 second video prepared by librarians at the University of Texas at San Antonio explaining what you can find in the Statistical Abstract, access http://librarygrapevine.wordpress.com/nesting-page/april-2011/statistical-abstract/