Since fiscal year 2005, DHS has been required by federal law to issue annual reports identifying estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations for, among other things, major acquisition programs for the current budget year and the four succeeding fiscal years. Among other things, these reports identify how the department's major acquisition programs' multiyear funding plans change from year to year. DHS leverages two management systems to develop these funding plans: (1) the resource allocation system and (2) the acquisition management system.

As the central office for NIH, OD establishes NIH policy and broad themes for the agency to pursue, such as ensuring a sustainable scientific workforce, based on national needs and scientific opportunities. In addition, the OD is responsible for coordinating the programs and activities that span NIH components, particularly research initiatives and issues involving more than 1 of the 27 ICs. OD is also responsible for ensuring that scientifically-based strategic planning is implemented in support of research priorities, and that NIH's resources are sufficiently allocated for research projects...

DHS and TSA share responsibility for the research, development, and deployment of passenger checkpoint screening technologies. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act established TSA as the federal agency with primary responsibility for securing the nation's civil aviation system, which includes the screening of all passengers and property transported to, from, and within the United States by commercial passenger aircraft. Additionally, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 established DHS and, within it, the Science and Technology Directorate for, among other things, conducting research,...

Nuclear weapons remain an essential element of U.S. national security. However, the number of nuclear weapons needed by the United States to maintain deterrence has shifted dramatically since the end of the cold war and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Since the early 1990s, the United States has greatly reduced its nuclear forces through arms control treaties with the Soviet Union and Russia-including the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) I and the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.

Air service in the United States is highly concentrated, with 88 percent of all passenger boardings at the 62 large- or medium-hub airports. Small airports refer to small-hub, nonhub, and commercial-service nonprimary airports, each with less than 0.25 percent of all annual passenger boardings, or less than 1.8 million total boardings in 2012. Many small communities across the United States have access to the more than 450 small airports with scheduled passenger service, provided mostly by regional airlines that are under contract with mainline network airlines, like Delta Air Lines or United...

HAZMAT is any substance or material that the Secretary of Transportation has determined is capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, or property when transported in commerce. The Secretary of Transportation designates HAZMAT under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act and its implementing regulations. Within the federal government, DOT has the primary responsibility to issue regulations for the safe transport of HAZMAT in intrastate, interstate, and foreign commerce. To accomplish this mission, DOT issues HAZMAT regulations and provides other services to the...

In keeping with its trust responsibility with respect to Indian tribes, the federal government holds title to the Navajo and Hopi tribal land in trust for the benefit of the tribes and their members. In this context, this section provides information on (1) the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe; (2) uranium mining and processing on the Navajo reservation and its environmental effects; (3) Navajo people's exposure to uranium contamination and related health effects; (4) key statutes relevant to addressing uranium contamination; and (5) the roles of federal and tribal agencies and selected actions...

DHS has made important progress in implementing, transforming, strengthening, and integrating its management functions in human capital, acquisition, financial management, and IT. This has included taking numerous actions specifically designed to address our criteria for removing areas from the high-risk list. However, as we reported in our February 2013 high risk update, this area remains high risk because the department has significant work ahead.

As the exploration and development of oil and gas has increased significantly in recent years, newly identified oil and gas reserves are creating opportunities across the United States. In some cases, oil and gas development occurs on lands where surface rights and the right to extract oil and gas resources-called mineral rights-are owned by different parties. In these cases, known as split estates, each party has its own set of property rights. In a number of states, mineral rights are considered the dominant estate, meaning those rights take precedence over the rights of surface owners....

Regulations are the means by which agencies establish legally binding requirements, codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Typically, regulations require a desired action or prohibit certain actions by regulated parties. The regulatory process is governed by statutes, executive orders, and agencies' policies and procedures that require agencies to evaluate the need for regulations, assess the potential effects of new regulations, and obtain public input (with certain exceptions) during their development.