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Reports issued by committees of the 109th Congress, the White House, federal offices of Inspector General, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), among others, concluded that the losses caused by Hurricane Katrina and other disasters were due, in part, to deficiencies such as questionable leadership decisions and capabilities, organizational failures, overwhelmed preparation and communication systems, and inadequate statutory authorities. From these conclusions the 109th Congress revised federal emergency management policies vested in the President; reorganized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and enhanced and clarified the mission, functions, and authorities of the agency, as well as those of its parent, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Six statutes enacted by the 109th Congress are notable in that they contain changes that apply to future federal emergency management actions. Most of these statutes contain relatively few changes to federal authorities related to emergencies and disasters. The Post-Katrina Act, however, contains many changes that will have long-term consequences for FEMA and other federal entities. That statute reorganizes FEMA, expands its statutory authority, and imposes new conditions and requirements on the operations of the agency. This CRS report summarizes information on the emergency management modifications adopted by Congress in response to the widespread calls for change. The report does not cover all public laws enacted by the 109th Congress in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. The focus here is on far-reaching and potentially permanent change in federal approaches to emergency management. The content of this report is limited to congressional action., The original document contains color images.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was mandated by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The creation of DHS resulted in a reorganization of the executive branch on a scale not experienced since the establishment of the Department of Defense (DOD) half a century ago. Original denominated the National Military Establishment at birth in 1947, DOD was given its current name and underwent the first of what would be a series of structural modifications through statutory amendments in 1949. A similarly complex organization, DHS was the product of legislative compromises, and it was anticipated that congressional overseers, as well as department officials, would monitor the management and operations of DHS with a view to adjusting its structure as conditions warranted. In this regard, Section 872 of the Homeland Security Act authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to reorganize functions and organizational units within DHS, subject to specified limits. In late January 2003, as components of DHS were being transferred to the department's operational control, President George W. Bush modified his original reorganization plan for DHS to reconfigure the functions of certain border security agencies into two new components: the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement within the department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate.

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The statutory basis for the present nomination and confirmation process was developed in 1968 and 1976 and has been used since the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972. Over this time, five nominations have been confirmed and two have been withdrawn by the President before confirmation. The position of FBI director has a fixed 10-year term; the officeholder may not be reappointed. There are no statutory restrictions on the authority of the President to remove the FBI director. One director has been removed by the President since 1972. The current FBI director, Robert S. Mueller III, was confirmed by the Senate on August 2, 2001. This report presents synopses of the nomination, confirmation, and tenure of the seven nominees for Director of the FBI from the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1973 to 2004. These nominees were J. Patrick Gray III; Clarence M. Kelley; Frank M. Johnson, Jr.; William H. Webster; William S. Sessions; Louis J. Freeh; and Robert S. Mueller III. A table presents the following information for each nominee: Nominee Name, Nominating President, Date of Nomination, Committee Action, Final Disposition, and Elapsed Time. This report will not be updated., CRS Report for Congress.

Of the 154 nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court between 1789 and 2004, 34 were not confirmed by the Senate. The 34 nominations represent 29 individuals whose names were sent forward to the Senate by Presidents (some individuals were nominated more than once). Of the 29 individuals who failed to be confirmed the first time they were nominated, however, five were later nominated again and confirmed. The Supreme Court nominations discussed here were not confirmed for a variety of reasons, including Senate opposition to the nominating President, nominee's views, or incumbent Court; senatorial courtesy; perceived political unreliability of the nominee; perceived lack of ability; interest group opposition; and fear of altering the balance of the Court. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has played an important role in the confirmation process, particularly since 1868. These nominations have been the subject of extensive legal, historical, and political science writing, a selected list of which is included in this report. This report will be updated in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy.

Boeing and Lawrence Semiconductor Research Laboratory are developing high-performance gallium-doped-silicon (Si: Ga) impurity-band-conduction material and Blocked-Impurity-Band (BIB) detectors. We build on a strong technology base in arsenic-doped silicon (Si:As) material and BIB detector technology. Si:As large-format focal plane arrays offer background-limited infrared performance (^28 micrometers cut-off wavelength) and excellent pixel operability and uniformity to many defense and space imaging and spectroscopy applications. Application of Si:As BIB detectors to long-lifetime missions is restricted by operating temperature (^10 K) below the range of available cooler technologies. The development of a Si:Ga option, with several degrees higher operating temperature, is intended to ease this restriction. The Si:Ga cut-off wavelength (^18 to 20 micrometers) is suitable for many ground- and space-based applications. Known Si:Ga material development issues have been circumvented and detector-quality Si:Ga material and initial front- and back-illuminated BIB detector structures have been prepared and evaluated. We report dark current, quantum yield, and spectral response for prototype devices and discuss material and detector improvement directions., Prepared in cooperation with Lawrence Semiconductor Research Lab. Tempe, AZ.

Visible light photon counters feature noise-free avalanche multiplication and narrow pulse height distribution for single photon detection events. Such a well-defined pulse height distribution for a single photon detection event, combined with the fact that the avalanche multiplication is confined to a small area of the whole detector, opens up the possibility for the simultaneous detection of two photons. In this letter, we investigated this capability using twin photons generated by parametric down conversion, and present a high quantum efficiency (~ 47%) detection of two photons with good time resolution (~ 2 ns), which can be distinguished from a single-photon incidence with a small bit-error rate (~ 0.63%).

A high-quantum-efficiency single-photon counting system has been developed. In this system, single photons were detected by a visible light photon counter operated at 6.9 K. The visible light photon counter is a solid state device that makes use of avalanches across a shallow impurity conduction band in silicon. Threefold tight shielding and viewports that worked as infrared blocking filters were used to eliminate the dark count caused by room-temperature radiation. Corrected quantum efficiencies as high as 88.2%±5% (at 694 nm) were observed, which we believe is the highest reported value for a single-photon detector. The dark count increased as the exponential of the quantum efficiency with changing temperature or bias voltage, and was 2.0 × 104 cps at the highest quantum efficiency.

A high-quantum-efficiency single-photon counting system has been developed. In this system, single photons were detected by a visible light photon counter operated at 6.9 K. The visible light photon counter is a solid state device that makes use of avalanches across a shallow impurity conduction band in silicon. Threefold tight shielding and viewports that worked as infrared blocking filters were used to eliminate the dark count caused by room-temperature radiation. Corrected quantum efficiencies as high as 88.2%±5% (at 694 nm) were observed, which we believe is the highest reported value for a single-photon detector. The dark count increased as the exponential of the quantum efficiency with changing temperature or bias voltage, and was 2.0 × 104 cps at the highest quantum efficiency.

Visible light photon counters feature noise-free avalanche multiplication and narrow pulse height distribution for single photon detection events. Such a well-defined pulse height distribution for a single photon detection event, combined with the fact that the avalanche multiplication is confined to a small area of the whole detector, opens up the possibility for the simultaneous detection of two photons. In this letter, we investigated this capability using twin photons generated by parametric down conversion, and present a high quantum efficiency (~ 47%) detection of two photons with good time resolution (~ 2 ns), which can be distinguished from a single-photon incidence with a small bit-error rate (~ 0.63%).

A high-quantum-efficiency single-photon counting system has been developed. In this system, single photons were detected by a visible light photon counter operated at 6.9 K. The visible light photon counter is a solid state device that makes use of avalanches across a shallow impurity conduction band in silicon. Threefold tight shielding and viewports that worked as infrared blocking filters were used to eliminate the dark count caused by room-temperature radiation. Corrected quantum efficiencies as high as 88.2%±5% (at 694 nm) were observed, which we believe is the highest reported value for a single-photon detector. The dark count increased as the exponential of the quantum efficiency with changing temperature or bias voltage, and was 2.0 × 104 cps at the highest quantum efficiency.

Visible light photon counters feature noise-free avalanche multiplication and narrow pulse height distribution for single photon detection events. Such a well-defined pulse height distribution for a single photon detection event, combined with the fact that the avalanche multiplication is confined to a small area of the whole detector, opens up the possibility for the simultaneous detection of two photons. In this letter, we investigated this capability using twin photons generated by parametric down conversion, and present a high quantum efficiency (~ 47%) detection of two photons with good time resolution (~ 2 ns), which can be distinguished from a single-photon incidence with a small bit-error rate (~ 0.63%).