National Institute of Standards and Technology August 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States Department of Commerce, and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), United States Department of Commerce, are amending the rules that implement the Fastener Quality Act of 1999 to provide that all documents submitted in connection with the recordal of fastener insignia must be mailed to a particular postal box maintained by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will meet Tuesday, September 13, 2005, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology is composed of fifteen members appointed by the Director of NIST; who are eminent in such fields as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations. The purpose of this meeting is to review and make recommendations regarding general policy for the Institute, its organization, its budget, and its programs within the framework of applicable national policies as set forth by the President and the Congress. The agenda will include updates on NIST's activities and the U.S. Measurement System Initiative; presentations on Implementation of NIST Strategic Plan in Homeland Security, including an overview of the Department of Homeland Security's Agenda for Homeland Security and the NIST role; Response to VCAT Recommendations in the FY 2004 Annual Report; and two laboratory tours. Discussions on NIST budget and planning information scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and to end at 9:45 a.m. on September 13 will be closed. Agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the NIST Web site. All visitors to the National Institute of Standards and Technology site will have to pre-register to be admitted. Please submit your name, time of arrival, e-mail address and phone number to Carolyn Peters no later than Thursday, September 8, and she will provide you with instructions for admittance. Mrs. Peter's e-mail address is carolyn.peters@nist.gov and her phone number is (301) 975- 5607.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces the first in a series of planned workshops being held in support of NIST's Software Assurance Metrics and Tool Evaluation (SAMATE) project. NIST is working with industry, academia, and users: To identify deficiencies in software assurance (SA) methods and tools To develop metrics for the effectiveness of SA tools. NIST invites parties interested in these issues to contribute to the specification of such metrics and to the development of reference data sets capable of testing the effectiveness of SA tools. These reference data sets, when used during an SA tool's development, can aid in building a correct implementation with regard to these metrics. The first workshop ``Defining the State of the Art in Software Security Tools'' is being held at NIST Gaithersburg August 10 and 11. Future Workshops will be announced on the Project's Web site https:// samate.nist.gov/ and on other SA forums.