Office of the Secretary January 18, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2004 proposed uniform guidelines for conducting elections of Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committees, pursuant to section 10708 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (the 2002 Farm Bill). The notice provided a thirty-day period for public comments. As a result of numerous requests, the public comment period was extended until October 16, 2004, in a Federal Register notice published September 22, 2004. After analysis of the comments received, the Secretary is now issuing the final uniform guidelines for conducting FSA County Committee elections.

The Defense Science Board Task Force on Munitions System Reliability will meet in closed session on January 14, 2005, at SAIC, 4001 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, and February 2-4, 2005, at Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, CA. This Task Force will review the efforts thus far to improve the reliability of munitions systems and identify additional steps to be taken to reduce the amount of unexploded ordnance resulting from munitions failures. The Task Force will: Conduct a methodologically sound assessment of the failure rates of U.S. munitions in actual combat use; review ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of unexploded ordnance resulting from munitions systems failures, and evaluate whether there are ways to improve or accelerate these efforts; and identify other feasible measures the U.S. can take to reduce the threat that failed munitions pose to friendly forces and noncombatants. The mission of the Defense Science Board is to advise the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics on scientific and technical matters as they affect the perceived needs of the Department of Defense. At these meetings, the Defense Science Board Task Force will: conduct a methodologically sound assessment of the failure rates of U.S. munitions in actual combat use; review ongoing efforts to reduce the amount of unexploded ordnance resulting from munitions systems failures, and evaluate whether there are ways to improve or accelerate these efforts; and identify other feasible measures the U.S. can take to reduce the threat that failed munitions pose to friendly forces and noncombatants. In accordance with section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. 2), it has been determined that these Defense Science Board Task Force meetings concern matters listed in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and that, accordingly, these meetings will be closed to the public.