Office of the Secretary June 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Homeland Security announced the establishment of the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) by Notice published in the Federal Register on March 24, 2006 (``First CIPAC Notice''). That Notice identified the purpose of the committee as well as its membership. This Notice identifies the institutions currently serving as CIPAC members. This Notice also identifies the government entities that comprise the Government Coordinating Council for each sector.

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) will meet in open session.

In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service announces the proposed extension of a public information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Pursuant to duties imposed by law upon the Department, including the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2) ``FACA,'' and DOT Order 1120.3B, the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation is establishing an advisory committee to provide technical advice and recommendations to a USDOT/USGS Research Team investigating the potential impacts of climate change on transportation. The committee will include scientists, educators, experts, and representatives of State and local governments engaged in transportation decision-making. This document describes the role of the committee as set forth in the Charter. The purpose of the notice is to invite representatives from interested sectors to participate.

USDA amends the delegations of authority from the Secretary of Agriculture to the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and to the Administrator, Farm Service Agency, for technical assistance determinations for the Conservation Reserve Program.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense proposes to add a system of records to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The final rule allows the Department of Defense to waive normal requirements so that covered beneficiaries can participate in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials sponsored or approved by the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute (NIH NCI). This waiver authority is expected to promote beneficiary access to promising new treatments and contribute to the development of such treatments.

DOT intends to establish a system of records under the Privacy Act of 1974.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is amending a system of records notice in its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is deleting a system of records notice from its existing inventory of records systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Appeals Division's to request an extension for and revision to a currently approved information collection for Customer Service Survey.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated 21 July 1996.

The Defense Science Board Task Force on Software Assurance will meet in closed session on June 16, 2006; at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), 4001 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA. This meeting is to continue charting the direction of the study and assessing the current capabilities and vulnerabilities of DoD software. 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: Assess the risk that DoD runs as a result of foreign influence on its software and to suggest technology and other measures to mitigate the risk. In accordance with Section 10(d) of the Federal advisory Committee Act, Pub. L. 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. II), 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, the meetings will be closed to the public.

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORJ) and the Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in the following case: Steven Anthony Leadon, Ph.D., University of North Carolina: Based on the report of an investigation conducted by the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) found that Steven Anthony Leadon, Ph.D., former Professor of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, UNC, engaged in scientific misconduct while supported by National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant R01 CA40453-09 to 15. Specifically, PHS found that Dr. Landon engaged in scientific misconduct by falsifying DNA samples and constructing falsified figures for experiments done in his laboratory to support claimed findings of defects in a DNA repair process that involved rapid repair of DNA damage in the transcribed strand of active genes, included in four grant applications and in eight publications and one published manuscript, which were included as an Appendix to the Voluntary Exclusion Agreement entered into by Dr. Leadon and are as follows: Figures 1, 2, and 3 in the article by Gowen, L.C., Avrutskaya, A.V., Latour, A.M., Koller, B.H., & Leadon, S.A. ``BRCAI Required for Transcription-Coupled Repair of Oxidation DNA Damage.'' Science 281:109-1012, 1988. In grant application 2 R01 CA40453-14 (p. 9), this article was used as justification for proposed research on BRCA1 and related proteins that may be required for transcription-coupled DNA repair of oxidative DNA damage. Data from the research reported in this paper was also used as preliminary data (Figure 2, p. 16) to support proposed experiments on BRCA1. Figures 1A, 2A, and 3 in the article by Leadon, S.A. & Avrutskaya, A. ``Differential Involvement of the Human Mismatch Repair Proteins, hMLH1 and hMSH2 in Transcription-coupled Repair.'' Cancer Research 57:3784-3791, 1997. Figures 1 and 3 in the article by Leadon, S.A. & Avrutskaya, A.V. ``Requirement for DNA Mismatch Repair Proteins in the Transcription Coupled Repair of Thymine Glycols in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.'' Mutation Research 407:177-187, 1998. Figures 7B and 7C in the article by Cressman, V.L., Backlund, D.C., Avrutskaya, A.V., Leadon, S.A., & Koller, B.H. ``Growth retardation, DNA repair defects, and lack of spermatogenesis in BRCA1- deficient mice.'' Molecular and Cellular Biology 19:7061-7075, 1999. Figures 1 A-D, 3A, 3C, ajd 3D and graphs in the unpublished manuscript by Rauscher, F. J. III, Jensen, D.E., Patel, G., Fredericks, W.J., Schultz, D.C., Proctor, M., Sekido, Y., Minna, J., Chernova, T.A., Wilkinson, K.D., Avrutskaya, A.V., & Leadon, S.A. ``BRCA1-associated ubiquitin hydrolase required for transcription- coupled repair of oxidative DNA damage.'' Submitted to Science on May 16, 2001. In figure 4 in grant application 2 R01 CA40453-14 (pp. 17- 18), data from this unpublished manuscript was used regarding BAP1 defects in TCR. Figure 1A and 3A in the article by Cooper, P.K., Nouspikel, T., Clarkson, S.g., and Leadon, S.A., ``Defective transcription-coupled repair of oxidative base damage in Cockayne syndrome patients from XP group G,'' Science 275: 9907ndash993, 1997. In NIH grant application R01 CA40453-10A1, some of the same data for XPG or XP-G/CS cells from this Science article were included by Dr. Leadon as graphs (Figures 4 and 5, pp. 25-27) before the Science paper was published. Figure 1C, 2A and 2B in the article by LePage, F., Kwoh, E.E., Avrutskaya, A., Gentil, A., Leadon, S.A., Sarasin, A., & Cooper, P.K. ``Transcription-coupled repair of 8-oxoguanine: requirement for XPG, TFIIH, and CSB and implications for Cockayne Syndrome.'' Cell 101:159-171, 2000. Figure 7 in grant application 1 R01 CA092390-01. Figures 1 and 2 and Table 1 in the article by Leadon, S.A., Barbee, S.L., & Dunn, A.B. ``The yeast RAD2, but not RAD1, gene is involved in the transcription-coupled repair of thymine glycols.'' Mutation Research 337:169-178, 1995. Figure 6 in the article Nouspikel, T., Lalle, P., Leadon, S.A., Cooper, P.K., & Clarkson, S.g. ``A common mutational pattern in Cockayne syndrome patients from xeroderma pigmentosum group G: Implications for a second XPG function,'' Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 3116-3121, 1997. Dr. Leadon's position is that he did not engage in scientific misconduct. His position is that a systematic error was introduced into the experiments in question and he recognizes that it could have influenced or accounted for the results. Dr. Leadon states that he has entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement (Agreement) because he cannot sustain the significant financial burden of a legal proceeding to resolve the disagreements between his position and that of HHS. By entering into this Agreement, Dr. Leadon has voluntarily agreed: (1) To exclude himself from knowingly contracting or subcontracting with any agency of the United States Government and from eligibility or knowing involvement in nonprocurement programs of the United States Government referred to as ``covered transactions'' as defined in the debarment regulations at 45 CFR Part 76 for a period of five (5) years, beginning on May 10, 2006; (2) To exclude himself from serving in any advisory capacity to PHS including, but not limited, to service on any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as consultant for a period of five (5) years, beginning on May 10, 2006; and (3) To submit letters of retraction to the editors of the journals listed below within ten (10) business days from the effective date of this Agreement, stating as follows: