Government & Policy Roundup

A new $25 million, 50-teraflop computer will be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to conduct civilian research for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the department announced last week. The computer is part of a long-range plan to increase DOE's nonmilitary computing capability.

Strengthening nanotechnology research and development in the European Union is the focus of a report released last week by the European Commission. Goals include increasing investment in nanotechnology and developing world-class R&D infrastructure in the EU.

The FBI's $600 million Trilogy project to modernize its outdated computer systems to combat terrorism is "not on a path to success," a National Research Council study finds. The study suggests that the FBI start anew to build information technology systems to help prevent such attacks.