Government
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created the first Foundry for American Biotechnology to produce technological solutions to enhance medical care and respond to health security threats.
The Foundry will be located in Manchester, N.H., and managed by the Advanced Regenerative... Read More »
Fearing for the pharmaceuticals, food, and medical supplies coming from China amid the novel coronavirus, U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CN) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) implored the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action this week.
In a letter to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, the senators... Read More »
The National Governors Association (NGA) received a briefing on the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus, which was officially renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization this week, during its winter meeting this week, from representatives of the White House-appointed Coronavirus Task... Read More »
In the wake of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, policymakers and the public are asking what more could have been done to prevent the spread of that disease.
Public health officials participated on Monday at the Hudson Institute in a panel discussion to answer that question. The talk,... Read More »
U.S. Senators from California and Nevada are requesting the U.S. Air Force to upgrade the Nevada Air National Guard Base in Reno with eight new aircraft.
Upgrading the Nevada Air National Guard’s C-130J fleet would help improve the Nevada Air National Guard’s ability to fight wildfires in... Read More »
The Temporary Reauthorization and Study of the Emergency Scheduling of Fentanyl Analogues Act was signed into law last week by President Donald Trump.
The legislation extends the Drug Enforcement Agency’s temporary order making fentanyl-related substances Schedule I, a designation reserved... Read More »
Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) recently urged the U.S. Army to select Fort Benning as the Army’s fourth corps headquarters.
Fort Benning is one of three finalists for the headquarters that is needed to fulfill National Defense Strategy requirements.
In their letter to... Read More »
Faced with a novel coronavirus outbreak that has taken the world by storm, U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) recently highlighted lax pandemic funding from the Trump administration.
The group of Democrats pressed the administration... Read More »
National health security advocates argue the U.S. government is not fiscally prepared to address the possible spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States, and it must take rapid steps to ensure funding is in place to head off potential threats.
In Feb. 7 letters addressed to... Read More »
A new publication by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) outlines a set of risk management techniques for businesses to reduce cybersecurity risk to global supply chains.
The publication, called Key Practices in Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management, addresses the... Read More »
Faced with more than 28,000 cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) worldwide and more than 550 deaths confirmed so far, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) called on Senate committees this week to guarantee response funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
As of this month, HHS... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) consulted with Major League Baseball teams to review incident preparedness measures and response plans at stadiums during spring training.
The review was done with teams participating in the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is accepting abstract submissions for potential funding for the development of coronavirus molecular diagnostics.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary... Read More »
The second wave of Americans arrived in California on Wednesday, traveling from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic. They will spend days on military bases in quarantine as public health officials determine if there are any cases of the virus and to treat those... Read More »
Following a classified briefing of his staff by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of National Security (ONS), U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reiterated that the novel coronavirus appears to pose no immediate threat to the United States.
Where concern remains is for... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) that will allow use of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Diagnostic Panel by any CDC-qualified lab in the United States when dealing with cases of the novel coronavirus.
That authorization,... Read More »
An existing relationship between the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will be extended under a new arrangement to develop a treatment for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
"Emerging infectious diseases can present... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced plans to acquire a W76-2 low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead.
“In the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the department identified the requirement to ‘modify a small number of submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads’ to... Read More »
Forty-eight members of Congress recently sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asking the agency to quickly distribute its rapid diagnostic test for coronavirus to state and local officials nationwide.
Currently, samples must be sent to the CDC in Atlanta for... Read More »
With cases of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) now rooted in 25 countries and afflicting more than 24,000 people, the international community is attempting to fight back with a $675 million Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP).
While many nations have responded swiftly to the novel... Read More »
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently granted the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and Sonoma County $2 million for long-range fire detection cameras for its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
The program aims to prevent the loss of life as well as property... Read More »
The U.S Food and Drug Administration licensed Audenz, an influenza vaccine designed to protect against the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
AUDENZ was developed by Seqirus with support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the Office of the Assistant... Read More »
BAE Systems was awarded a prime position on a $212 million contract by the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to integrate its critical communication systems.
BAE Systems will design, acquire, integrate, and test radio systems for new Guided Missile Destroyers... Read More »
A bipartisan group of 10 House of Representative members recently introduced a resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) going into effect.
The NPT at 50 Resolution reaffirms Congress’ support for the treaty.
The treaty was... Read More »
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Angus King (I-ME) recently requested information on why the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) PREDICT program was ended.
The USAID PREDICT program was founded in 2009... Read More »
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar began a new path last week in the previously measured efforts to contain the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), declaring a public health emergency for the nation and opening more flexibility for health authorities to respond.
The emergency... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced a bill that seeks to ensure that federal prosecutors can effectively enforce the federal hate crimes law.
Since it was passed in 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, federal courts... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) sponsored a bill that would provide states with more resources to secure their elections.
The Protect American Voters Act (H.R. 5707) updates the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by directing the Election Assistance Commission to issue guidelines for “non-voting”... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed $2.7 trillion of imports and 410 million travelers last year, according to its Trade and Travel Fiscal Year 2019 Report.
“CBP continues to make lawful trade and travel more efficient and convenient while protecting the American people and our... Read More »
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee were briefed this week on the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak by top members of the Trump administration and reiterate that risk remains low.
These members were addressed by Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and... Read More »
DNA synthesis technologies— a cornerstone of life sciences research and biotechnology development—are becoming more advanced and commercially available. Although much of this technology is used for clinical diagnosis and treatment, its potential exploitation may lead to ominous biological... Read More »
A bill that would grant subpoena authority to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in certain cases was approved by the House Committee on Homeland Security Wednesday.
The Cybersecurity Vulnerability Identification and Notification Act (H.R. 5680), introduced by Rep. Jim... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee advanced three bills designed to improve cybersecurity.
The three bills are the CISA Director Reform Act (H.R. 5679), introduced by Rep. John Katko (R-NY); the Transportation Security Transparency Improvement Act CISA Director Reform Act (H.R. 5670), ... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program recently demonstrated the use of autonomous air and ground vehicles to raid an urban area.
During the demonstration, the autonomous vehicles were deployed to conduct the DARPA-designed... Read More »
With those infected by the novel coronavirus – 2019-nCoV – now topping 7,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Economic Forum have jointly created a public-private collaboration known as the Pandemic Supply Chain Network (PSCN) to drive the emergency supply chain.
The network... Read More »
