Government
The federal spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday maintains or increases funding for a number of U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant programs that help protect against and respond to terrorist threats and natural disasters at the state and municipal levels.... Read More »
United States preparedness against terrorist attacks from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) agents includes prep and planning for the public, as well as for the first responders who will be on the front lines during a catastrophic emergency event.
Dr. Robert Kadlec, Assistant... Read More »
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced a proposed rulemaking from the Department of Justice that would clarify that bump stocks fall within the definition of “machinegun” under federal law.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would amend the regulations of the Bureau of... Read More »
Nine Iranian hackers have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) with leading a four-year campaign of cyberattacks on universities and professors, private businesses, and the U.S. government on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to an indictment unsealed on... Read More »
The U.S. House Homeland Security Committee approved eight bills last week that seek to enhance the nation’s cybersecurity, surface transportation security, and air travel and cargo security.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the committee’s chairman, said America must “continue to evolve... Read More »
The DoD Information Warfare Symposium presented by the Defense Strategies Institute will take place on March 28-29 at the Mary M. Gates Learning Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Designed for members of the Department of Defense, federal government, private industry, academia, and other stakeholders,... Read More »
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently said that it will soon deliver the next generation of Global Burst Detector (GBD) payloads, the latest space-based nuclear explosion sensors, to the U.S. Air Force.
Following delivery to the U.S. Air Force, GBD payloads will continue... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives recently advanced an omnibus spending bill, which includes the largest increase in defense funding in 15 years.
The bill, advanced with a vote of 256 to 167, includes funding to fight terrorism, secure borders, enhance first responder capabilities, improve... Read More »
Penalties for distributing the synthetic opioid fentanyl would be enhanced under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would be given new tools to intercept drug shipments from overseas.
The bill would lower the amount of fentanyl or fentanyl... Read More »
The omnibus federal spending bill that gained approval in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday contains provisions that would increase support for border security, local police departments, and firefighters.
U.S. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and John Boozman (R-AK) secured $85 million in... Read More »
With U.S. Senate approval of a bill that would end civil and criminal protections under current law for websites that take part in online sex trafficking on Wednesday, the measure will advance to the president’s desk.
The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), S. 1693, would amend the... Read More »
More individuals working for organizations that promote foreign interests in the United States would have to register as foreign agents under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938, individuals working for foreign-supported... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has been researching ways to minimize risk from a dam failure while improving response capability of stakeholders.
Officials said the Kentucky Division of Water and S&T’s Flood Apex program are working together... Read More »
Army Secretary Mark Esper’s decision to dismantle the 1-285th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion (ARB) in Marana, Arizona, met resistance from U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) on Tuesday.
McSally, the former commander of the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, voiced her... Read More »
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has concluded that the country’s election infrastructure remains resilient despite Russian attempts to hack state voting systems, but the committee released recommendations on Tuesday to better defend against future attempts to undermine... Read More »
The United States is part of the international plan to prevent the naturally occurring, accidental or deliberate spread of infectious diseases, but remains among many countries hampered by the inadequate or underprepared systems around the world that can’t effectively deal with rapidly emerging... Read More »
The DoD Information Warfare Symposium presented by the Defense Strategies Institute will take place on March 28-29 at the Mary M. Gates Learning Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Designed for members of the Department of Defense, federal government, private industry, academia, and other stakeholders,... Read More »
KBR, Inc. announced Monday that the U.S. Air Force (USAF) awarded its global Government Services business, KBRwyle, a $34.1 million task order to provide analytical and engineering weapons systems support to assist with air traffic safety and cyber threats.
KBRwyle will support the USAF's Life... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Laredo Port of Entry implemented several new measures to prepare for increased travel during the week before Easter.
CBP introduced a designated lane, electronic tourist permits, expanded processing hours and a satellite, off-site tourist... Read More »
As the spring tourism season looms, members of Washington State’s congressional delegation called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Monday to deploy five temporary passenger screening canine teams to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac).
In a letter to TSA... Read More »
In response to reports that Cambridge Analytica exploited the private information of more than 50 million Facebook users during the 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called for an official investigation by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
Feinstein,... Read More »
A trio of lawmakers recently requested funds for the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, which provides cybersecurity network enhancement.
Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Will Hurd (R-TX) recently forwarded correspondence... Read More »
Cooperation between international law enforcement agencies has led to the downfall of an encrypted network the FBI says was used by drug traffickers and criminal organization leaders for secure communications.
Phantom Secure was, until recently, a Canada-based service that bought and stripped... Read More »
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons (NCPW) of Qatar recently held a chemical safety and security seminar in Doha, Qatar, for OPCW Member States in the Asian Region.
Fifty-three participants from government, the... Read More »
Federal penalties for distributing fentanyl would be stepped up to curb the nationwide opioid epidemic under a forthcoming bill that was previewed on Friday by U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Under the bill, lower amounts of fentanyl would be required to trigger... Read More »
Amid reports that the U.S. State Department has not designated $120 million in funds appropriated by Congress to counter disinformation and propaganda from foreign governments, a group of six bipartisan senators pushed for an explanation on Friday.
The lawmakers also wrote they are “gravely... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced a new program that seeks to develop software that would help decision-makers better understand gray-zone action, subtle conflicts that fall somewhere between peace and conventional warfare.
This gray zone conflict is not... Read More »
A recent statement from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes the progress the U.S. Border Patrol has made and the challenges it has faced in securing the Southwest Border.
The statement addresses DHS efforts to deploy and measure the effectiveness of surveillance technologies.... Read More »
During a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the president’s $33.25 billion funding request for border security on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) warned about consequences of a “piecemeal” approach to border security and blasted “partisan politics.”
President Donald... Read More »
A resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday condemns Russia’s recent chemical weapons attacks in the United Kingdom and calls for the United States to take “additional measures” to ensure that there are consequences for the use of chemical weapons.
U.K.... Read More »
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) first responders recently expanded their chemical incidents training acumen in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The training was jointly run by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Bangladesh National Authority for... Read More »
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommended the creation of a finalized interagency approach to the post-core management of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the information system used for import processing.
The study recommended that the Secretary of Homeland... Read More »
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced on Wednesday legislation that would incentivize states to adopt gun licensing standards similar to those in Massachusetts, which has the lowest gun death rate in the nation.
Markey’s legislation, the Making America Safe and Secure (MASS) Act, would... Read More »
As cyber threats to military networks become more persistent and sophisticated, military leaders provided an update to a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday about recent efforts to bolster the military’s cybersecurity capabilities.
In testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee,... Read More »
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy considered four bills on Wednesday that address energy supply emergencies and cybersecurity threats to the electric grid, pipelines, and other areas of the energy sector.
During its third hearing on efforts to modernize the U.S.... Read More »
