Government
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) announced on Monday that the committee has released its “snapshot” terrorism assessment for the month of February.
“The Islamist terror threat remains alarmingly high as recent arrests and terror plots demonstrate,” McCaul... Read More »
INTERPOL and Barclays have announced that they will enter into a private-public partnership in order to enhance the cyber security of both institutions.
As part of the agreement, Barclays will become the first financial institution to have full-time staff operating at the INTERPOL Global Complex... Read More »
The Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies held its “International Cooperation in Combating Terrorism: Review of 2015 and Outlook for 2016” on Monday at the National Press Club, featuring a panel of experts from the Blue Ribbon Panel who warned that bioterrorism remains a growing... Read More »
The Joint Science and Technology Office announced this week that its basic research program, Toxicant Penetration and Scavenging (TPS), provided an important new understanding of toxin mechanisms.
The findings have since been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B article,... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its research priorities on Friday for studies to investigate how Zika virus infection affects reproduction, pregnancy and the developing fetus.
The virus is currently present in approximately 30 countries and territories, notably in Latin... Read More »
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) announced the success of her bipartisan resolution on Thursday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Air and Marine Operations (AMO).
AMO oversees a facility at Grand Forks Air Force Base, opened in 2009, and uses manned and unmanned aircraft to... Read More »
The Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities held a hearing on Wednesday entitled "Outside Views on Biodefense for the Department of Defense,” featuring expert testimony from members of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense to provide an... Read More »
The new Base Ensemble Project, a collaboration between the United Kingdom’s Home Office and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), aims to create a uniform that will provide emergency first responders with the protection they need.
First Responders often... Read More »
The leader of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ahmet Uzumcu gave a speech on Monday entitled “Re-arming our Humanity: Contributions of Disarmament to Peace.”
The speech marks 20 years since the Chemical Weapons Convention concluded, making it the only remaining... Read More »
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the 2016 National Snapshot of Public Health Preparedness on Thursday detailing the public health threats that currently face the country at large.
The report illustrates how federal investments enhance the nation’s ability to... Read More »
Scientists at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) recently announced the development of a new kind of “second skin” that will protect soldiers from potential 21st century biological hazards.
"The material design is based on the use of responsive polymer... Read More »
The president and chair of the board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) supported efforts by Congress to improve first responder preparedness for bioterrorism attacks but said that even more work remains while testifying on Tuesday at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced on Thursday that it has made a series of recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the vulnerabilities of cyber infrastructure and how to better prevent cybercrime attacks.
The GAO noted that the National... Read More »
Smiths Detection, Inc., announced last week that it has been awarded an initial $1.27 million for its RadSeeker handheld radioisotope detector and an additional award of a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
The... Read More »
Batelle has announced that it has qualified for a bid to provide technical and logistic services to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense as part of the Joint Enterprise Contracted Logistics and Services Support (JE-CLaSS) Multi-Award Task Order Contract program.
... Read More »
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology announced on Tuesday that it has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 2 entitled “Status of the Public Safety Broadband Network.”
“Especially in times of emergency, it is critical that first responders are able to communicate and... Read More »
The United Stated Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) facilities to support establishing new animal tests/models for the development of biological medical countermeasures against biological threats, influenza and emerging infectious... Read More »
Nuclear weapons are the greatest means of instant wide-scale destruction, and the illegal trafficking of such devices is the focus of a new international conference being held by INTERPOL this week.
The conference is expected to draw some 270 participants from more than 100 countries around the... Read More »
The European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) was launched this month to serve as an enhanced central information hub to increase information sharing and operational coordination.
The ECTC will improve the exchange of information between law enforcement agencies,” Minister of Security and... Read More »
Battelle announced on Thursday that it has been awarded s Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Cyber Security and Information Systems Technical Area Tasks (CS TAT) five-year, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the Department of Defense.
The new contract succeeds... Read More »
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved the revision of seven critical infrastructure protection (CIP) Reliability Standards on Thursday, including requirements for personnel and training, as well as the physical security of the bulk electric system’s cyber systems and... Read More »
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), as part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently announced that it will hold a webinar on Feb. 10 on ASPR’s Technical Resources, Assistance Center and Information Exchange (TRACIE).
TRACIE is a... Read More »
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) commitment to advancing the Medical Countermeasures Innovation Act of 2015 was applauded this week by the Alliance for Biosecurity.
The act, introduced in September by Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Bob... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories is participating in the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium’s efforts to modernize the U.S.’s electrical grid and using its expertise in grid modernization to take the lead in the area of security and resilience.
“Sandia has decades of experience in... Read More »
The United States Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that it will be seeking public comment regarding the review of biological agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, with a proposal to republish that list.
The... Read More »
In an issue this month for the medical journal Clinical Trials, leading researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), described the series of challenges and lessons learned to prevent future outbreaks.
Among... Read More »
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) recently announced its first Request for Proposals (RFP) for the deployment of the public safety broadband network.
The announcement, issued on January 13, is an important step in FirstNet’s objective of creating a modern communications network for... Read More »
As part of a year-in-review process, the Center for Disease Control recently outlined the steps of the Ebola recovery process in the Western African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
While the disease had a deadly impact in 2015, its spread had already diminished. In January 2015,... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that it will be accepting applications for the 2016 Secretary’s Honors Program Cyber Volunteer Initiative.
Under the program, more than 50 individually selected volunteers would complete assignments supporting the DHS cyber mission... Read More »
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) announced its ongoing support last Monday for the continuation of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) diagnostics in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The initiative is part of a cooperative biological engagement program (CBEP) in West Africa. The current program is... Read More »
The House Transportation Security Subcommittee last week re-examined the Transportation Security Acquisition Act (TSARA) one year after the legislation became law.
The meeting provided committee members with a snapshot of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) adherence to the... Read More »
Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul (R-TX) released a monthly snapshot on Monday of potential terror threats for the U.S. and its allies.
“ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists are expanding their networks and carving out sanctuaries abroad, while their supporters and... Read More »
Members of the House Committee on Small Business last Wednesday pushed back against Maria Contreras-Sweet, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on widespread mismanagement within the organization.
Committee Chairman Steve... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), announced in December that it will be soliciting research proposals to develop technologies for detecting and recovering from cyberattacks on critical U.S. infrastructure.
The agency said that the venture focuses on early attack detection,... Read More »
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) announced on Thursday that his bill, the Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act of 2016 (H.R. 4314), has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The measure requires a detailed plan to combat international travel by radicalized militants, speeds up the transfer... Read More »
