Government
Fire Chief Rhonda Mae Kerr, International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) president and chair of the board, testified on Tuesday that the agency is greatly concerned about the Obama administration’s “draconian” cuts to FEMA’s grant program in the FY 2017 budget proposal.
Kerr... Read More »
Homeland Preparedness News recently interviewed Dr. Asha George, co-director of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, a bipartisan organization recommending changes to U.S. policy and law to strengthen national biodefense.
HPN: The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense is strongly... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced more than $1.6 billion on Monday for 10 DHS preparedness grants programs as part of the release of a FY 2016 Notices of Funding Opportunity.
Funding will be provided to state, local tribal and territorial governments, along with... Read More »
In the wake of the House passage of a three month Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization patch - H.R. 4721 - ahead of its March 31 expiration, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) released a statement calling for even further action.
“As the House acts to clear the way for a... Read More »
U.S. Army Cyber Command and Second Army (ARCYBER) recently announced that it had launched several new initiatives to realize Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s vision for greater cooperation between DOD and Silicon Valley.
One of these initiatives is the Silicon Valley Innovation Pilot, which... Read More »
The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) announced on Monday that it has built an enhanced threat detection device called CASTLE that increases the range of detection for CBRNE threats.
CASTLE, which stands for CBRNE assessment science and technology lab at ECBC, greatly... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in cooperation with the National Authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, began a new training course last week dealing with potential transfers of chemical weapons in certain areas.
The initiative focuses on... Read More »
A new report released on Monday by the Syrian-American Medical Society revealed that more than 600 chemical attacks have killed 1,491 people during the five years of ongoing conflict in Syria.
The report, “The New Normal, Ongoing Chemical Attacks in Syria,” found that 69 chemical weapon... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study on Wednesday detailing the various actions the National Capital Region Coordination (ONCRC) has taken to help improve emergency communications interoperability in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The NCR is a defined area that... Read More »
The United Kingdom’s Highly Innovative Technology Enablers in Aerospace (HITEA) program announced on Thursday that its proof-of-concept, laser-based aircraft tracking system HYPERION has been successfully tested in-flight.
HYPERION was designed to aid disaster relief workers in monitoring,... Read More »
The National International Health Regulations (IHR) Focal Point of Uruguay announced last week that the country has seen a sustained increase in the number of suspected cases - 570 - and confirmed cases - 17 - of dengue fever.
All confirmed cases were positive for dengue virus by reverse... Read More »
The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) announced on Wednesday that 200 citizen soldiers from the New York National Guard would be conducting tactical and medical evacuation training at the New York State Preparedness Training Center (SPTC) from Mar. 12-13.
... Read More »
The Alliance for Biosecurity applauded Wednesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approval of the Medical Countermeasure Innovation Act, S. 2055.
The legislation would accelerate the development of new vaccines and medicines meant to protect American citizens from... Read More »
The U.S. Army Contracting Command announced on Feb. 25 that it had awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to provide logistics support services to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense... Read More »
As part of the yearly budget process for the Department of Homeland Security, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ron Johnson (R-WI) opened the budget submission for fiscal year 2017 on Tuesday.
“I would like to thank Secretary Jeh Johnson for appearing... Read More »
According to a study released on Monday by the Governing Institute, AT&T and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), 80 percent of elected and appointed officials say that they don’t know if their home state has a cybersecurity incident plan in place.
The survey included responses from a... Read More »
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its travel and trade-related statistics for fiscal year 2015 on Monday.
“I want to thank the men and women of CBP for their unrelenting commitment to our national security mission,” CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske said. “CBP... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry arrested three suspects on Saturday in a failed smuggling attempt on March 1.
A Canadian citizen, Leszek Budzyna, was charged with attempted alien smuggling and making false statements to officials. Two Polish... Read More »
A coalition of New York congressional representatives last week announced more than $60 million in federal grants to support counterterrorism and emergency preparedness activities in counties across New York State.
The group included New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), along with U.S. Sens. Chuck... Read More »
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) announced on Thursday the release of a report on the ongoing state of the U.S.’s counterterrorism efforts entitled Terrorism Gone Viral.
One of the key takeaways from the report’s findings is that ISIS’s focus has shifted from the... Read More »
At the 14th Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Global Synchronization Conference on March 1, U.S. Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney, U.S. Strategic Command commander, spoke about the importance of cooperation and innovation in the fight against weapons of mass destruction.
“To ensure the... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Thursday the opening of a Global Entry Enrollment Center in Port Clinton that will operate as a center for processing applicants for CBP’s trusted traveler programs, including Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI.
Enrollment centers like the new... Read More »
A new study published this week in the online open-access journal mBio suggests that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) develops mutations that make the virus less virulent, rather than more virulent.
The virus causes severe respiratory infection and has a worldwide... Read More »
A group of witnesses stood before members of the Financial Services Task Force to Investigate Terror Financing this week and said that despite the efforts of international regulatory bodies and other entities, no central body effectively counteracts terrorist financing.
During the hearing, the... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the National Commission on Security and Technology on Monday.
The commission was formed in the wake of the Apple’s public refusal to follow the FBI’s order to program a backdoor into... Read More »
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office, along with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, announced this week that a compound demonstrated no adverse effects in its Phase 1 trials against the Ebola virus.
The compound, GS-5734,... Read More »
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced this week that they have developed a new simulation for drug-membrane permeability, increasing the production speed for nerve agent treatments.
By using in-house supercomputers, LLNL researchers are simulating the energy... Read More »
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Wednesday about the continuing danger posed by Zika virus to the Americas and plans to respond to the virus both nationally and internationally.
Zika virus is primarily spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Such... Read More »
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced on Monday the discovery of one of the key ways the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) changes and adapts between patients, allowing for even more research on the complex condition.
MERS-CoV is a deadly... Read More »
The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security are developing a new system that allows researchers to scan the planet for anomalies in human and animal disease prevalence.
The Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE) is a program from the DoD’s Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and... Read More »
The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced a discovery last week that a single monoclonal antibody isolated from a human Ebola virus disease survivor protected non-human primates from the virus.
The antibody can now advance to testing in humans as a potential... Read More »
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) recently announced that it has developed a device known as SmartCAR that uses colorimetric assay to identify such dangerous chemical compounds as anthrax, ricin and plague.
“Although much of the technology in SmartCAR is commercial off-the-shelf, it... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced a collaborative effort on Thursday to establish the “Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (CARB) Biopharmaceutical Accelerator” to help fight against antimicrobial resistance.
The collaboration involves the... Read More »
The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) announced the signing of a series of licensing agreements on Thursday with Biodetech, LLC, allowing the company to utilize the Agents of Biological Origin Identifier (ABOid).
ABOid is a pathogen identification platform developed by... Read More »
A subcommittee hearing chaired by U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) on Thursday heard testimony from leading cybersecurity experts on the serious national security threats currently faced by the U.S. from other nation states and malicious cyber actors.
The hearing, held by the House Homeland... Read More »
