Government
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) approved a contract on Monday to develop an inactivated Zika virus vaccine candidate.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under the... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) recently received a response to his request for information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding reports that foreign actors hacked into American political organizations.
Carper asked DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to provide information about how... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Community Counterterrorism Preparedness Act, H.R. 5859, on Thursday, to provide assistance to first responders in communities across the country.
The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and passed with bipartisan support, authorizes... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Wednesday on high-containment laboratories and how improved oversight of dangerous pathogens is needed to mitigate any potential risks.
The GAO report said the total number of incidents involving incomplete inactivation, a... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) unveiled a counterterrorism strategy on Tuesday that he said takes U.S. policies into the digital age of security, as threats from violent extremists continue to evolve with technology.
McCaul’s plan was released just days after... Read More »
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) directed the New York State Police and the National Guard to deploy an additional 1,000 officers across the state on Sunday after an explosion in Chelsea.
In addition to the increased deployment of officers, Cuomo directed the Division of Homeland Security and... Read More »
New York’s proposed cyber security regulations for banks and insurance companies - the first such policy in the nation - would create some uniformity between state and federal rules, but the American Bankers Association (ABA) said that it is seeking clarification on certain provisions.
“We... Read More »
Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., published data on Thursday on more than 450 healthy adult subjects from five clinical trials used to support recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing approval of ANTHIM injection.
ANTHIM is used in adult and pediatric patients for the treatment of... Read More »
Chief Gary Curmode, second vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), represented the organization on Wednesday at a White House event to discuss hometown preparedness activities.
The event was led by Josh Barnes, director for preparedness policy at the National... Read More »
A research team at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) recently began work on a system that will utilize portable analytical equipment to help detect food and water contaminants.
ECBC said that the system, called the Agents of Biological Origin Identifier (ABOid), could help... Read More »
More than 100 first responders gathered in New York this week for the state’s largest emergency response training exercise featuring realistic scenarios inspired by terrorist threats in the United States and abroad and utilizing the newest communications technology for law enforcement.
The... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the State Sponsors of Terrorism Review Enhancement Act, H.R. 5484, authored by U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL).
“Today, Congress sent a message to supporters of terrorism, if you engage in terrorist activity or are a state sponsor of terror; you... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a study regarding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) program consolidation proposal.
The GAO report found that DHS’s documentation related to... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released plans to hold a contest to develop new, innovative laboratory diagnostic tools that detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The contest, called the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge, will award prizes totaling $20 million over... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) introduced the Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility Act, H.R.5943, on Thursday to improve the ability of transit agencies to prevent and respond to terror attacks.
Donovan said that his bill will give flexibility to the Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP),... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), along with the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), is holding a one-day workshop entitled “Radiological Security: Increasing Transparency and Voluntary Reporting” this week in Berlin.
The workshop serves as a key component to continued progress... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded $2.4 million to Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles County for information-gathering systems to detect microcephaly.
Microcephaly is a serious birth defect of the brain that is closely linked to... Read More »
INTERPOL recently conducted a series of cybercrime training sessions in Latin America and the Caribbean seeking to enhance regional law enforcement capacity to respond to and prevent cyberthreats.
The training efforts served as an important part of INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Capacity Building... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) recently provided Takeda Vaccines, Inc., with a grant to develop a Zika virus vaccine.
The grant, worth $19.8 million, will be spaced out over the course of the next 18... Read More »
The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), along with private technology developers, recently tested a new integrated system of chemical and biological agent sensors at Dugway Proving Ground’s West Desert Test Center in Utah.
ECBC’s team worked to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle,... Read More »
The U.S. government has become “somewhat complacent” in preparing for potential bioterrorist attacks and needs to implement a national biodefense strategy, Daniel Gerstein, a senior policy researcher at the nonpartisan RAND Corporation, recently told Homeland Preparedness News.
The anthrax... Read More »
Legislation that would require the United States to develop a national biodefense strategy to help prevent and respond to a bioterrorist attack or public health emergency is awaiting Senate floor action.
The Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016, S. 2967, would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002... Read More »
More federal counterterrorism funding should be directed to local law enforcement agencies for human intelligence initiatives in urban areas where the risk of a terrorist attack is high, according to Matt Mayer, a homeland security expert at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), recently told... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), along with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Office of Law Enforcement and Federal Air Marshal Service Director Roderick Allison, highlighted a new security enhancement measure at the Albuquerque International Sunport on Friday.
Heinrich led... Read More »
Researchers supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently developed a novel system to grow norovirus in intestinal cells, which could bring about new therapeutic drugs and vaccines to combat the virus.
Intestinal cells are the natural site of norovirus... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson (R-FL) released a plan on Tuesday to introduce legislation that would appropriate $1.1 billion in funding for Zika virus prevention programs through Fiscal Year 2017 when the House reconvenes in early September.
“With each passing day that we do not act, the Zika... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) awarded Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc., a $5.9 million contract on Wednesday for the development of a Zika virus test for use in doctors’ offices.
Chembio is... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently developed and demonstrated a network of smartphone-sized mobile devices that can detect trace amounts of radioactive materials.
DARPA said that the new SIGMA devices, paired with larger detectors along major roadways and bridges,... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) entered into a $2.6 million agreement on Monday with the DiaSorin Group to further the development of a Zika virus test that may help diagnose the virus more quickly.... Read More »
The city of San Diego selected Tenable Network Security, Inc., on Tuesday to provide improved security visibility and reduced threat exposure across the city network.
“One of the challenges I faced when I came on board three years ago was that the IT department had very little visibility and... Read More »
INTERPOL held a training course last week under the framework of the EU—ASEAN Migration and Border Management Program II to enhance border security.
The course was hosted by the Royal Brunei Police Force and focused on topics such as integrated border management, illegal immigration, human... Read More »
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved plans on Friday set forth on July 6 to set up an EU border control system that brings together the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, and national border management authorities.
The plan calls for national authorities to continue the... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for the manufacture of BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) at the company’s large-scale Building 55 manufacturing facility in Lansing,... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued a request for information (RFI) on Thursday for ways to improve the protection of fixed, mobile ground and naval forces against a variety of small unmanned air systems (sUAS) technologies.
“DARPA is interested in identifying novel,... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exercised a contract option with Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., on Tuesday valued at $11.6 million over a 12-month period for the supply of vaccinia immune globulin (VIGIV) to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
The U.S. Food and... Read More »
