Government
Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) announced Tuesday that she has secured $30 million for the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill as a means of expanding COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act provisions.
The key spending bill is slated for the House of Representatives in anticipation of passage later this... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced Wednesday the Cyber Incident Notification Act of 2021, which seeks to make it mandatory for federal agencies, government contractors, and critical infrastructure to report cyber intrusions to the Cybersecurity... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) announced Tuesday his bill to combat human trafficking passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support.
The DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act would bolster the existing efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to combat human... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and David Trone (D-MD) recently introduced a bill that seeks to protect law enforcement personnel and other first responders from lethal substances such as fentanyl.
The Protecting First Responders from Secondary Exposure Act would improve state and local government... Read More »
A newly introduced bill seeks to authorize utilizing individuals with expertise from other agencies to assist the Office of the National Cyber Director (NCD).
U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), and Gary Peters (D-MI) recently presented... Read More »
Pushing back against the string of cybersecurity threats instigated this year, the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a new Security Directive this week that requires owners and operators of critical pipelines to roll out urgent cyber protections.
“Secure... Read More »
The House of Representatives voted this week to advance the Securing America from Epidemics (SAFE) Act, which would authorize U.S. participation in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI).
CEPI is a public-private partnership focused on developing vaccines for highly infectious... Read More »
On Monday, the Infectious Diseases Society of America commended the U.S. House for appropriations that would bolster the fight against COVID-19 and HIV, antibiotic research and development, and global health security while combating the effects of the opioid crisis.
However, the organization... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently issued a request for information (RFI) regarding commercial Blast Resistant Trash Receptacles (BRTRs).
“Trash receptacles appear in most public spaces as essential but ordinary objects,” National... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Dwight Evans (D-PA) introduced Monday the Small Business Cyber Security Training Act, which seeks to aid small businesses in cyberattack preparedness.
The legislators indicated the legislation would assist the... Read More »
A fact sheet recently released by Homeland Security Republicans showed that southern border activity demonstrates the situation has become a humanitarian crisis involving thousands of migrants.
According to the report, border crossings this year included more than 1.1 million illegal crossings... Read More »
A group of Oregon lawmakers led by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) is encouraging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make efforts to maximize wildfire preparedness initiatives.
Merkley and DeFazio, chair of the House Transportation and... Read More »
Last week, a U.S. resident was hospitalized in Dallas, following confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Texas Department of State Health Services that they had contracted monkeypox after a trip to Nigeria.
While the CDC stressed that all flights the... Read More »
Given the destructive nature of the past year and a half under the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) last week introduced two bills to strengthen pandemic response and treat them as national security threats rather than political minefields.
First was the National Security... Read More »
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday the final allocations for seven competitive preparedness grants for Fiscal Year 2021.
The $475 million in grants add to the nearly $1.5 billion in non-competitive grant funding announced earlier this year, bring to $2... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernest (R-IA) introduced legislation Wednesday that would require military and intelligence agencies to monitor the threat from terrorist organizations that could result from the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Ernst, a combat veteran and member of the Senate Armed... Read More »
Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said the agencies have united with federal partners to launch a new website designed to combat ransomware attacks.
StopRansomware.gov serves as a hub for ransomware resources accessible to individuals,... Read More »
A bill seeking to prevent Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Reservists from losing full-time employment when aiding community disaster response advanced the U.S. Senate last week.
U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the Civilian Reservist Emergency Workforce... Read More »
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently issued the first Surgeon General's Advisory of this administration warning of the urgent dangers posed by health misinformation and disinformation, threatening COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the United States.
The American public needs to be aware... Read More »
A new, joint effort between the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the nonprofit Beacon NGO will seek to build upon S&T’s Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS) and pitch it to a larger emergency response community.
To achieve... Read More »
The U.S. Senate advanced this week legislation authored by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) designed to protect public and private networks from cyber threats.
Peters' two pieces of legislation - The K-12 Cybersecurity Act and the Supply Chain Security Training Act - passed unanimously in the... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced this week that it has partnered with several entities to evaluate the use of autonomous surface and underwater ocean surveillance technology.
The agency has teamed up with the University of Southern... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Gary Peters (D-MI) recently introduced legislation designed to offer disaster victims protections from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance clawbacks due to agency errors.
The senators commended the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental... Read More »
A total of $153 million was split between two projects under the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIMBL) this week, as awarded by the United States Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
“I am so pleased that... Read More »
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee approved the Defense Funding bill for FY 2022 on a 33-23 vote.
The bill provides $705.9 billion in defense spending, an increase of 1.4 percent over 2021’s budget. The increase reflects President Joe Biden’s budget... Read More »
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee announced this week the approval of the fiscal year 2022 Homeland Security funding bill, which invests in cyber and infrastructure security while combating domestic extremist violence.
The action also expands the Coast Guard's Arctic reach and the maritime... Read More »
Approximately $398 million was issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a means of helping 1,540 small rural hospitals address COVID-19 testing and mitigation.
“Our state-based SHIP grantees... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) recently introduced a bill to address defense budget transparency and accountability, ensuring the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) achieves a clean audit opinion on its financial statements.
The Audit the Pentagon Act of 2021 will seek to... Read More »
After an eight-month void in official leadership, the U.S. Senate this week confirmed former Obama-era senior National Security Agency official Jen Easterly to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) amid increasingly frequent digital attacks.
Easterly, who formerly... Read More »
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense urged Congress to take action to protect the country’s critical infrastructure from biological threats on Wednesday.
In two recent reports, The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, and Biodefense in Crisis:... Read More »
BAE Systems has secured an Army contract worth up to $600 million for sustainment and support for the U.S. Army's Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) over the next five years.
“The AMPV family of vehicles will bring unmatched capability to the battlefield and has demonstrated outstanding... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is encouraging Senate passage of his legislation, The Genomics Data Security Act (S.1744), which establishes protections addressing Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) national security risks.
S.1744 was presented in the wake of a recent Office of... Read More »
Questions were spurred last week with news from Pfizer and BioNTech that progress was being made on a COVID-19 vaccine booster the companies indicated would likely be needed in the future -- a stance promptly contradicted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease... Read More »
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials have assessed the 2020 Privacy Technology Demonstration results.
The endeavor sought to advance efforts to protect the privacy of individuals appearing in photos and videos. Five privacy systems... Read More »
LightDeck Diagnostics, which produces both SARS-CoV-2 Ultra-Rapid Antigen and COVID-19 Total Antibody Tests, was awarded a $35.1 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) last week to increase production capacity for these speedy diagnostics.
Both tests are point-of-care tests... Read More »
