Countermeasures
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) has introduced a measure that ensures military firefighters exposed to toxic per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals receive Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) healthcare.
Currently, military firefighters exposed to firefighting foam containing PFAS are not... Read More »
The COVAX Facility -- an organization created to guarantee quick and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines throughout the world -- has garnered the interest of 75 countries and plans to support as many as 90 lower-income countries through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s Advance Market Commitment... Read More »
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation on Wednesday to strengthen public health security by bolstering the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and boosting the domestic manufacturing of medical supplies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bipartisan Strengthening... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is requesting more funding for potential COVID-19 vaccines in any new coronavirus relief package.
“As you continue your work on critical legislation to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, I write to you today to urge your support for robust funding that will help... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) introduced legislation designed to reduce emissions and increase use of clean energy sources for the Department of Defense (DoD).
The National Security Resiliency and Sustainability Act (H.R. 7417) would enact Obama-era standards, which were revoked in 2018. The DoD... Read More »
Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Marines based out of Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton recently participated in a mobile aircraft fire fighting training exercise alongside San Diego County firefighters.
The effort executed at the San Diego International Airport in San Diego, Calif.,... Read More »
A New York lawmaker has introduced a trio of measures he said are designed to enhance national cybersecurity while bolstering stability in leadership positions, funding, and resources.
Rep. John Katko (R-NY) said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director and Assistant... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories is turning to machine learning to assist COVID-19 researchers in combing through existing coronavirus studies and data.
Through a mix of algorithms, analytics, and data mining, Sandia wants to make it easy for scientists to find the data they need right at their... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. expects to begin a 30,000 participant phase 3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate later this month, following the publication of an interim phase 1 analysis that demonstrated a generally safe and well-tolerated reaction among a small group of healthy adults.
The results,... Read More »
Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) seek answers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its process to determine the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic and serological tests.
“Public health experts have consistently called for increased access to... Read More »
The University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate reached a milestone as the first participants were enrolled in its Phase 1 clinical trial.
The university’s vaccine is the seventh that is part of the portfolio of vaccines funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness... Read More »
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a means of aiding state and local governments with cyber defense efforts.
The APL and DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have enlisted the assistance of... Read More »
Boeing recently announced that it has secured an Air Force contract to build the initial eight F-15EX advanced fighter jets and an overall Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity pact.
Officials said the agreement calls for $1.2 billion for the first allotment of aircraft, with the overall... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest $27.1 million into the purchase of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine for the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank.
The purchase would give the government the means to respond to outbreaks of the disease among... Read More »
While an effective COVID-19 vaccine is still being pursued, Senate Democrats released a white paper this week full of proposals to guarantee such vaccines would be provided safely, efficiently and free, while ensuring a distribution wide enough to counter the pandemic.
In all, the paper --... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is sponsoring a bill that would establish limits on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).
The 2001 AUMF — which passed in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks — has been used by presidential administrations to deploy American... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force is participating in a program launched by the Department of Defense to collect convalescent plasma from COVID-19 patients to be used as a possible treatment for the virus.
“We plan to collect more than 8,000 units of plasma from individuals who have recovered from... Read More »
A group of Texas legislators recently forwarded correspondence to Health and Human Services (HHS) officials requesting increased resources in response to the Rio Grande Valley COVID-19 surge.
Reps. Filemon Vela (D-TX), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Henry Cuellar (D-TX) were joined by Sens. John... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel along the California border with Mexico recently reported that, in June, the agency seized 43,000 pounds of narcotics valued at nearly $92 million.
Officers at the six land ports of entry were able to foil numerous attempts to smuggle 34,685 pounds... Read More »
New legislation introduced by U.S. Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) last week -- the Rewards for Providing Information on Foreign Election Interference Act -- would expand an existing State Department program that rewards people for information on foreign election... Read More »
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has derailed economics, killed more than 569,000 people, and left entire nations on lockdown, and last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the formation of an independent panel to investigate the world’s handling of the disease.
The Independent... Read More »
The executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) voted to condemn the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Arab Republic in 2017.
The vote followed an investigation by the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), which concluded that there are... Read More »
U.S. Reps. John Katko (R-NY) and Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced legislation to ensure the administration and federal government are fully prepared to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and any future resurgences.
“With reports of COVID-19 spiking in most states, Central New York working... Read More »
Secret Service officials said the agency is merging its Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) and Financial Crimes Task Forces (FCTFs) to form the Cyber Fraud Task Forces (CFTFs).
The action stems from the recognition of the convergence of cyber and traditional financial crimes.
“The... Read More »
Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Bill Posey (R-FL) have introduced a measure they said is designed to examine per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and firefighter exposure to the chemicals.
The Guaranteeing Equipment Safety for Firefighters Act of 2020 requires the National Institute of... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. expanded their partnership last week to guarantee the rapid development and manufacturing of the company’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Known as S-Trimer, the vaccine is based on... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Department of Defense penned two technology investment agreements focused on boosting domestic manufacturing last week, with Retractable Technologies, Inc. (RTI) and Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD), respectively.
In both... Read More »
A bill designed to identify and combat efforts by the Chinese government to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Preventing China from Exploiting COVID-19 Act calls upon the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to investigate how the Chinese... Read More »
A group of House Democratic leaders sent letters to the CEOs of the major social media companies to request information on how they are responding to disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letters were sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DOD) has selected Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) system for future Counter-Small Unmanned Aerial System (C-sUAS) procurements.
“Our FAAD C2 has been saving lives at Forward Operating Bases and locations around... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories personnel is offering design specifications for an outdoor shelter shielding healthcare workers conducting COVID-19 testing on its licensing and technology transfer website.
The free design and instruction manual would yield a low-cost, drive-up outdoor shelter. The... Read More »
Streamlining processes this week, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) created a new clinical trials network to gather thousands of volunteers together for testing of various investigational vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for use against COVID-19.
NIAID -- a part... Read More »
A bill that would require a plan for diagnostic testing and public health system integration for COVID-19 and future pandemics was introduced in the U.S. Senate this week.
The bill, the Timely and Effective Systematic Testing (TEST) Act, was introduced by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Michael... Read More »
Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Cheri Bustos (D-IL) are calling upon Air Force personnel to provide a long-term C-130 aircraft fleet management plan.
The representatives recently forwarded correspondence to the House Committee on Armed Services regarding the request amid the committee’s work on... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) personnel in Laredo, Texas, recently executed actions resulting in the interception of narcotics valued at more than $11.4 million.
"These drugs will not reach Main Street USA due to the efforts of the officers in our cargo... Read More »
