Countermeasures
A group of Democratic senators introduced a bill last week that addresses southwest border challenges while improving Department of Homeland Security (DHS) border community engagement.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Tom Udall (D-NM) joined colleagues in supporting the Homeland... Read More »
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) have requested the intelligence community conduct an assessment of the potential national security risks from China-owned content platforms operating in the United States.
The formal request was sent to Acting Director... Read More »
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory won the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FluSight Challenge by providing the most accurate state, national, and regional flu forecasts in 2018.
The lab beat out 23 other teams with its probabilistic artificial intelligence computer... Read More »
A delegation of Colorado lawmakers is urging Congressional leaders to provide additional H-2B visas for seasonal workers in year-end appropriations packages or budget resolutions.
H-2B program allows U.S. employers to bring aliens to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural... Read More »
Countries are not prepared for the possible international spread of new or emerging pathogens or for the deliberate or accidental release of dangerous agents, according to a new index that assesses the capabilities of 195 nations.
The Global Health Security Index is a joint project by the... Read More »
A group of Senate Republicans recently introduced the Restoring, Enhancing, Strengthening, and Promoting Our Nation’s Safety Efforts (RESPONSE) Act, which would provide law enforcement with new tools, expand resources for mental health treatment and boost school safety.
Law enforcement would... Read More »
The House Committee on Homeland Security advanced a bill sponsored by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) to improve the Transportation Security Administration's security operations.
The Covert Testing and Risk Mitigation Improvement Act (H.R. 3469) is designed to improve the effectiveness and... Read More »
Legislation that would prevent drug diversion in real-time was introduced in the Senate this week by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Chris Coons (D-DE).
The Suspicious Order Identification Act of 2019 to enhance oversight related to prescription drug diversion. Currently, law enforcement or other... Read More »
Under the terms of a seven-year contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $60 million will be given to Dr. W. Henry Boom and a team of researchers from universities throughout the United States, in an effort to accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development.
The first year of the... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP), New Orleans Field Office, has partnered with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to stop counterfeiting efforts during the Holiday season for the third consecutive year.
Operation Safety Claus, an anti-counterfeiting law enforcement operation in metro New... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DoD) announced Wednesday that it will issue a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) in November targeting 5G technology large-scale experimentation and prototyping.
“History is replete with examples of the DoD partnering with the private sector to foster innovation and... Read More »
Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) microorganisms, also known as superbugs, increasingly threaten every person on Earth, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and national experts.
“Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent health risks of our time and threatens to undo a... Read More »
Medical professionals from 20 countries recently attended an international course on the medical management of chemical casualties at the Air Force Medical University in Xi’an, China.
Participants were trained in the advanced hospital care of the victims of toxic chemicals or chemical weapons... Read More »
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) are on pace to catch a record number of guns at airport checkpoints.
TSA officials have caught 26 guns so far this year at BWI, tying the record set in 2017. The 26th gun... Read More »
In the year since the attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, 12 white supremacists have been arrested for their alleged roles in terrorist plots, attacks or threats against the Jewish community, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism reports... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently provided a three-year grant to Kansas State University (KSU) for the development of a tool used to assess infection risk and implementing prevention efforts.
Led by KSU professor Caterina Scoglio, PICTUREE: Predicting Insect Contact and Transmission... Read More »
A bipartisan delegation of legislators recently supported legislation seeking to prohibit foreign ownership or control of the nation’s elections systems.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) recently joined Reps. Kendra Horn (D-OK), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), Dan Crenshaw... Read More »
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) recently introduced a measure they said would create a voluntary cybersecurity certification program for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The Cyber Shield Act would establish an advisory committee of cybersecurity experts from academia,... Read More »
A recently launched joint federal/state task force will address workforce challenges and budgetary faced by volunteer fire companies in Pennsylvania.
The task force was created by U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Congressional Fire Services Caucus member, and state Reps. Frank Farry (R-... Read More »
A bill that would give U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents the equipment to detect synthetic opioids has been introduced in the U.S. House.
The DHS Opioid Detection Resilience Act of 2019 requires the Commissioner of CBP to procure chemical screening devices that allow border patrol... Read More »
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the okay for a conditional marketing authorization for V920 Ebola Zaire vaccine developed by Merck.
If affirmed by the European Commission, the vaccine will be authorized under the brand name... Read More »
The ministries of health in Belize, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic announced the development of a surveillance network to identify and track acute febrile illnesses (AFIs), now with the assistance of experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and academic... Read More »
Rep. Ro Khanna introduced Monday a measure designed to consider federal employee cybersecurity training and information on the risks of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
“The Internet of Things Cybersecurity Training for Federal Employees Act will ensure that our federal workforce is aware of... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories researchers have embarked upon a seven-year campaign focusing upon developing the science, technology, and architecture to aid autonomous satellite protection initiatives.
STARCS (Science and Technology Advancing Resilience for Contested Space) will fund dozens of... Read More »
Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) recently introduced H.R.4720, legislation that would establish an assistant secretary of defense for space.
The position would be responsible for the growth and expansion of the United States Space Force and would report to the secretary of defense.
“As China and... Read More »
Democratic members of Congress from Massachusetts are urging the Department of Homeland Security to broaden its efforts to help state and local governments to fight the growing number of ransomware attacks.
The lawmakers expressed their concern with the rise in these attacks on police... Read More »
Tests conducted by National Institutes of Health scientists showed that a single dose of a highly diluted VSV-Ebola virus (EBOV) vaccine is fully protective against the disease in infected monkeys.
The dose is approximately one-millionth of what is in the vaccine being used to help control the... Read More »
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) officials recently joined global parliamentarians in discussing means of implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
During the 141st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Belgrade, Serbia, parties met to exchange... Read More »
Marine Corps personnel recently joined subject matter experts in executing Island Marauder, an annual technology demonstration involving the integration of current and future technology in a realistic combat environment.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii served as the site of the endeavor, which... Read More »
New cases in the ongoing Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ebola outbreak slowed in the 21 days from Sept. 23 to Oct. 13, 2019, a World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Committee heard this week.
While the epidemic is primarily concentrated on the Mandima health zone in the DRC, new... Read More »
The Department of Commerce has appointed Karima Holmes and Matt Slinkard to the First Responder Network Authority Board (FirstNet Authority).
The FirstNet Authority’s mission, per authorities, is to ensure the building, deployment, and operation of FirstNet, the nationwide broadband network... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said the agency is partnering with a firm to develop technology designed to prevent emergency responder collisions.
Chicago-based HAAS Alert is standardizing C-V2X cellular vehicle-to-everything technology... Read More »
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is calling upon the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of State to deliver a plan to Congress outlining efforts to eliminate ISIS permanently.
Ernst recently issued a resolution in which the agencies would submit the plan of action within 30 days as a means of... Read More »
Ways to develop effective vaccines for Lyme disease and the need to stop the infection were published Thursday in an issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The paper is based on highlights from a conference of industry, government, and academia experts earlier this year.
Lyme disease is caused... Read More »
Mathematical modelling could make efforts to predict and control disease outbreaks much easier and more reliable, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo, University of Maryland, and Yale's School of Public Health.
"Mathematical models of disease spread... Read More »
