Countermeasures
Reps. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) and Daniel Webster (R-FL) introduced legislation Tuesday designed to enhance extreme weather events preparedness by establishing best practices to protect communities while saving taxpayer money.
The PREPARE Act would create an interagency council to provide... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program operators are seeking to meet with Maryland-area small businesses to help address homeland security challenges.
Entities in the research and development domain are encouraged to attend Friday’s session,... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) through the U.S. Air Force Space Command recently awarded Iridium Communications a $738.5 million, seven-year, fixed-price contract to provide the agency with unlimited satellite services from its unique Low Earth Orbit constellation.
Iridium will provide... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) inquired about the information security practices of U.S. Customs and Border Protection contractors following a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of thousands of facial images of U.S. travelers.
The June attack led to the theft of at least 100,000 traveler ID... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will add five accelerators to its network to enhance biotechnology innovates with technical and entrepreneurial support.
The new accelerators include Emory University & Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; the Plug and Play Tech... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at the Air and Marine Operations (AMO), National Air Security Operations Center Corpus Christi (NASOC-CC) recently aided Hurricane Dorian relief efforts in the Bahamas.
From Aug. 29 to Sept. 8, NASOC-CC’s aircrews deployed to Birmingham, Ala., and... Read More »
Raytheon Company officials said the defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions firm is developing a new medium-range, air-launched weapon to combat drones, manned aircraft, and cruise missiles.
The Peregrine missile is half the size and cost of current air-to-air missiles while... Read More »
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, the newly renamed biodefense study panel group, more accurately reflects the earnestness and importance of the five-year-old organization’s mission, group leaders said today.
“We do not simply study the problem,” said Dr. Asha George, executive... Read More »
September is National Preparedness Month, FEMA’s annual campaign to promote disaster and emergency planning. This year’s campaign theme is Prepared Not Scared.
As a former emergency management professional in the state of Texas, I can attest that for most public safety professionals, every... Read More »
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar led a contingent of U.S. officials on a tour last week of an Ebola treatment center in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The delegation, which toured a facility in Butembo, DRC, observed the detection, infection prevention, and... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office recommends two agencies be more transparent about technology’s capabilities.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are agencies that research, develop, and test... Read More »
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) recently spearheaded a gathering of Nevada education personnel and tech companies to assess cybersecurity threats and legislation to address such circumstances.
“The security of our nation’s cyber infrastructure is put at serious risk without a robust, skilled... Read More »
Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) recently secured strong funding in the 2020 Energy and Water Appropriations bill to extend and refurbish nuclear warheads bolstering the nation’s defense.
“Given the security challenges around the globe, it’s vital we invest in our nuclear warheads and nuclear... Read More »
Joined to fight the threat of malaria, the governments of Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi have launched a landmark vaccine pilot program known as RTS,S.
Malaria is estimated to kill a child every two minutes and is a leading killer of children in Kenya. As such, a major goal of the new vaccine is its... Read More »
Faced with the rise of anti-vaccination movements in the developed world, the European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) hosted the first Global Vaccination Summit last week, to counter those movements and promote action against vaccine-preventable diseases.
The European... Read More »
Air Force officials said the recent release of the branch’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy emphasizes the importance of artificial intelligence capabilities to 21st-century missions.
“The Air Force is charged to provide the nation with Air and Space Superiority, Global Strike, Rapid Global... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel have partnered with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate as a means of bolstering illegal opioid detection methods.
Synthetic Opioid Detection at Speed (SODAS) began after a report by the President’s... Read More »
Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) and Chief Intelligence Officer David J. Glawe recently addressed the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's (ICT’s) 2019 World Summit on Counter-Terrorism in Israel.
Organizers said the gathering serves as one of the world’s most... Read More »
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY2020 funding bill for the Department of Defense by a narrow 16-15 margin.
The $694.9 billion funding bill includes an increase of $20.5 billion above FY2019. The recommendation consists of $622.5 billion in base funding, $70.7 billion for... Read More »
An assistant attorney general, U.S. attorneys, state department officials, and local legislators have joined together to form a new Human Trafficking Council in Mississippi, to enhance prevention, protection and prosecution efforts in the state.
The council will have authority throughout the... Read More »
Christopher T. Tersigni has been hired to serve as SOS International LLC (SOSi) federal law enforcement account executive.
Tersigni, a retired special agent, Senior Executive Service (SES) member and 28-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), last served the DEA as the... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said the agency’s recently released enforcement actions report reflects a decline in the last 90 days while activity levels remain high.
The analysis showed this year through August, the total number of people apprehended or found to be... Read More »
The U.S. Senate recently advanced a bill that seeks to make air travel more convenient for transportation industry workers.
The TSA Credential and Endorsement Harmonization Act of 2019 is designed to reduce the number of duplicate screenings by expanding TSA PreCheck to those who have already... Read More »
A U.S. House committee hearing on Wednesday focused on how to strengthen a federal program that protects high-risk chemical facilities from terrorist attacks.
“High-risk chemical facilities hold large stores of industrial chemicals that pose a safety and security risk to the American people... Read More »
The Trump Administration announced this week that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar would lead a delegation to three nations currently faced with one of the worst outbreaks of Ebola in world health history.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) -- where the outbreak began and... Read More »
Kentucky’s Boyd County has been chosen for inclusion in the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the HIDTA program provides law enforcement agencies in designated counties with coordination, equipment, technology,... Read More »
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced Tuesday legislation designed to address asylum fraud and protect children arriving at the border from human trafficking.
The End Child Trafficking Now Act of 2019, amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to require a DNA test to... Read More »
The number of people apprehended or found to be inadmissible at the Southern U.S. border declined by 22 percent in August, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The number apprehended or turned away was 64,006 in August, down from 82,055 in July. The August totals mark a 56 percent... Read More »
On the eve of the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, experts testified to U.S. Congress that while Islamic jihadists remain a threat to the security of the United States, so to do domestic terrorists in the form of white supremacists and other radical right-wing groups.
During a House... Read More »
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) became one of at least six institutions this week to win grant funding for a long-lasting and more effective flu vaccine as part of the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute’s Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development.
Of the $12 million... Read More »
The 92nd and 141st Air Refueling Wings at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, are hosting Mobility Guardian 2019, the Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) premier exercise.
“Unmatched rapid global mobility exists because of the ready and resilient Airmen who execute the mission day in... Read More »
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) is lauding the Department of Defense’s (DOD) recent decision to temporarily establish U.S. Space Command in Colorado, noting it harnesses the state’s existing military assets.
Gardner, an advocate for the initiative, said the temporary establishment at Peterson Air... Read More »
Defense contractors Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin teamed up to successfully fire Javelin test missiles from a remote launcher at the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center in Alabama.
The Javelin is a platform-employed anti-tank and multi-target precision weapon system. The Javelin Joint Venture team... Read More »
Ebola containment efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will now be bolstered by $21 million in additional humanitarian assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The funds are in response to a continually worsening condition in the country, where an... Read More »
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) authorities said the summer travel season yielded another record-breaking screening result, totaling more than a quarter of a billion travelers representing the busiest in TSA history.
TSA officers screened 262 million passengers and crew during the... Read More »
