Countermeasures
A group of lawmakers recently implored the Trump Administration to release $250 million in authorized military security assistance for Ukraine.
Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) have forwarded correspondence to... Read More »
Legislation to modernize the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics Mitigation (CDM) program was introduced in the House this week.
The Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act, introduced by Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), seeks to... Read More »
Under threat from its worst recorded outbreak of dengue since 2000, Bangladesh has turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organization (WHO) to help outline a plan to test a nuclear technique to combat mosquitoes spreading the disease.
More than 38,000 have been... Read More »
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance last week announced a $7.4 billion fundraising drive among its donors to immunize another 300 million children to 18 diseases in developing countries by 2025.
Their calculations show that such an ambitious goal could save as many as 8 million lives between 2021 and... Read More »
A cyber threats report generated by the computer security software firm McAfee determined ransomware attacks grew by 118 percent in the first quarter of this year.
The McAfee Labs Threats Report also revealed the detection of new ransomware families and the implementation of innovative attack... Read More »
The U.S. Army’s Project Manager Soldier Weapons awarded Textron Systems a contract to deliver automatic rifles.
Textron Systems, a subsidiary of Textron Inc., will deliver 43 6.8mm CT Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) Automatic Rifles and 53 NGSW-Rifles. Further, it will provide the Army... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. said Tuesday it was awarded a contract for its smallpox vaccine from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) valued at approximately $2 billion over 10 years.
The contract... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has earmarked $203,036 for the North Las Vegas fire department in Nevada’s Fourth Congressional District.
“Our emergency responders in North Las Vegas, and Nevada at large, put their lives on the line every day... Read More »
Planck Aerosystems, Inc. has secured a $200,000 Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) award to test its small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) in operational settings.
The award is part of S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) in partnership with... Read More »
An Ebola outbreak that has ravaged the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August last year and sparked fears of a global health crisis reached a deadly new milestone last week when officials noted 3,000 cases underway and 2,000 deaths.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services... Read More »
A recent groundbreaking ceremony was held for the site of the Waterloo Fire Station in Jessup, Md., a nearly six-acre plot that will serve as the first new fire station in the eastern part of Howard County in 25 years and will improve the area’s emergency response services.
The fire station... Read More »
Two cooperative research and development agreements, between the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the First Responder Network Authority and more than 75 industry partners, have made emergency service communication easier.
Network towers generally can support approximately 600... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is launching a pilot program in St. Louis to integrate smart cities technology into the public safety infrastructure.
The pilot program will take place at T-REX, the downtown St. Louis technology innovation... Read More »
The State of Wyoming Office of Homeland Security recently welcomed the first member of its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integration Team (FIT).
“We are excited to explore this opportunity for partnership with FEMA,” Lynn Budd, director of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel recently joined the agency’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) and National Air Security Operations Center - Grand Forks (NASOC-GF) in opening a new air facility.
“We have a lot to celebrate here today,” Jonathan Miller, executive director of... Read More »
Fire departments in Middletown, Manchester, Bristol, and Southington, Conn., have been awarded more than $595,000 in Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG).
“These grants represent the hard work and sacrifice of our firefighters and first responders in Middletown, Manchester, Bristol,... Read More »
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) said a funding allotment of $125,000 would assist efforts to update old equipment at Virginia-area police and fire departments.
Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) said the effort would aid departments in Augusta County, Halifax County and the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) worked alongside colleagues in the United Kingdom and Canada in June to test the latest iteration of the Science Advisory Guide for Emergencies (SAGE).
SAGE is a supplemental tool that maintains scientific... Read More »
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) recently visited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as part of his Results Tour, where he met with the officers overseeing the F-35 Hybrid Product Support Integrator Organization and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).
NASIC is using World War II-era... Read More »
The City of Baltimore received Monday a $937,700 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve the city’s preparedness for disasters and catastrophes.
The funding was awarded through the DHS Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program, which seeks to expand... Read More »
Raytheon has secured a $190 million low-rate Navy contract to produce ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles) Block 2 units featuring a guidance system with dual mode active and semi-active radar.
“ESSM plays a critical role in protecting Navy sailors worldwide and our international partners share... Read More »
Human behavior lies at the heart of fighting mosquito-transmitted diseases, according to a new study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
How humans commute and what their living habits are is key in mosquito mitigation planning, the report says, because, without such considerations,... Read More »
Delaware’s Division of Public Health (DPH) is seeking volunteers to participate in an emergency preparedness exercise on Sept. 28.
The exercise will be held at two Delaware Technical Community College campuses and will be used to evaluate the state’s ability to set up locations to... Read More »
Intellisense Systems was awarded a grant of $3.2 million from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to develop a network of flood inundation sensors.
The technology will be used to monitor flood-prone areas in real time to alert first responders, government... Read More »
As a means of extending the performance of its current A-10 aircraft fleet, the Air Force recently awarded a contract to replace wings on over 100 planes.
Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ), a former A-10 pilot and the first female to command a squadron of A-10’s in combat, said the effort would... Read More »
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials said the agency is using artificial intelligence (AI) to address the opioid epidemic, one of the nation’s leading health challenges.
The recent DIA DoDIIS Worldwide Conference in Florida served as the backdrop for Brian Drake, the DIA’s Science and... Read More »
Researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney in Australia have created and tested a new vaccine type that provides substantial protection against tuberculosis (TB), following more than five years of work and research.
The test was a preclinical run using mouse models... Read More »
The U.S. Marines are participating in a military exchange with Indonesian Marines to train and learn from each other.
The 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment is participating with the Indonesian Korps Marinir (KORMAR). The soldiers are training in Eastern Java, Indonesia, and Marine Corps Base... Read More »
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Congress and the Trump Administration must address the expiration of the UN arms embargo on Iran.
The UN arms embargo on Iran and the travel ban on Qasem Soleimani, the chief of Iran's Quds force, are set to... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities said a Los Angeles / Long Beach Seaport law enforcement collaboration recently resulted in the seizure of 52,601 illegal firearms parts.
The shipment, which violated the Chinese Arms Embargo, was intercepted with the aid of the Machinery Center of... Read More »
Defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions firm Raytheon has committed to building a 200,000-square-foot facility supporting new high-tech jobs at its Space and Airborne Systems headquarters in McKinney, Texas.
Once the construction project is completed in late 2020, the facility will... Read More »
A genomics study undertaken by Scripps Research recently uncovered a previously undiscovered and underreported outbreak of the Zika virus that hit Cuba in 2017, prompting scientists to call on health, academia, and government organizations to step up efforts to share and coordinate... Read More »
The Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) recently announced that the New York City area would receive $178.8 million in federal funding to help prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism.
The funding includes an $11.09 million Nonprofit Security Grant... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force's Magellan satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, was launched into orbit last week from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The GPS III Space Vehicle 02, nicknamed "Magellan" by the Air Force, will be in orbit about 12,550 miles above the earth. Engineers at Lockheed Martin Space's Waterton,... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is continuing its efforts to incorporate the U.S. Virgin Islands into the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) to expedite the cargo importation process.
At a meeting in Washington D.C. last week, CBP officials updated the U.S. Virgin Islands trade... Read More »
