Countermeasures
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate announced Tuesday a $10.5 million funding opportunity for a new DHS Center of Excellence (COE).
COEs are led by U.S. universities that have multiple partners from other universities, commercial interests, DHS, and... Read More »
Senate lawmakers have approved a measure making the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund permanent and it will now go to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) introduced legislation to reduce the maintenance backlog for the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard Shore Infrastructure Improvement Act (S. 2212) would implement recommendations from a recent Government Accountability Office to better manage... Read More »
Navy officials announced this week that Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Technical Solutions division is one of six companies selected to work on a five-year contract to support C4ISR programs.
The agreement possesses a potential value of $2.45 billion with the scope of work including... Read More »
National security experts met last week for a three-day summit in New Orleans hosted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Chemical Sector Security Council to discuss chemical security.
It was the 12th iteration of the Chemical Sector Security Summit, which is... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents working a Highway 86 immigration checkpoint halted a methamphetamine smuggling attempt with a $210,220 street value.
The incident occurred when a 47-year-old woman driving a white Honda Pilot approached the... Read More »
U.S. and Guatemalan government officials said the nations are making continual progress regarding efforts to craft a regional approach to address irregular migration patterns.
Authorities said there has been collaboration on a series of initiatives designed to reduce the flow of irregular... Read More »
Growing drug resistance has left a frontline malaria drug combination all but useless, according to recent randomized trials focused on Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Multidrug-resistant parasites are to blame, their rapidly evolving resistance to antimalarial drugs leading to significantly... Read More »
Bipartisan legislation recently introduced in the Senate would better prepare Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) students for careers in cybersecurity and computer science.
The JROTC Cyber Training Act directs the Secretary of Defense to create cooperative research opportunities,... Read More »
Legislation that would crack down on addiction-driven human trafficking was introduced this week in the U.S. Senate.
The Protecting Rights of Those Exploited by Coercive Trafficking (PROTECT) Act would seek to prevent the use of drugs to facilitate human trafficking. Human traffickers often... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have reissued the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin, which maintains a focus on domestic terror threats.
DHS began using the report in 2015 as a means of highlight continuing terror threats in America. Officials noted that the... Read More »
Shelby Pierson has been appointed to serve as the newly established Intelligence Community (IC) Election Threats Executive (ETE).
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Daniel R. Coats said the ETE is responsible for serving as the DNI’s principal adviser on threats to elections and matters... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) is stepping up calls for more U.S. action to prevent a global Ebola outbreak, following last week’s announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO) designating the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a Public Health Emergency of... Read More »
Two bills recently reintroduced in the Senate are seeking to bolster cybersecurity protections in vehicles and airplanes in the age of the Internet of Things.
The Security and Privacy in Your Car Act would establish a rating system that informs consumers about how well vehicles protect... Read More »
A bill designed to expand the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) by the U.S. Coast Guard to identify and interdict illicit drugs coming into the country was introduced in the Senate last week.
The Coast Guard has actionable intelligence on over 80 percent... Read More »
The U.S. Senate advanced legislation last week that would make it a federal crime to hack voting systems.
The Defending the Integrity of Voting Systems Act would give the Department of Justice the ability to investigate and prosecute those who seek to manipulate elections systems equipment.... Read More »
Two federal laboratories under the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently held the first phase of testing for handheld explosive trace detectors (ETDs).
The detectors are used to find trace explosives on individuals, hopefully preventing a dangerous... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Washington Redskins recently conducted a successful emergency response test at FedExField.
“Success on the football field requires not only having a solid game plan but practicing and... Read More »
Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) recently met with Secretary of Defense nominee Mark Esper to emphasize the importance of North Dakota’s nuclear and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) missions to national defense.
Hoeven, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, also expressed the need to... Read More »
SpectralMD, Inc. recently received a 2-year, $27.3 million contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office (DHHS) of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to create a burn imaging device that is portable and quick.
“We want to give medical providers... Read More »
Bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday would establish an interagency working group tasked with developing accountability metrics to enhance cybersecurity protocols and protecting federally-funded research and development activities from foreign interference, espionage, and exfiltration.... Read More »
A bill that would require the FBI to collect data on suicides and attempted suicides by police officers was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week.
The FBI tracks police and law enforcement personnel deaths in the line of duty, but there is no such effort to track suicides or... Read More »
A legislative amendment introduced by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Will Hurd (R-TX) has been incorporated into the Intelligence Authorization Act as a means of addressing trafficking and smuggling networks.
The amendment directs the intelligence community to prioritize efforts to combat... Read More »
After nearly a year of battling an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo without success, the World Health Organization (WHO) this week declared the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
The declaration means the outbreak now poses a considerable... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Colorado State University (CSU) have partnered to advance the development of a Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus vaccine.
The European Union’s (EU’s) Horizon 2020 program enabled CEPI to provide up to $9.5 million to the university... Read More »
After accessing the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 2019 Border Security Improvement Plan, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending CBP ensure the guideline addresses statutorily required elements.
GAO’s assessment stems from an effort to examine the extent to which the... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force has issued a request for proposals for five production lot options to produce and deploy its Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) intercontinental ballistic missile weapon system.
The effort stems from the branch’s Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase.... Read More »
Indiana’s South Bend International Airport (SBN) opened its new General Aviation Facility this week, granting a new home for general aviation, charter and scheduled international flights.
The facility comes with several advantages for the airport. For one, it grants the option for flights to... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations panel, said Tuesday that there needs to be a national fentanyl-response strategy to combat a rising number of opioid-related deaths.
Fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic... Read More »
A bill that would prohibit the removal of Chinese telecom company Huawei from the Commerce Department Entity List without an act of Congress was introduced in the U.S. Senate Tuesday.
The Entity List identifies entities reasonably believed to be involved in activities contrary to the national... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DOD) recently released Digital Modernization Strategy, which replaces the 2014 Resources Management Strategic Plan and outlines the department’s implementation of information technologies.
The strategy addresses artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, the cloud, and... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is committing $35 million for a new DHS Center of Excellence for Terrorism Prevention and Counterterrorism Research (TPCR).
Colleges and universities in the United States are invited to submit proposals to serve... Read More »
With an outbreak of Ebola continuing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations (UN) hosted Monday a high-level meeting that reaffirmed support for their system-wide approach to combating the disease and reaffirmed support for the government-led response.
The disease has... Read More »
A new amendment advanced by the House last week will require the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DOD) to investigate claims that the DOD weaponized Lyme disease in ticks and other insects from 1950 to 1975.
The amendment was introduced by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who has... Read More »
House and Senate lawmakers have approved a measure restoring grant funding for law enforcement support services, enabling the establishment of suicide-prevention programs and mental health services.
The Supporting and Treating Officers in Crisis Act was co-sponsored by Sen. Martha McSally... Read More »
