Countermeasures
A training exercise known as Balikatan is underway in the Philippines this week, assembling forces from the Philippines, United States and Australia to address a multi-faceted range of operations.
Balikatan, which marks the partnership between the Philippines and United States specifically, is... Read More »
The National
Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
recently named Amy Pate as its new executive director.
Pate is a political
scientist with a doctorate in government and politics specializing in
international relations and comparative politics. She will... Read More »
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) was appointed to
serve as a commissioner on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe, or the Helsinki Commission.
The Helsinki Commission, founded in 1976, was
created to advance democracy and human rights through military, economic, and
environmental... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday issued a final rule that restricts both the use and distribution of Bacillus bacteria detection devices, which are prescribed to preliminarily identify and diagnose cases of anthrax and other infectious diseases.
“The FDA plays a critical... Read More »
A $96.8 million computed tomography (CT) systems contract from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was awarded last week to Smiths Detection, Inc.
The contract will cover the next five years, over which 300 CT systems and their affiliated equipment will be deployed at various... Read More »
A Mississippi-based ambulance company is espousing the benefits of partnering with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to enhance communication and coverage.
AAA Ambulance Service in Hattiesburg, Miss., subscribed to FirstNet to aid in connecting its 24-hour emergency and... Read More »
Marine Corps Logistics Base personnel in Barstow, Calif., recently conducted a training exercise designed to enhance both man-made and natural emergency preparedness.
The Exercise Haber Rail effort involved a simulated rail tanker car carrying thousands of cubic feet of chlorine gas... Read More »
A mission by agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) seized more than three tons of drugs from a vessel off the coast of Central America last week.
The drugs, estimated to be worth $17 million, were plucked from a moderately-sized, open-bed fishing... Read More »
The U.S.
Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
is asking Sevier County, Tenn., residents who were affected by the November
2016 Chimney Tops 2 Fire to participate in a survey.
The goal of the
survey is to identify the factors that influenced people to... Read More »
A group of Republican U.S. senators sent a letter to the
leaders of the Senate Budget Committee expressing their support for the $750
billion defense request in President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget.
The senators – including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Dan
Sullivan (R-AK), Marsha... Read More »
Auburn University has secured $564,988 in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funds to develop projects designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of canines trained to detect explosives.
The funding allotment was provided through the DHS Science and Technology Directorate... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) recently led other agencies in conducting an active shooter drill at the airport's Terminal 4.
The CBP's Office of Field Operations at LAX joined forces with other federal and local law enforcement... Read More »
Rising temperatures brought on by climate change could expose as many as a billion more people to disease-carrying mosquitoes, according to a new study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
As temperatures rise across the globe, the territory of these mosquitoes expands, as well as the... Read More »
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds declared a public health
disaster emergency for the state following the widespread flooding and flash flooding
that began March 13.
The declaration authorizes the Iowa Department of
Public Health to take the necessary actions to protect the public’s health. It
also... Read More »
Rep. John Katko (R-NY) introduced legislation to
create a cybersecurity advisory committee to help fight cyberattacks.
The Cybersecurity Advisory Committee (CSAC) would
be comprised of cybersecurity professionals from every major business sector
that are responsible for protecting... Read More »
Air Force officials have selected Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., to house the first operational B-21 Raider bomber and its formal training unit.
Officials also noted Whiteman AFB, Missouri, and Dyess AFB, Texas, will receive B-21s as they become available.
"These three bomber bases are well... Read More »
The Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office at the Air Force Research Laboratory is seeking artificial intelligence (AI) industry input regarding incorporating artificial intelligence into its Skyborg unmanned combat vehicle.
SDPE office is seeking to develop Skyborg, a... Read More »
As the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to deal with the most recent Ebola epidemic, a study from the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal shows that lack of trust might be a contributing factor.
Violent episodes have complicated matters in the DRC, but one bad turn tends to foster... Read More »
A U.S. Senate
bill aims to address the growing threat of white supremacists and other violent
right-wing extremists by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to
regularly assess this threat and provide training and resources to officers.
The bill, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act,... Read More »
A bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would equip
state and local law enforcement with high-tech devices to detect dangerous
drugs like fentanyl.
The legislation – called the Providing Officers with
Electronic Resources (POWER) Act -- would create a new grant program through
the U.S.... Read More »
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) recently visited McAllen, Texas, to assess the situation along the southern border, meeting with law enforcement officials, landowners, agriculture producers, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
Challenges and resources needed to secure the border in a... Read More »
A group of lawmakers recently questioned the Department of Defense's transfer of $1 billion in military personnel funding to an account designated for border wall funding.
Democratic members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on... Read More »
The White House appointed this week Hawaii Gov. David Ige as one of the two newest co-chairs of the Council of Governors.
Ige, along with his nine other council colleagues appointed this year, will serve a two-year term in their positions.
“Hawai‘i is home to the U.S. Indo-Pacific... Read More »
Huntington
Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division recently received a $1.47
billion, fixed-price contract from the U.S. Navy for the design and
construction of another amphibious transport dock.
The ship will be
a San Antonio class vessel,
supporting Marine Air Ground Task Forces... Read More »
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen met this
week with senior officials from Mexico and other central American nations to
discuss border security and immigration.
On March 26, Nielsen met with Mexican Secretary of the
Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero and other senior Mexican... Read More »
Oshkosh Defense recently unveiled its L-ATV Ambulance at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.
The ambulance enables Army medics and Marine corpsmen to keep up with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) while also offering protection for... Read More »
Recognizing the cybersecurity dangers posed by modern chip designs and accessible devices, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created a new program dedicated to spreading scalable chip security through automation.
The Automatic Implementation of Secure Silicon (AISS)... Read More »
A bill recently
introduced in the U.S. House would provide blood testing for military
firefighters who were potentially exposed on the job to toxic chemicals.
The Protecting
Military Firefighters from PFAS Act would test for per- and polyfluoroalkyl
(PFAS) substances during annual physicals... Read More »
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency tested
two Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicles (EKV), which destroyed a threat representative
intercontinental ballistic missile during a test of the Ground-based Midcourse
Defense System (GMD).
One EKV intercepted the target and the
other gathered test data in what is... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) and Coast Guard personnel recently thwarted an attempt to smuggle 2,513 pounds of cocaine valued at $28.5 million.
Authorities arrested three Dominican Republic aliens found operating the vessel. Bales of narcotics were... Read More »
An outbreak of Ebola that has raged through the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since last August has now passed more than 1,000 cases, making it the second largest outbreak ever recorded.
These figures come from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA)
Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE) system successfully
completed a mission objectives test in February.
The test included unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with
CODE, which allow teams of systems to autonomously share... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force launched a new Infrastructure Investment
Strategy (I2S) that marks a significant shift in the way the Air Force
maintains its facilities.
In this new approach, the Air Force is using new analytics
and practices that better predict when work must be done. In essence,... Read More »
The Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) has received $5.9 million from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to bolster information infrastructure protection.
The effort would expand the Distributed Environment for Critical... Read More »
In an assessment of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) annually required reporting on 43 measures of border security effectiveness, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found data limitations and issues with statistical models.
It should be noted: most of what GAO... Read More »
