Countermeasures
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced last week a bill that would allow individuals with concealed carry privileges in their home state to exercise those rights in any other state with concealed carry laws.
The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act would not allow concealed carry in... Read More »
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced this week the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019, which would ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
The lawmakers said the... Read More »
Department of Defense (DOD) officials are endorsing the benefits of a new endeavor designed to help the agency and private sector participants gain greater insight into workforce strengthening initiatives.
The Defense-Industry Talent Exchange Pilot Program would enable 13 DOD and private partner... Read More »
AT&T and FirstNet announced this week that both entities boosted their LTE coverage area by more than 50,000 square miles in the United States last year, covering an additional 1 million individuals.
“The demand for data has been on a nonstop, upward trajectory for years,” said Marachel... Read More »
Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) recently published in Cell Host & Microbe recently found that a single dose of a new medication could successfully protect against all strains of the Ebola virus.
In tests, the researchers found their drug was capable of protecting... Read More »
The Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2019, introduced Wednesday, aims to fund the Coast Guard during the government shutdown.
The more than 41,000 active duty Coast Guard members, 6,200 reservists, and 8,500 civilian personnel are the only members of the U.S. military not being paid during the... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) reintroduced a series of bills this week designed to improve cybersecurity, help first responders, protect federal elections, and strengthen homeland security.
One is the FRIENDS Act (H.R. 42), which would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct... Read More »
A group of lawmakers reintroduced Tuesday a measure designed to expand federal background checks to all gun sales.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said the Background Check... Read More »
A survey jointly conducted by international IT organization ISACA and the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) emphasizes the importance of small manufacturers when addressing the cybersecurity of the greater supply chain.
The two organizations reached out to 167... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently studied eight potential parent agencies for the Federal Protective Service (FPS) and discovered none of them met all the key organizational placement criteria.
Currently part of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Protection... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) applauded Tuesday the U.S. Army’s plan to spend $714 million to upgrade 174 Abrams tanks with the latest technological advancements.
The upgrades will improve communications, reliability, sustainment and fuel efficiency. They will also include upgraded armor. The... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved the newest version of bipartisan legislation that would keep Americans safe against natural disasters and chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) threats.
Introduced on Jan. 8, the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness and... Read More »
As a means of enhancing officer quality and quantity, Air Force officials said they are initiating training revisions designed to phase out separate officer programs in lieu of merged classes.
The Total Force Officer Training and Commissioned Officer Training courses will be phased out... Read More »
An affiliate of the cyber and electronic security solutions firm KBR, SGT, LLC, has landed a role in the $12.1 billion Army Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-3 (ITES-3) Services Contract.
SGT, LLC is a business unit of KBRwyle, which serves as KBR's global government services... Read More »
Researchers from Singapore’s Duke-NUS Medical School recently identified and characterized a new genus of filovirus in fruit bats.
Their findings -- published in the journal Nature Microbiology -- called the virus Mengla, for the Chinese county in which it was discovered. It was identified... Read More »
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced Jan. 4 a bill to provide relief for Americans affected by hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires, and other natural disasters.
The bill would authorize $12.1 billion in emergency spending, including $3.0 billion for infrastructure and economic and community... Read More »
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, sent a letter Monday to David Pekoske, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administrator, inquiring about how the government shutdown is affecting agency employees.
The partial government shutdown has... Read More »
Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX) and Robin Kelly (D-IL) introduced last week a measure designed to enhance national cybersecurity efforts by modifying the Federal Chief Information Officer's (CIO) role.
The representatives said the legislation elevates and reauthorizes the duties and responsibilities of... Read More »
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) recently introduced a bill designed to enhance various Department of Defense (DOD) civilian workforce initiatives.
Calvert said the Rebalance for an Effective Defense Uniform and Civilian Employees (REDUCE) Act would require the DOD to systematically execute civilian... Read More »
By running data on flavivirus-positive species through a machine-learning model of known mammal and bird species, scientists from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) believe they have honed in on those animals most likely to host future flaviviruses.
Flavivirus refers to troublesome... Read More »
A bipartisan bill that would help combat tech-specific threats to national security posed by foreign nations and would improve interagency coordination across the U.S. government recently was introduced in the U.S. Senate.
The legislation seeks to establish the Office of Critical Technologies... Read More »
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), commended the inclusion of an election security reforms in a bill introduced in the House last week.
The bill, the For the People Act (H.R. 1), would establish a series of reforms in the election process.... Read More »
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) recently offered a review of 2018 cybersecurity threats and election security efforts via a blog post on the agency's website.
David P. Fidler noted that for the first time in the nation's history in 2018, the country conducted elections amid efforts to... Read More »
Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Institut Pasteu have potentially found the most likely source of Yemen’s worst cholera epidemic in recorded history.
The disease, which has stricken more than 1 million people and killed nearly 2,500 people since it first appeared in the... Read More »
Four U.S. senators re-introduced the Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act last week. The act would give law enforcement the authority to prevent individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others the ability to purchase or possess firearms.
The act was first introduced in... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) today reintroduced a bill last week into the new Congress that would use money forfeited to the U.S. government from drug lords to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bill -- called the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (EL CHAPO)... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee released a report this week examining the mobility of Special Interest Aliens (SIAs) and efforts to curtail their entryways to mitigate terrorist threats.
“Individuals who may pose a serious national security threat, known as Special Interest Aliens... Read More »
Researchers in Australia have identified the main factors contributing to pandemic vulnerability in cities as growing populations centered around airports and air travel itself, as population growth outpaces the response capabilities of urban infrastructure.
Such were the conclusions reached by... Read More »
ERADA Technology Alliance Ltd, a diagnostic infectious diseases solutions company, plans to release a saliva test for malaria.
The test is the first to use saliva. Traditional tests use blood and must be processed by trained clinicians.
The test detects a unique biomarker from female... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee completed the 115th Congress with several legislative accomplishments under the chairmanship of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).
The committee introduced 113 bills that passed through the House and had 35 of them become law during this session. Among them are the... Read More »
Air Force officials are espousing the benefits of a new course designed to aid future squadron commanders in thriving in command posts.
Air University’s Leader Development Course for Squadron Command is structured as a foundational course that builds on leadership experiences and education,... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) published a four-volume set of voluntary cybersecurity practices for the healthcare industry at the end of last year.
The publication covers healthcare environments big and small and comes as a result of two years’ work between industry... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking for proposals from small businesses to address technology needs as part of the DHS Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
The new solicitation contains 10 topic descriptions including eight from the Science and Technology... Read More »
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense recently bid farewell to one of its founding members, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, the newly elected U.S. Representative for Florida, and welcomed former White House Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco to fill those... Read More »
The Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Shipbuilding Division has been awarded contracts totaling more than $930 million to build two additional National Security Cutters for the Coast Guard.
Officials said the fixed-price incentive contracts are valued at $468.75 million for NSC 10 and $462.13... Read More »
