Countermeasures
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending the Department of Defense upgrade Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) units' ability to operate and maintain U.S.-purchased equipment.
GAO officials said House Report 114-537 included a provision for the agency to review... Read More »
The South Texas-based Operation Stonegarden has united federal U.S. Border Patrol officers with state and local law enforcement agencies in an effort to enhance the area’s border security.
To date, they have rescued more than 120 aliens from stash houses and have seized weapons, drugs and... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently signed a memorandum of agreement to strengthen cybersecurity in healthcare systems and medical devices.
Together, the two agencies will seek to create greater coordination and cooperation on... Read More »
BAE Systems technology successfully demonstrated its ability to provide U.S. intelligence organizations with data from BAE Systems’ Geospatial eXploitation Products (GXP) Platform and access to geospatial imagery.
The technology, XTS Guard 5, was equipped with the GXP platform demonstrated... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced the launch of a new voice-activated system to help first responders gather critical data while at the scene of an emergency.
The system, called AUDREY (Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction, and Synthesis), is... Read More »
Federal law enforcement officials have unveiled a series of initiatives targeting transnational organized crime.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the effort stems from an executive order from President Donald Trump to dismantle transnational criminal organizations, which Sessions defined as... Read More »
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) officials have initiated the first Marburg vaccine in a Phase 1 adult clinical trial evaluating safety and immunogenicity.
“Given the recent deadly outbreak of Marburg virus in Uganda, there is a critical need to develop a safe and effective... Read More »
An operation conducted jointly between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) ended in the seizure of 2,325 pounds of cocaine from a vessel in Puerto Rico last week.
That cocaine has a street value of $29.6 million, all of it left aboard an... Read More »
The opportunity for public health disasters is growing in the United States, fueled by falling vaccination rates reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week.
The data revealed that vaccinations are still common among children, but they are not as common as they were, or... Read More »
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently released a plan to expand the use of biometrics technology to enhance security and increase efficiency.
Biometric technology will speed up the passenger experience. The TSA and airlines currently verify traveler identity primarily by... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions completed its acquisition of Adapt Pharma and its flagship product NARCAN Nasal Spray, which is used to treat opioid overdose.
Emergent paid $735 million to acquire Adapt Pharma, including an upfront payment of $635 million with up to $100 million in cash for potential... Read More »
A group of lawmakers recently introduced a measure designed to permanently re-authorize funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF).
Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY),... Read More »
Both state and industry representatives from 25 nations gathered in Qatar earlier this month as part of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and collectively agreed to increase cooperation in the future.
“All chemical industries regardless of the size and scale need... Read More »
When two separate individuals attempted to enter the United States at the Port of San Luis in Arizona earlier this month, it was new facial comparison technology that identified inconsistencies between the passports and the people who stood before Customs and Border Protection (CBP)... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen recently hosted the second day of the Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America, which focused on improving personal safety and security in the region.
Discussions included combating organized crime and gangs,... Read More »
The bill that would fund a roughly $23 billion wall along the southern border was introduced in Congress last week.
The Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018, H.R. 7059, also includes measures to cut off funds to sanctuary cities and facilitates the deportation of immigrant gang... Read More »
Department of Energy (DOE) officials said the agency has adopted national security measures designed to prevent China’s diversion of U.S. civil nuclear technology for military or other unauthorized purposes.
“The United States cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s... Read More »
Javier Alfredo Valle Anaya, a former intelligence agent of a disbanded Colombian intelligence agency, was arrested Oct. 5 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigrating under false pretenses.
The former agent was convicted and wanted in Colombia for the 2004 murders of a... Read More »
An international collection of scientists have developed a new vaccine with the potential to shield people from both Lassa fever and rabies, and the drug has proven successful in preclinical testing.
Known as LASSARAB, the vaccine utilizes a weakened rabies carrier injected with genetic material... Read More »
Ballistic imaging equipment used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) recently was deployed in 22 state and local law enforcement agencies.
NIBIN is the nation’s only crime gun ballistic network. It... Read More »
A group of Democratic U.S. Senators are calling on the Trump Administration to look into reports of Chinese government efforts to secretly manipulate U.S. technology.
The request is in response to an Oct. 4 article in Bloomberg Businessweek that said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA)... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week detailing four recommendations to improve the nation’s Air Force, which they noted has declined in readiness for nearly 20 years.
A lack of modernization is a critical part of this problematic scenario.
The Air... Read More »
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced this week that a strategic partnership between the department and Johnson & Johnson will seek to advance efforts against chemical, biological, radiation, nuclear, disease, and antimicrobial threats in the United States.
The two... Read More »
Yanjun Xu, a deputy division director of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), was extradited to the United States this week and was charged with conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and stealing trade secrets from multiple U.S. aerospace and aviation companies.
The... Read More »
In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, which hit Florida’s panhandle this week, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said residents of the area need to know the public health risks and how to mitigate them.
The category 4 hurricane – which the U.S. Department of Health and... Read More »
A range of global security issues, including terrorism, were discussed during a recent meeting between U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
Sessions and Stock touched on several joint initiatives, including a project to strengthen the capacity of law... Read More »
A large-scale biological event shouldn’t mean that the nation’s thousands of state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments fend for themselves waiting for federal assets to arrive, a new bipartisan report of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense says.
“We can take steps now... Read More »
As a founding director of the nation’s first bioterrorism preparedness program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1999, Dr. Scott Lillibridge didn’t realize then what would emerge as the almost surreal scope of biothreats now challenging the United States.
But now he knows,... Read More »
Charles P. Verdon is the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) new Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs.
Verdon, who was recently sworn to duty by Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, will lead NNSA’s mission to maintain a nuclear deterrent that is modern, robust,... Read More »
One of the critical problems for getting pandemic vaccines out there is a bottleneck formed by the necessity of tests to determine their potency, but a new type of test -- VaxArray -- may bring immediacy to the system.
"With the 100th year anniversary since the 1918 influenza pandemic, there has... Read More »
A new Strategy for Protecting and Preparing the Homeland against Threats from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD) was released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week.
The strategy focuses on DHS efforts to counteract threats to critical... Read More »
Raytheon Co.’s long-range DeepStrike missile recently met the U.S. Army's Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) requirement.
In July in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Raytheon integrated its new launch pod missile container into the Army's M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS launchers. Marines and soldiers assisted... Read More »
Faced with mounting challenges in protecting its weapon systems from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has stepped up its efforts to address weapon systems cybersecurity.
In a new report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that... Read More »
Leaders of the U.S. intelligence community focused on security threats posed by China, with little attention paid to Russia, during an annual oversight hearing by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security... Read More »
The Chinese government is investing more than the United States in the use of non-human primates as laboratory models for deadly infectious disease research, according to expert testimony delivered on Tuesday during a meeting of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense.
Jay Rappaport, director... Read More »
