Countermeasures
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced Monday that the NATO “Blue team,” made up of 30 cyber defenders, won Locked Shields 2018, the world’s largest live-fire cyber exercise.
The exercise required participants to counter high-intensity attacks on a fictitious country’s... Read More »
Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) hosted on Monday senior officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), New York City Police Department (NYPD), and the New York City Department of Education (DOE) for a roundtable discussion on school... Read More »
Lockheed Martin plans to bring a new manufacturing facility online later this month in Pinellas Park, Florida, that will assemble canopies and bulkheads for the F-35 Lightning II program, the company announced at a formal opening on Monday.
The new facility boasts 65,000 square feet of... Read More »
Amid conflicting reports about a presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions, the White House said on Monday it is consistent with what the United States has long known in that Iran currently has a clandestine nuclear weapons... Read More »
Citing “indiscriminate enforcement” of immigration laws, a Democratic coalition of senators called on U.S. Senate appropriators on Friday to reject the Trump administration’s request for border wall funding, additional border patrol agents and additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement... Read More »
Relief units and firefighters, police, rescue services and disaster management emergency physicians are all too familiar with the process of caring for patients who have become ill, or were injured by contact with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) agents, according to the German... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) recently led a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chair John McCain (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) urging the continuation of funding for modernizing Stryker A1 Vehicles in the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
The funding would... Read More »
Until now, a deadly effect of certain chemical weapons has been unstoppable seizures that can lead to death or brain damage, but a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Proniras Corporation seeks to develop a drug treatment to end those effects.
HHS’... Read More »
Scientists have determined the yellow fever virus has the potential to spread into cities around the world where it previously hasn't been seen.
The study findings of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization detailed the mapping of yellow fever... Read More »
After U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the opioid epidemic the “deadliest drug crisis in our nation’s history” during an address to members of Montana law enforcers on Friday, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) called for support of legislation he introduced to continue critical anti-drug... Read More »
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard researchers have created a new tool that better prepares the CRISPR-based diagnostic tool, SHERLOCK, for rapid response to viral outbreaks.
The updates allow clinicians to quickly and cheaply diagnose patient samples and track epidemic spread directly in... Read More »
The U.S. Army recently awarded BAE Systems a contract worth up to $97.9 million to develop a Quick Reaction Capability (QRC) next-generation missile warning system for aircraft.
Under the Limited Interim Missile Warning System (LIMWS) contract, the company’s 2-Color Advanced Warning System... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) recently announced their support for the Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act.
The legislation is designed to encourage states to give law enforcement the authority to prevent individuals who pose a threat to themselves... Read More »
A new federal grant program would help state and local police departments purchase screening equipment that can rapidly identify fentanyl and other dangerous substances in the field under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday.
Under the Providing Officers with Electronic Resources... Read More »
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified before a House panel on Thursday about border security, sanctuary cities, immigration law loopholes exploited by transnational gangs, and deployment of the U.S. National Guard to the southern border.
During a U.S. House Homeland... Read More »
Bipartisan members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a discussion draft on Thursday aimed at improving the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to deliberate bioterrorist attacks or naturally occurring pandemics in the United States.
The draft... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) made a three-point recommendation regarding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week, after finding that their current budget reporting fails to account for how much it actually spends on its acquisitions.
The issue is that DHS... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Andrade and Calexico West ports of entry intercepted this past weekend three attempts to smuggle cocaine and methamphetamine valued at more than $1.2 million.
At about 5:07 p.m. on April 20, a CBP officer encountered an 81-year-old male... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released details of its annual analysis of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) revised weapon system portfolio and purchasing reform policies.
GOA officials said the agency reports on the programs DOD uses to buy its 86 major weapon systems,... Read More »
A new paper from the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) provided recommendations for mitigating risks related to separated plutonium.
As compared to highly enriched uranium (HEU), separated plutonium has not received enough attention as a security risk, NTI Counselor John Carlson said in the... Read More »
With 22,000 unaccompanied minors and 40,000 families arriving at the U.S. border since January, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan testified before a House panel on Wednesday that transnational criminal organizations are “preying on these individuals.”... Read More »
The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) would be expanded to include a national program that conducts research and provides resources on school violence across the country.
Named for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s mascot, the Eagles Act, S. 2759, would... Read More »
Leadership from the Alliance for Biosecurity urged Congressional lawmakers at a hearing on Thursday to increase funding for programs to protect Americans from biological and chemical threats.
Speaking before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and... Read More »
Though found to prevent Zika virus infection in primates, a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies was deemed ineffective in a new study led by the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.
Pregnant rhesus macaques were infected, the infection spread to the amniotic fluid and fetal deaths... Read More »
A recent inquiry by border patrol agents resulted in 59 illegal aliens being rescued from a tractor-trailer.
Border Patrol officials said on April 20, 2018, agents at the checkpoint on Interstate Highway 35, north of Laredo, Texas, observed a tractor-trailer at the primary inspection lane,... Read More »
A new paper from the RAND Corporation warns that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to capsize the foundations of nuclear deterrence by 2040.
RAND researchers based the paper, titled “How Might Artificial Intelligence Affect the Risk of Nuclear War?,” on a series of workshops... Read More »
With the volume of cyber attacks on government computer systems jumping from 5,500 in 2006 to more than 77,000 in 2015, legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday would give the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tools to better protect against foreign attacks.
The Federal... Read More »
Despite recent efforts to mitigate cybersecurity risks to networks supporting the nation’s critical infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has “not taken sufficient actions” to accomplish that goal, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released... Read More »
For the first time, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) was able to test drones for land and maritime usefulness to federal agencies, conducting tests at two sites in Mississippi back in January.
To do so, they worked with the United States... Read More »
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) set a new screening record during the 2018 spring travel period, March 15 through April 15.
TSA screened more than 72 million passengers and almost 45 million checked bags, a nearly 5 percent increase over the same period last year.
Of all... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued recommendations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regarding the manner in which the agency assesses its grant programming.
In 2012 the GAO identified coordination challenges among Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)... Read More »
BAE Systems and Dell EMC announced Monday a collaboration to offer a scalable, hybrid cloud solution for the U.S. government.
“Our federated secure cloud is not just a modified commercial cloud environment for government use,” Al Whitmore, president of BAE Systems’ Intelligence & Security... Read More »
In an effort to bolster national biomedical preparedness efforts, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Response (ASPR) announced Monday the purchase of the anthrax treatment Anthim for $25.2 million.
Developed through a... Read More »
A “migrant caravan” from Central America began approaching the southern U.S. border on Monday, prompting Trump administration officials to warn that any violators of immigration law will face prosecution.
The caravan totaled about 1,500 people when it embarked from the Mexico-Guatemala... Read More »
The National Security Agency (NSA) has developed a set of tools, called Unfetter, designed to bolster cybersecurity initiatives.
Officials said Unfetter offers critical research insights to anyone, positioning decision-makers in various industries to incorporate network-protection... Read More »
