Countermeasures
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 »
A recently released study, presented to the 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, demonstrated a 2017 reemergence of West Nile Virus (WNV) spreading to new areas in Greece.
In all, scientists found 26 patients with the disease. An additional 19 had WNV fever.... Read More »
Senior police officials from 24 countries recently participated in a hands-on training course on securing major sporting events.
The International Criminal Police Organization’s (INTERPOL) Project Stadia and the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) developed and... Read More »
Approximately 1,000 cyber experts from nearly 30 nations are participating this week in Locked Shields, the largest international live-fire cyber defence exercise in the world.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), which is based... Read More »
During a roundtable discussion in Montana on Friday, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) highlighted provisions of the federal omnibus spending bill that are designed to bolster homeland security by increasing resources for critical security and local police departments.
Tester, the ranking member of... Read More »
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a markup on Thursday of State Department reauthorization bill that would enhance training and recruitment of diplomats, make embassies more secure, crack down on public corruption, and harden information technology (IT) systems.
Under the... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) system added a new partner to its shared exchange, in the form of the Korea Internet and Security Agency.
The union allows American and South Korean interests to rapidly exchange cyber threat indicators. This could... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is working to introduce its System of Systems Operational Analytics (SoSOA) program, which aims to improve analytical capabilities for decision-making across the Homeland Security Enterprise.
S&T is currently... Read More »
The technology firm Engility secured three sole-source awards with the nation’s intelligence community during the first quarter of 2018, totaling $76 million.
“Sole-source awards, especially with customers conducting some of the most critical work in the nation, attest to the one-of-a-kind,... Read More »
The 526th Intelligence Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, recently hosted an Artificial Intelligence and Design Thinking seminar at AFWERX Vegas, which more than 100 Airmen, contractors, and Department of Defense employees attended.
AFWERX Vegas, a branch of DEFENSEWERX, is a... Read More »
Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would require President Trump to draft a national strategy to identify and disrupt global financial networks used by transnational criminal organizations to transfer an estimated $870 billion around the world.
Under the Criminal... Read More »
Noting that only an estimated 25 percent of drug shipments coming into the United States by sea are intercepted, U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) called on the Navy and Coast Guard to better coordinate interdiction efforts during a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.
King... Read More »
A reconnaissance mission led by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) was forced to turn back from Douma, Syria, this week under fire.
The mission was meant to be a preliminary for an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Fact-Finding Mission in the... Read More »
Chlorinated lipids may be the answer to quickly testing and treating individuals who may have been exposed to chlorine gas, a Saint Louis University professor recently said.
Quickly determining which chemical agent was used is allows medical personnel to take appropriate countermeasures to save... Read More »
