Countermeasures
A pair of clinical trials sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will test an experimental vaccine to prevent influenza caused by an H7N9 influenza virus.
Officials said the Phase 2 studies would test different dosages of the inactivated influenza vaccine... Read More »
A study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases highlighted a 50 percent lower mortality rate in patients with drug-resistant infections who see infectious diseases (ID) specialists compared with those who do not.
The study was single-center and retrospective, focusing on records from 2006... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced a new program that seeks to develop software that would help decision-makers better understand gray-zone action, subtle conflicts that fall somewhere between peace and conventional warfare.
This gray zone conflict is not... Read More »
A recent statement from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes the progress the U.S. Border Patrol has made and the challenges it has faced in securing the Southwest Border.
The statement addresses DHS efforts to deploy and measure the effectiveness of surveillance technologies.... Read More »
During a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the president’s $33.25 billion funding request for border security on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) warned about consequences of a “piecemeal” approach to border security and blasted “partisan politics.”
President Donald... Read More »
A resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday condemns Russia’s recent chemical weapons attacks in the United Kingdom and calls for the United States to take “additional measures” to ensure that there are consequences for the use of chemical weapons.
U.K.... Read More »
Responding to the public health emergency over Zika, labs at Inserm and REACting set about studies of the fetal and neonatal complications linked to the disease and, in the process, have determined a 7 percent rate of neurological abnormalities.
While this figure is significantly lower than... Read More »
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) first responders recently expanded their chemical incidents training acumen in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The training was jointly run by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Bangladesh National Authority for... Read More »
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommended the creation of a finalized interagency approach to the post-core management of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the information system used for import processing.
The study recommended that the Secretary of Homeland... Read More »
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced on Wednesday legislation that would incentivize states to adopt gun licensing standards similar to those in Massachusetts, which has the lowest gun death rate in the nation.
Markey’s legislation, the Making America Safe and Secure (MASS) Act, would... Read More »
As cyber threats to military networks become more persistent and sophisticated, military leaders provided an update to a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday about recent efforts to bolster the military’s cybersecurity capabilities.
In testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee,... Read More »
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy considered four bills on Wednesday that address energy supply emergencies and cybersecurity threats to the electric grid, pipelines, and other areas of the energy sector.
During its third hearing on efforts to modernize the U.S.... Read More »
Scientists at the Center for Sepsis Control and Care at the University Hospital Jena and Friedrich Schiller University are currently developing a new, rapid test of antibiotic resistance.
Existing diagnostics for such infections can take up to 72 hours to get results. Time can be a crucial... Read More »
Florida Border Patrol agents recently arrested a gang member with an extensive criminal history during an immigration inspection at a Fort Lauderdale bus station.
Officials said agents identified a suspicious passenger while conducting inspections and learned the man was from Honduras and not in... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced this week that it is working to create standards for air surveillance, known as DHS (Interim) Strategic Air Surveillance Requirements, or (I)SASR.
DHS S&T is working with the Federal Aviation... Read More »
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is partnering with private-sector users of radioactive sources to encourage them to transition to more secure technologies that do not rely on radioactive sources.
Radioactive sources are used in a range of commercial, medical and research... Read More »
Two Chicago men were indicted on federal drug charges on March 7 for allegedly conspiring with others to ship a fentanyl derivative from China to 19 addresses in the Chicago area.
Sanchez Lackland, 35, of Hazel Crest, Illinois, and Jermol Mixon, 35, of Orland Park, Illinois, were both charged... Read More »
Homeland Security Director Kirstjen Nielsen noted that a border wall is only “one of the tools” required to secure the border following an operational briefing on border wall prototypes with President Donald Trump in San Diego on Tuesday.
Nielsen and Trump were joined by acting Border... Read More »
The DoD Information Warfare Symposium presented by the Defense Strategies Institute will take place on March 28-29 at the Mary M. Gates Learning Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Designed for members of the Department of Defense, federal government, private industry, academia, and other stakeholders,... Read More »
In a recent study published in the journal Human Gene Therapy, researchers put the effectiveness of ZMapp antibodies on display and found they could achieve 100 percent protection against Ebola infection in mice.
To test this, scientists administered both individual ZMapp antibodies and greater... Read More »
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) maintains the nation’s military needs to be rebuilt.
“Almost a decade under the Obama administration, during which the military was simply not a top priority, left major gaps in the readiness of our Armed Forces,” Ryan said. “Funding for modernizing the... Read More »
Four individuals were arrested recently and charged with the alleged sale of counterfeit male enhancement pills, weight loss pills, condoms, and cosmetics.
Carlos Enrique Velázquez-Gines, Mayra Evelise Gines-Otero, Noriam Ivette Flores-Deleon, and Vanessa Marrero-Hernández were charged with... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) released Monday two new guides that outline the S&T’s cybersecurity research portfolio and describe research and development (R&D) efforts that are at or nearing the transition phase.
The two publications, the... Read More »
Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate on Monday would direct the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to consider opioid diversion, public health, and overdose deaths when setting opioid production quotas to help address the nationwide opioid epidemic.
The DEA currently... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the formation of an Executive Steering Committee on Monday that will oversee the department’s school security efforts, ensure that funding and resources are best leveraged, and support state and local efforts.
DHS also highlighted year-round... Read More »
A pair of scientists recently put out a call for tuberculosis (TB) research to step up its game and achieve the same sort of advances that HIV/AIDS research has reached since its recognition.
Publishing their perspective in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, authors Anthony... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently described its role in providing security for 52nd Super Bowl in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this February.
DHS S&T efforts enabled liability protections for providers of security technologies, analytics for... Read More »
In testimony before a Senate panel on March 6, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director Robert P. Ashley, Jr. discussed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, China’s military modernization program and Russia’s goal to exert a “sphere of influence” over the United States.
Ashley... Read More »
A joint operation led by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently resulted in more than 60 pounds of narcotics and five AK-47s being seized in three separate traffic stops on Interstate 10 in Arizona.
The arrests were the result of Operation... Read More »
Researchers maintain monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) may play a critical role in future battles against emerging infectious disease outbreaks.
Work of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) published in the New England Journal of Medicine outlined potential... Read More »
Using a DNA editor system, scientists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Malaria Research Institute determined that malaria could potentially be combated by removal of a single gene from mosquitoes.
"Our study shows that we can use this new CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing... Read More »
The House Committee on Homeland Security has approved a bill designed to improve vigilance in the wake of growing terrorist attacks using vehicles.
The Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act, authored by Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), received an amendment from Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) that aided committee... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles) and Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) recently intercepted Khapra beetles, one of the world’s most destructive insect pests, in passenger... Read More »
The Missile Defense Agency recently awarded Lockheed Martin an $80.6 million fixed-price contract for modified ballistic re-entry vehicles and separation modules for missile defense tests.
Lockheed Martin will develop and produce unarmed re-entry vehicles for integration into target missiles... Read More »
An Alabama man, who allegedly distributed ISIS propaganda, researched how to produce explosive materials, and met with an undercover agent posing as a member of ISIS, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide services and personnel to a terrorist organization on Thursday.
Aziz Ihab... Read More »
