Countermeasures
The U.S. House of Representatives recently advanced an omnibus spending bill, which includes the largest increase in defense funding in 15 years.
The bill, advanced with a vote of 256 to 167, includes funding to fight terrorism, secure borders, enhance first responder capabilities, improve... Read More »
Penalties for distributing the synthetic opioid fentanyl would be enhanced under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) would be given new tools to intercept drug shipments from overseas.
The bill would lower the amount of fentanyl or fentanyl... Read More »
The omnibus federal spending bill that gained approval in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday contains provisions that would increase support for border security, local police departments, and firefighters.
U.S. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and John Boozman (R-AK) secured $85 million in... Read More »
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report is touting the benefits of a program credited with expediting Ugandan virus detection.
The CDC-UVRI Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Surveillance and Laboratory Program was lauded in a CDC report published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) U.S. announced collaboration this week with Georgetown University through a cooperative academic and research agreement, focusing on training potential for future students and scientists.
"It's exciting to collaborate with CEPI U.S. to... Read More »
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently unveiled a new smaller radiation detector invented at the lab that uses a sweeping beam to quickly pinpoint a radiation source to reduce radiation exposure risks for workers.
The detectors use directional sensors to scan through a narrow angle... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Wednesday that it will hold two Global Entry mobile enrollment events in Indianapolis where it will conduct interviews for conditionally approved applicants.
Global Entry is a voluntary expedited clearance program for pre-approved low-risk... Read More »
With U.S. Senate approval of a bill that would end civil and criminal protections under current law for websites that take part in online sex trafficking on Wednesday, the measure will advance to the president’s desk.
The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), S. 1693, would amend the... Read More »
More individuals working for organizations that promote foreign interests in the United States would have to register as foreign agents under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938, individuals working for foreign-supported... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has been researching ways to minimize risk from a dam failure while improving response capability of stakeholders.
Officials said the Kentucky Division of Water and S&T’s Flood Apex program are working together... Read More »
Researchers from an international team have pinpointed a genetic fingerprint of proteins linked to deadly Malaria strains, which they say could herald a game changer for vaccine development.
Scientists were focused on the child aspect in this case, which is to say, the fact that the most common... Read More »
An industry team led by Lockheed Martin recently completed upgrades to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).
The C2BMC network connects traditionally separate space, sea and terrestrial sensors and their... Read More »
Raytheon Technology recently participated in a Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment (MFIX) at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, in which its advanced high-power microwave and laser dune buggy engaged and destroyed 45 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Raytheon's high-power microwave system... Read More »
Army Secretary Mark Esper’s decision to dismantle the 1-285th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion (ARB) in Marana, Arizona, met resistance from U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) on Tuesday.
McSally, the former commander of the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, voiced her... Read More »
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has concluded that the country’s election infrastructure remains resilient despite Russian attempts to hack state voting systems, but the committee released recommendations on Tuesday to better defend against future attempts to undermine... Read More »
The United States is part of the international plan to prevent the naturally occurring, accidental or deliberate spread of infectious diseases, but remains among many countries hampered by the inadequate or underprepared systems around the world that can’t effectively deal with rapidly emerging... 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 »
Researchers from Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden are exploring the possibilities of a drinkable antidote to address cholera.
The work of the scientists published in PLOS Pathogens and ACS Infectious Disease showed how the drinkable protection is distributed during an ongoing cholera epidemic to... Read More »
An outbreak of yellow fever is ravaging Brazil, driven by mosquitoes that are now reaching popular tourist destinations typically removed from such outbreaks, and prompting a warning call from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC warns that travelers should be... Read More »
KBR, Inc. announced Monday that the U.S. Air Force (USAF) awarded its global Government Services business, KBRwyle, a $34.1 million task order to provide analytical and engineering weapons systems support to assist with air traffic safety and cyber threats.
KBRwyle will support the USAF's Life... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Laredo Port of Entry implemented several new measures to prepare for increased travel during the week before Easter.
CBP introduced a designated lane, electronic tourist permits, expanded processing hours and a satellite, off-site tourist... Read More »
As the spring tourism season looms, members of Washington State’s congressional delegation called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Monday to deploy five temporary passenger screening canine teams to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac).
In a letter to TSA... Read More »
In response to reports that Cambridge Analytica exploited the private information of more than 50 million Facebook users during the 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called for an official investigation by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
Feinstein,... Read More »
A trio of lawmakers recently requested funds for the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, which provides cybersecurity network enhancement.
Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Will Hurd (R-TX) recently forwarded correspondence... Read More »
Cooperation between international law enforcement agencies has led to the downfall of an encrypted network the FBI says was used by drug traffickers and criminal organization leaders for secure communications.
Phantom Secure was, until recently, a Canada-based service that bought and stripped... Read More »
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons (NCPW) of Qatar recently held a chemical safety and security seminar in Doha, Qatar, for OPCW Member States in the Asian Region.
Fifty-three participants from government, the... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced a new program that aims to develop high-resolution neural interfaces for use by able-bodied service members.
DARPA has been involved in research and development of in-brain communication systems that use invasive techniques to... Read More »
Federal penalties for distributing fentanyl would be stepped up to curb the nationwide opioid epidemic under a forthcoming bill that was previewed on Friday by U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Under the bill, lower amounts of fentanyl would be required to trigger... Read More »
Amid reports that the U.S. State Department has not designated $120 million in funds appropriated by Congress to counter disinformation and propaganda from foreign governments, a group of six bipartisan senators pushed for an explanation on Friday.
The lawmakers also wrote they are “gravely... Read More »
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 »
