Countermeasures
Although terrorist groups like ISIS have al-Qaeda have recently been plotting small-scale attacks, intelligence indicates that terrorists want to bring down an aircraft and create a “big explosion” on the scale of 9/11, according to a threat assessment released on Tuesday.
The House... Read More »
Members of the House Homeland Security Committee pressed David Pekoske, the newly confirmed administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), on how quickly the country could integrate computed tomography (CT) scanners into every airport in the country to thwart threats at a... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee majority staff released a new report reviewing the nation’s network of fusion centers, hubs for sharing information related to security between federal, state and local government entities.
The new report, Advancing the Homeland Security Information... Read More »
A report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) this week analyzed a dengue fever epidemic that caused them to declare an outbreak in Burkina Faso in September and urged countries to consider dengue vaccines.
Notably, this case has differed from past outbreaks in that several serotypes... Read More »
As Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, a group of Democratic U.S. Senators recently sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Brenda Fitzgerald requesting information on the... Read More »
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) recently announced its Digital and Cyberspace Policy program is launching a Cyber Operations Tracker, a database of all publicly-known state-sponsored incidents that have occurred since 2005, in order to gain a better understanding of the current cyber threat... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at various ports of entry in California recently intercepted 314 pounds of illicit narcotics and arrested 14 fugitives over multiple incidents.
From Friday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 5, California CBP officers seized more than 181... Read More »
Under the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate is assisting the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Basketball League (NBA) in updating sports... Read More »
After serving as the acting director of the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) since May, Eric Moore was named the permanent director of ECBC by Maj. Gen. Cedric Williams effective Oct. 29.
ECBC is tasked with research and development efforts related to non-medical components of... Read More »
The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force will continue its efforts help state and local police departments and prosecutors prevent, investigate and respond to technology-enabled crimes against children under a bill signed into law on Friday.
Established in 2008, the ICAC Task... Read More »
The labs working to protect the United States from hazardous pathogens are themselves in need of oversight updates, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), owing to several lapses in safety.
The labs in question--overseen by the Federal Select Agent Program--amount to more... Read More »
A vulnerability recently identified in the Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) protocol that secures most wireless network traffic highlights the critical nature of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information sharing, according to a recent DHS release.
Jeanette Manfra, the assistant... Read More »
State and local law enforcers will continue to receive specialized training to incorporate cyber and digital tools into criminal investigations following the President’s signed a bill last week that formally authorizes the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI).
The NCFI has trained... Read More »
Under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Thursday, 3D imaging technology and stronger public-private partnerships would be leveraged to enhance Transportation Security Administration (TSA) air cargo security protocols.
The Air Cargo Security Improvement Act of 2017,
H.R.... Read More »
A federal fund that helps state and local efforts to detect and respond to disease outbreaks, supports immunization and critical health responses is at risk of legislative elimination, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
The bill that would do so--the CHAMPION Act--is... Read More »
In a recent report and testimony, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that the Department of Energy (DOE) take a leading role in a collaborative interagency effort on research into low-dose radiation’s health effects.
GAO identified seven federal agencies that obligated... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this week intercepted $509,700 in counterfeit U.S. $100 bills that a 62-year-old U.S. Citizen arriving from Peru attempted to hide in his luggage.
“This seizure demonstrates how U.S. Customs... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents helped rescue two people on Tuesday who were injured while hiding in El Paso’s storm drain system after reportedly entering the United States illegally.
CBP’s Confined Space Entry Team (CSET) was deployed following a report on Monday that five... Read More »
The first nationwide public safety broadband network, known as FirstNet, secured partnership commitments from about half of the states and two U.S. territories by the end of October, according to testimony before a congressional panel on Wednesday.
Members of the House Energy and Commerce... Read More »
Some of the 276 laboratories across the United States that research hazardous pathogens like Ebola virus and anthrax bacteria experience continued safety lapses, leaving oversight reforms needed, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study.
The Federal Select Agent... Read More »
Thirty private sector and government stakeholders would reimburse U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for providing additional cross-border trade and travel inspection services under tentative partnership agreements announced on Tuesday.
The Reimbursable Services Program (RSP) was launched... Read More »
State-run election systems would be deemed critical infrastructure, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be enlisted to protect registration data, voting systems, and ballots from foreign interference, under bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate on Tuesday.
The Securing... Read More »
A two-day workshop was recently held in Washington, D.C. that addressed methods of building up the U.S. ability to monitor and analyze its medical countermeasures for use in public health emergencies.
Hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the workshop focused... Read More »
U.S. Border Patrol announced Tuesday the appointment of Felix Chavez as the new Chief Patrol Agent of the Del Rio Sector, effective Oct. 29.
As Chief Patrol Agent, Chavez will manage nine stations and more than 1,500 agents and support staff. He will also oversee 210 miles of border and over... Read More »
New York City first responders conducted this week a critical incident training exercise and tested new technologies provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) at Grand Central Station.
The New York Police Department (NYPD), the Fire... Read More »
Researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group published two systematic reviews about the use of mefloquine to prevent malaria in travelers.
The reports drew together more than 50 studies that involved more than 1,000,000 participants, in order... Read More »
While efforts to combat tuberculosis (TB) have made progress, more action is needed to reach global targets and close gaps in TB care and prevention, a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) found.
The report found that since 2000, global efforts have decreased the TB mortality... Read More »
Members of U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee held a field hearing last week on port security at the Port of Los Angeles.
The hearing, titled Examining Physical Security and Cybersecurity at our Nation’s Ports, included testimony from representatives from the Coast... Read More »
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü recently gave a speech at the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) in Vienna, Austria, to highlight the organization’s cooperation with industry as it works to complete the destruction of... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at the Brownsville Port of Entry in Texas recently intercepted five shipments of narcotics over separate incidents.
The first seizure occurred on Oct. 20 at the port’s Veterans International Bridge when officers encountered a 2010... Read More »
A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that there is an overlap in the missions and membership within a number of U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) emergency communications organizations because each of them promotes interoperable emergency... Read More »
A new study by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, along with colleagues from Rio de Janeiro, Uruguay, and the United Kingdom, found that populations of Malaria in the Americas are more diverse than was previously thought.
Because the most prevalent species of malaria... Read More »
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Ted W. Lieu
(D-CA) recently introduced bicameral legislation that would create a voluntary cybersecurity certification program for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
“The IoT will also stand for the Internet of Threats unless we put in place appropriate... Read More »
Vice President Mike Pence and Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson recently joined U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) for a review of the dual-nuclear missions of the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to highlight the central role the nation’s nuclear triad plays as a deterrent for threats to global... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers stationed at the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry in Texas recently seized more than $480,000 worth of alleged cocaine in separate incidents.
On Oct. 24, officers assigned to the port’s Pharr International... Read More »
