Countermeasures
Members of the Qatar National Committee for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (NCPW) recently visited with leaders from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) to discuss potential collaborative efforts on developing Qatar as a leader in biosecurity ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
The... Read More »
A plan to protect subways in the event of a chemical or biological attack is ready to be put into place and implemented, scientists say.
Mark Tucker, engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, is leading a project to study how to decontaminate chemical and biological weapons attacks, such as... Read More »
The Blue Campaign, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) effort to stop human trafficking, announced Tuesday a new training program to help aviation industry personnel detect and report potential human trafficking.
The training initiative utilizes an interactive online module that... Read More »
Testing for anthrax could soon become a lot quicker, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced it is in the midst of researching a point-of-care diagnostic test that could determine infection within 15 minutes.
The test determines whether a patient has been infected with... Read More »
The Ebola virus uses the body’s natural defenses to speed the rate of infection and cause its lethal effects, according to a recent study conducted by researchers with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB).
The study was in collaboration with the University of Washington... Read More »
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began to implement new screening procedures for carry-on items at Clinton National Airport (LIT) this week to increase security for passengers.
TSA announced the new procedures earlier this year, which require travelers to place all electronics... Read More »
Antibodies taken from patients infected with dengue fever are effective in treating Zika virus infection in rodents, according to a recent study conducted by researchers from Imperial College London and the Washington University in St. Louis.
Found in multiple regions throughout the world,... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at the Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia recently intercepted an Ethiopian imposter using an immigrant visa.
After arriving from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the man presented officers with a diversity immigrant visa for... Read More »
Soligenix Inc. announced this week it is the recipient of $700,000 in funding to support a research project grant for the University of Hawai’i at Manoa aimed at developing a thermostabilized Ebola vaccine.
Soligenix, a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes products which... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) to identify new technological components to aid its Mobile Force Protection (MFP) program in detecting and neutralizing small unmanned air system (sUAS) technologies.
Rather than end-to-end... Read More »
Raytheon’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) recently demonstrated its ability to acquire and track multiple threat-representative targets simultaneously during its third dedicated flight test held at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.
"The speed, range,... Read More »
Three-quarters of mainland U.S. counties are now environmentally suitable for disease-transmitting mosquitoes, according to an update of models by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Two mosquito species--aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus--can survive for at least part of the... Read More »
Police in Bristol, England recently used chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response training simulators from Argon Electronics for a hazardous material (HazMat) training exercise.
The exercise required participants to provide security for a half-marathon event. While the... Read More »
A recent study by a Northeastern University associate research scientist found that increased time spent outdoors correlated to a higher risk for Zika infection.
The researcher, Marco Ajelli, surveyed residents of the Miami-Dade area and found that while the majority of people spent less than... Read More »
A five-year, $171 million contract was recently awarded to Emergent BioSolutions by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to supply the company’s Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion kit (RSDL), which protects human skin from chemical warfare agents and the T-2 toxin, for use by all branches of... Read More »
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), in tandem with the Institute for Nuclear Physics (INP) of Almaty, Kazakhstan recently announced that the last remaining stores of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) have been repatriated from the institute’s VVR-K reactor.
In total, more than... Read More »
Experts from the Oregon State University, the Oregon Health and Science University’s College of Pharmacy and the Oregon Health Authority say that communication breakdowns are among the leading potentials for infection outbreaks of drug-resistant bacteria.
Supported by a slew of organizations,... Read More »
Lockheed Martin’s prototype laser weapon system recently demonstrated its ability to deliver decisive lethality against unmanned aerial threats through a series of tests with the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.
The 30-kilowatt Advanced Test High Energy Asset (ATHENA) system... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently awarded a total of $11.5 million to a team of researchers from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, the University of Notre Dame and the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) to examine how the gene of the... Read More »
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced that the state would partner with FirstNet and AT&T to establish a wireless broadband network, including modernized devices, apps, and tools, to enhance communication between the state’s first responders.
"The safety and security of Texas... Read More »
Two genes called Fut9 and SLc35c1, which regulate the metabolism of a particular sugar in cells, are responsible for making ricin so lethal to humans, according to a recently conducted study by researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA).
The... Read More »
The U.S. Senate approved this week a reform package aimed at making government IT spending more efficient and accelerating the government’s transition to modern technology.
The Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act creates an incentive for the federal government to streamline IT systems... Read More »
Monaco, Syria and Bolivia, three Member States to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), recently filed legal documents related to nuclear material protection, nuclear safety, spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management at a meeting of the IAEA General Conference.
Specifically,... Read More »
Animals such as tayra, new world monkeys, sloths, porcupines, and coatis may be incubators for a parasite that causes Chagas disease, according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Riverside (UCR).
Despite affecting approximately 8 million people... Read More »
A new public-private partnership between the federal government and Janssen Research & Development LLC seeks to jointly innovate new products in the constantly evolving battle against influenza.
The partnership will see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant... Read More »
Battelle introduced a new version of its DroneDefender device, which is used to counter threats from Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), at Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference’s Technology Symposium this week.
The DroneDefender V2, a handheld and man-portable device, disrupts... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the U.S. State Department, recently implemented visa sanctions on Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone in response to an overall lack of cooperation in accepting their nationals that have been removed from the United States.... Read More »
Fourteen confirmed cases of chikungunya virus have recently been diagnosed in Italy, six of which appeared in Rome with another eight appearing in the coastal region of Anzio, according to a recently published report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The first case was identified on... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions said on Monday it has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $63 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development of the first antidote spray device for treatment of acute cyanide poisoning.
The single-use... Read More »
A bipartisan bill was recently introduced in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), aiming to establish a National Commission of the Cybersecurity of United States Election Systems.
Based on a similar structure set by the 9/11 Commission, the new... Read More »
Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) recently announced that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan selected her to participate in an informal group of Republican members of Congress focusing on border security and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“Since taking office, I’ve made it... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to change immigration law to make membership in a criminal gang both a deportable offense and justification for barring entry in the first place.
The bill, entitled the “Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act,” would allow the Department of... Read More »
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) recently introduced the Cyber Diplomacy Act, which would create a U.S. international cyber policy and promote working with other countries on promoting this policy.
“The U.S. is increasingly under... Read More »
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) proposed legislation last week to strengthen the anti-money laundering (AML) and countering terrorism financing (CTF) system in the United States.
The draft legislation, the Anti-Money Laundering Modernization Act, seeks to modernize the system and update the regulatory... Read More »
A bill to help streamline and enhance intelligence sharing at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was recently advanced by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The legislation, titled the Unify DHS Intelligence Enterprise Act, was authored by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), who serves as... Read More »
