Countermeasures
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) recently entered into two strategic partnerships with The Medicines Company and Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., to combat the threat of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.... Read More »
A group of Democratic members of Congress called upon the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday to extend temporary protective status (TPS) for eligible nationals of countries affected by the Ebola virus disease.
U.S. Reps. Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ), José E. Serrano (D-NY)... Read More »
Aeolus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., published additional data demonstrating the efficacy of AEOL 10150 as a medical countermeasure to sulfur mustard gas exposure on Monday.
The data showed that treatment with AEOL 10150 48 hours after exposure to sulfur mustard gas improved survival rates from 36... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) unveiled a counterterrorism strategy on Tuesday that he said takes U.S. policies into the digital age of security, as threats from violent extremists continue to evolve with technology.
McCaul’s plan was released just days after... Read More »
A coalition of Republican senators urged the president on Monday to enact immediate sanctions on North Korea in the wake of its latest nuclear weapons test.
This most recent incident was the fourth nuclear test since 2009 and the second this year.
“In the wake of this latest provocation... Read More »
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) directed the New York State Police and the National Guard to deploy an additional 1,000 officers across the state on Sunday after an explosion in Chelsea.
In addition to the increased deployment of officers, Cuomo directed the Division of Homeland Security and... Read More »
New York’s proposed cyber security regulations for banks and insurance companies - the first such policy in the nation - would create some uniformity between state and federal rules, but the American Bankers Association (ABA) said that it is seeking clarification on certain provisions.
“We... Read More »
Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., published data on Thursday on more than 450 healthy adult subjects from five clinical trials used to support recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing approval of ANTHIM injection.
ANTHIM is used in adult and pediatric patients for the treatment of... Read More »
Chief Gary Curmode, second vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), represented the organization on Wednesday at a White House event to discuss hometown preparedness activities.
The event was led by Josh Barnes, director for preparedness policy at the National... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently conducted a workshop attended by chemistry professionals from across Africa to assist in the implementation of industry-related provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
The workshop, held in Nairobi, included... Read More »
A research team at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) recently began work on a system that will utilize portable analytical equipment to help detect food and water contaminants.
ECBC said that the system, called the Agents of Biological Origin Identifier (ABOid), could help... Read More »
More than 100 first responders gathered in New York this week for the state’s largest emergency response training exercise featuring realistic scenarios inspired by terrorist threats in the United States and abroad and utilizing the newest communications technology for law enforcement.
The... Read More »
Smiths Detection on Wednesday released new features for their non-radioactive, hand-held explosive threat detector, called the TRACE-PRO, that now has the additional capability to detect and identify triacetone triperoxide (TATP).
TATP is notable for its use in a recent terrorist attack in... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the State Sponsors of Terrorism Review Enhancement Act, H.R. 5484, authored by U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL).
“Today, Congress sent a message to supporters of terrorism, if you engage in terrorist activity or are a state sponsor of terror; you... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a study regarding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) program consolidation proposal.
The GAO report found that DHS’s documentation related to... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released plans to hold a contest to develop new, innovative laboratory diagnostic tools that detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The contest, called the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge, will award prizes totaling $20 million over... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) introduced the Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility Act, H.R.5943, on Thursday to improve the ability of transit agencies to prevent and respond to terror attacks.
Donovan said that his bill will give flexibility to the Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP),... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), along with the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), is holding a one-day workshop entitled “Radiological Security: Increasing Transparency and Voluntary Reporting” this week in Berlin.
The workshop serves as a key component to continued progress... Read More »
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., released positive results on Wednesday from a proof-of-concept study of its broad spectrum antiviral, BCX4430, for the delayed treatment of Ebola virus infection in rhesus macaques.
The study sought to assess the effects of different dosing regimes of BCX4430... Read More »
Aeolus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., recently released data confirming the efficacy of AEOL 10150 as a medical countermeasure against sulfur mustard gas inhalation.
Research for the study was conducted by Dr. Brian Day, vice chair of research at National Jewish Health, in collaboration with the U.S.... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded $2.4 million to Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles County for information-gathering systems to detect microcephaly.
Microcephaly is a serious birth defect of the brain that is closely linked to... Read More »
INTERPOL recently conducted a series of cybercrime training sessions in Latin America and the Caribbean seeking to enhance regional law enforcement capacity to respond to and prevent cyberthreats.
The training efforts served as an important part of INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Capacity Building... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories recently won the 2016 Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology for their efforts in the development of the x-ray toolkit (XTK) image processing and analysis software.
The XTK was developed in the wake of the 2013 Boston bombing incident that... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a report on Thursday detailing the senator’s work during the 114th Congress.
Included in the report were 18 hearings on America’s non-secure border and the public health... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) recently provided Takeda Vaccines, Inc., with a grant to develop a Zika virus vaccine.
The grant, worth $19.8 million, will be spaced out over the course of the next 18... Read More »
The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), along with private technology developers, recently tested a new integrated system of chemical and biological agent sensors at Dugway Proving Ground’s West Desert Test Center in Utah.
ECBC’s team worked to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle,... Read More »
Director General for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Ahmet Üzümcü recently confirmed that the remaining chemical weapons stocks left in Libya have been successfully removed from the country.
The operation was facilitated in part by the OPCW in response to... Read More »
The U.S. government has become “somewhat complacent” in preparing for potential bioterrorist attacks and needs to implement a national biodefense strategy, Daniel Gerstein, a senior policy researcher at the nonpartisan RAND Corporation, recently told Homeland Preparedness News.
The anthrax... Read More »
Legislation that would require the United States to develop a national biodefense strategy to help prevent and respond to a bioterrorist attack or public health emergency is awaiting Senate floor action.
The Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016, S. 2967, would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002... Read More »
More federal counterterrorism funding should be directed to local law enforcement agencies for human intelligence initiatives in urban areas where the risk of a terrorist attack is high, according to Matt Mayer, a homeland security expert at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), recently told... Read More »
A collaborative research effort by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and Florida State University recently revealed two classes of compounds already in use in the pharmaceutical industry that might prove useful in the fight against Zika virus.... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), along with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Office of Law Enforcement and Federal Air Marshal Service Director Roderick Allison, highlighted a new security enhancement measure at the Albuquerque International Sunport on Friday.
Heinrich led... Read More »
Researchers supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently developed a novel system to grow norovirus in intestinal cells, which could bring about new therapeutic drugs and vaccines to combat the virus.
Intestinal cells are the natural site of norovirus... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson (R-FL) released a plan on Tuesday to introduce legislation that would appropriate $1.1 billion in funding for Zika virus prevention programs through Fiscal Year 2017 when the House reconvenes in early September.
“With each passing day that we do not act, the Zika... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) awarded Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc., a $5.9 million contract on Wednesday for the development of a Zika virus test for use in doctors’ offices.
Chembio is... Read More »
