Countermeasures
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced the release of FY 2016 Notices of Funding Opportunity on Tuesday for 10 DHS preparedness grant programs totaling more than $1.6 billion.
The programs provide funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as... Read More »
Guidelines and procedures laid out by the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 were issued on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security.
Federal agencies and private businesses are provided with a clear understanding of how to share cyber threat indicators with DHS’s National Cybersecurity and... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) announced on Tuesday that Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) has been named chairman of the Border and Maritime Subcommittee, while Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) will become the chairman of the Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications... Read More »
The American Society for Microbiology sent a letter this week in support of President Barack Obama’s request to the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations for a $1.8 billion fund for emergency Zika relief.
The letter was signed by Lynn Enquist, president of the American Society for... Read More »
The European Union announced on Monday the creation of the European Medical Corps (EMC), a special agency dedicated to providing medical assistance as well as first response expertise and technology from across the EU to threats both within and without the EU.
The foundations for the EMC was... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) announced at the end of January that it will create open-access datasets for researchers and industry.
To fund this venture, the DoE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) $3 million for two projects... Read More »
More than 200 industry leaders convened in Pittsburgh in early February to discuss the region’s role in cybersecurity information and innovation at the inaugural Cyburgh, PA Initiative Event.
Among those attending the meeting, former Pennsylvania Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., announced on Wednesday that its ruggedized, military-grade auto-injector platform will be tested and developed as a platform for nerve agent antidote delivery by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Battelle.
Emergent’s Emergard platform, selected from several... Read More »
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced a letter of intent on Friday to collaborate with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston to research and develop a Zika virus vaccine
The initiative of the collaborating will be directed toward the development of joint research... Read More »
INTERPOL announced the completion on Monday of a second training program aimed at providing frontline police officers with the appropriate skills needed to conduct high-level port security in the Philippines.
The training course brought together 28 law enforcement officers from various national... Read More »
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Friday to learn from experts about current preparedness shortcomings and to assess the types of biological threats facing the United States.
The hearing, chaired by U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), was entitled... Read More »
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International announced on Wednesday the beginning of the latest in a series of projects designed to counter the problems public communication professionals face every day.
The ultimate goal of Project 43, also known as Broadband... Read More »
The Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the USSTRATCOM Center for Combating WMD Kenneth A. Myers testified before members of Congress on Wednesday to lay out a FY 2017 budget request.
At a hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and... Read More »
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed the “Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2016” on Wednesday, which was co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA).
“I want to thank both Chairman Johnson and Senator Booker for working with me on this... Read More »
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood released a statement following the Obama administration’s release of its FY 2017 budget proposal.
In his statement, Greenwood decries Obama’s action, warning that budget would directly threaten the goal of... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) announced on Monday that the committee has released its “snapshot” terrorism assessment for the month of February.
“The Islamist terror threat remains alarmingly high as recent arrests and terror plots demonstrate,” McCaul... Read More »
INTERPOL and Barclays have announced that they will enter into a private-public partnership in order to enhance the cyber security of both institutions.
As part of the agreement, Barclays will become the first financial institution to have full-time staff operating at the INTERPOL Global Complex... Read More »
The Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies held its “International Cooperation in Combating Terrorism: Review of 2015 and Outlook for 2016” on Monday at the National Press Club, featuring a panel of experts from the Blue Ribbon Panel who warned that bioterrorism remains a growing... Read More »
The Joint Science and Technology Office announced this week that its basic research program, Toxicant Penetration and Scavenging (TPS), provided an important new understanding of toxin mechanisms.
The findings have since been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B article,... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its research priorities on Friday for studies to investigate how Zika virus infection affects reproduction, pregnancy and the developing fetus.
The virus is currently present in approximately 30 countries and territories, notably in Latin... Read More »
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) announced the success of her bipartisan resolution on Thursday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Air and Marine Operations (AMO).
AMO oversees a facility at Grand Forks Air Force Base, opened in 2009, and uses manned and unmanned aircraft to... Read More »
Officials from the World Health Organization, including the director-general, deputy director-general and regional directors of WHO, released a statement in late January following a special session of the executive board on the Ebola outbreak.
The statement came after the conclusion of the... Read More »
The Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities held a hearing on Wednesday entitled "Outside Views on Biodefense for the Department of Defense,” featuring expert testimony from members of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense to provide an... Read More »
The new Base Ensemble Project, a collaboration between the United Kingdom’s Home Office and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), aims to create a uniform that will provide emergency first responders with the protection they need.
First Responders often... Read More »
The leader of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ahmet Uzumcu gave a speech on Monday entitled “Re-arming our Humanity: Contributions of Disarmament to Peace.”
The speech marks 20 years since the Chemical Weapons Convention concluded, making it the only remaining... Read More »
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the 2016 National Snapshot of Public Health Preparedness on Thursday detailing the public health threats that currently face the country at large.
The report illustrates how federal investments enhance the nation’s ability to... Read More »
Scientists at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) recently announced the development of a new kind of “second skin” that will protect soldiers from potential 21st century biological hazards.
"The material design is based on the use of responsive polymer... Read More »
The president and chair of the board of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) supported efforts by Congress to improve first responder preparedness for bioterrorism attacks but said that even more work remains while testifying on Tuesday at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced on Thursday that it has made a series of recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the vulnerabilities of cyber infrastructure and how to better prevent cybercrime attacks.
The GAO noted that the National... Read More »
Smiths Detection, Inc., announced last week that it has been awarded an initial $1.27 million for its RadSeeker handheld radioisotope detector and an additional award of a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO).
The... Read More »
Batelle has announced that it has qualified for a bid to provide technical and logistic services to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense as part of the Joint Enterprise Contracted Logistics and Services Support (JE-CLaSS) Multi-Award Task Order Contract program.
... Read More »
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology announced on Tuesday that it has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 2 entitled “Status of the Public Safety Broadband Network.”
“Especially in times of emergency, it is critical that first responders are able to communicate and... Read More »
The United Stated Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) facilities to support establishing new animal tests/models for the development of biological medical countermeasures against biological threats, influenza and emerging infectious... Read More »
Nuclear weapons are the greatest means of instant wide-scale destruction, and the illegal trafficking of such devices is the focus of a new international conference being held by INTERPOL this week.
The conference is expected to draw some 270 participants from more than 100 countries around the... Read More »
INTERPOL announced this week that it will begin training in Laos, Cambodia, to enhance investigative skills against illicit chemical weapons.
Under Project Chase, a program designed to combat chemical weapons smuggling, the organization will run a five-day training course from Jan. 18-22. The... Read More »