Countermeasures
With the world’s volume of stored data doubling each year, an opportunity exists for organizations across the globe to analyze that data and use it to add business value, particularly as it relates to defense and cybersecurity, according to Matthew Kuckuk, CGI Group’s data analytics global... Read More »
The U.S. Army Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense awarded Battelle a $59 million contract on Monday for medical countermeasures to combat infectious diseases affecting warfighters and the general public.
The grant is part of Battelle’s OASIS contract mechanism,... Read More »
Representatives from 21 Eastern European States voiced their support of awareness-raising efforts by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during the first regional meeting on education and outreach early this month in Vilnius, Lithuania.
In total, 45 participants from... Read More »
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense on Wednesday applauded legislation advanced by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security to ensure that the U.S. is prepared for biological threats, including the Zika virus.
The National Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016, S. 2967, introduced by U.S. Sen.... Read More »
The International Criminal Police Organization’s (INTERPOL) Chemical and Explosives Terrorism Prevention Unit, in coordination with INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs), carried out exercises across southeast Asia last week.
Operation Chase II involved passenger and motor vehicle... Read More »
Avon Protection on Monday introduced new technology designed to combat chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats for first responders and other security-related officers.
One of the new products includes the Avon CSPARR, the newest generation of CBRN powered air purifying... Read More »
Tyco Integrated Security recently unveiled a high-tech security system at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport to help prevent costly exit lane security breaches and increase operational efficiency.
“Airports will be able to save costs overall by using technology over manpower,”... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ordered a bulk supply of Bavarian Nordic’s non-replicating smallpox vaccine Imvamune on Friday.
Imvamune is being developed as a smallpox vaccine for... Read More »
Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), addressed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Conference on Weapons of Mass Destruction Arms Control Disarmament in Slovenia on Wednesday regarding security challenges facing the OPCW.... Read More »
The Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health held a hearing entitled “Examining H.R. 3299, Strengthening Public Health Response Act” on Thursday to examine legislation meant to better prepare the U.S. to fight biological threats.
The Strengthening Public Health Emergency Response... Read More »
More than 200 bomb technicians and first responders from five states and Canada came together this week to participate in what has become the biggest explosive public safety bomb squad training exercise in the world.
Held in New York, the state with the highest risk of terrorism in the nation,... Read More »
The 44th International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) European Regional Conference is being held this week, with participants discussing the challenges posed by record numbers of migrants traveling to Europe.
Following the publication of the joint Europol-INTERPOL report on migrant... Read More »
Many U.S. mid-cap companies are struggling to defend themselves against cyber attacks, begging the question of what is the appropriate role the federal government should play in getting the private sector cyber ready, according to Michael Balboni, president of RedLand Strategies, Inc., a business... Read More »
Congressional staff visited the campus of the National Defense University (NDU) on May 3 to participate in a wide array of lessons that demonstrated the complex nature of cyber defense operations.
The event was hosted by NDU, along with representative of U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) and... Read More »
Battelle is set to showcase its new anti-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) device, DroneDefender, along with other new technologies at the Sea Air Space Show from May 16-18.
DroneDefender is the first man-portable system to provide critical security protection against small UAS devices. The... Read More »
U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) introduced new legislation on Thursday that requires the administration to impose sanctions on hackers linked to the Iranian government.
The Iran Cyber Sanctions Act of 2016 requires the administration to take action on an April 2015 executive order that... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) on Monday agreed to sponsor a new point-of-care anthrax diagnostic test.
The 18-month, $2.5 million agreement is through ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a sponsored study on Tuesday that found that up to 99 percent of chemical contamination can be removed by carefully removing clothes and wiping skin with a paper towel or dry wipe.
The study was sponsored by HHS’s Office of the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Monday that one of the nation’s Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) will support the development of NasoShield, a second-generation anthrax vaccine.
“Anthrax remains a material threat to... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported on Monday that an experimental malaria vaccine protected a small number of healthy, malaria-naïve adults from infection for more than one year after immunization.
The... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Friday exercised an option for RiVax, Soligenix, Inc.’s new heat-stable ricin vaccine.
Terms of the agreement are to advance the development of Soligenix’s thermostabilization technology, ThermoVax, combined with the... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents stationed at the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) arrested four wanted fugitives on Tuesday.
CBP agents at IAD apprehended Omar Mahamed Abdulahi on larceny and... Read More »
Northtrop Grumman Corp., in collaboration with King Saud University in Riyadh, hosted its second annual cybersecurity competition last week.
The competition, known as CyberArabia, was designated for students across Saudi Arabia’s universities. The program is part of the company’s goal of... Read More »
A new study commissioned by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) from business information firm IHS, Inc., was released on Monday highlighting the positive impact that the aerospace and defense industry has on the American economy.
“This new study demonstrates definitively that... Read More »
Raytheon Company on Monday increased deliveries of its small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in response to growing warfighter demand.
Raytheon also formed a new UAS directorate within the advanced missile systems product line that combines small UAS airframe and integration with mission... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) called for Congress on Monday to fully fund efforts to eradicate the emerging Zika virus.
Buchanan said that he supported an additional $1.9 billion in funding requested by the government to contain and eradicate the virus. His supports follows the rapid spread of... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a new milestone on Thursday for the automated commercial environment (ACE) system, with more than 75 percent of all cargo imported into the United States now being processed by the system.
The system is also now successfully processing 97 percent... Read More »
A coalition of Congressional Republicans sent a letter on Thursday to the Obama administration pushing back against a plan to shift funding from the BioShield special reserve fund (SRF) to help combat the emerging Zika virus.
The coalition was led by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman... Read More »
Smiths Detection, Inc., announced on Wednesday that it has received a $17.2 million follow-on production order from the U.S. Army as part of the Department of Defense’s Joint Chemical Agent Detector (JCAD) program.
Smiths Detection's Lightweight Chemical Detector (LCD) product line serves as... Read More »
The United States House of Representatives passed U.S. Rep. Martha McSally’s (R-AZ) Preparing for Attacks and Responding to Emergencies (PREPARE) Act on Tuesday.
The legislation seeks to improve the efficiency and coordination of disaster preparedness programs.
“This bipartisan bill... Read More »
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director General Ahmet Üzümcü met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday to discuss a wide variety of issues pertaining to chemical weapons.
One of the main topics for discussion was the... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation - the Promoting Resilience and Efficiency in Preparing for Attacks and Responding to Emergencies (PREPARE) Act, H.R. 3583 - on Tuesday that would enhance the U.S.’s disaster preparedness and response capabilities.
The legislation was... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Monday showing the strengths and weaknesses various federal agencies have against a possible electromagnetic attack to the electrical grid.
The report sought to assess the progress agencies have made since the 2008 Commission... Read More »
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released its annual assessment of health security and preparedness on Monday, which showed improvement for the United States.
The report, entitled the “2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index,” showed that the United States scored a 6.7 on a... Read More »
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a feature-length documentary on Friday entitled “Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear,” based on the timeline of the Ebola crisis and how the United States responded to the virus.
The documentary contains interviews from those... Read More »
