Countermeasures
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 »
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) announced last week that the organization has signed a charter creating a task force on transportation.
"New business models in passenger carriage and a number of prominent rail accidents have brought renewed prominence to... Read More »
The European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC) was launched this month to serve as an enhanced central information hub to increase information sharing and operational coordination.
The ECTC will improve the exchange of information between law enforcement agencies,” Minister of Security and... Read More »
Battelle announced on Thursday that it has been awarded s Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Cyber Security and Information Systems Technical Area Tasks (CS TAT) five-year, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the Department of Defense.
The new contract succeeds... Read More »
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved the revision of seven critical infrastructure protection (CIP) Reliability Standards on Thursday, including requirements for personnel and training, as well as the physical security of the bulk electric system’s cyber systems and... Read More »
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), as part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently announced that it will hold a webinar on Feb. 10 on ASPR’s Technical Resources, Assistance Center and Information Exchange (TRACIE).
TRACIE is a... Read More »
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) commitment to advancing the Medical Countermeasures Innovation Act of 2015 was applauded this week by the Alliance for Biosecurity.
The act, introduced in September by Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Bob... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories is participating in the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium’s efforts to modernize the U.S.’s electrical grid and using its expertise in grid modernization to take the lead in the area of security and resilience.
“Sandia has decades of experience in... Read More »
The United States Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that it will be seeking public comment regarding the review of biological agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, with a proposal to republish that list.
The... Read More »
In an issue this month for the medical journal Clinical Trials, leading researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), described the series of challenges and lessons learned to prevent future outbreaks.
Among... Read More »
Alion Science and Technology announced last week that the Air Force Spectrum Management Office (AFSMO) has awarded it a $15 million contract over five years to address radio frequency bandwidth for Air Force operations.
The AFSMO cited potentially dangerous radio interference and adequate... Read More »
First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) recently announced its first Request for Proposals (RFP) for the deployment of the public safety broadband network.
The announcement, issued on January 13, is an important step in FirstNet’s objective of creating a modern communications network for... Read More »
As part of a year-in-review process, the Center for Disease Control recently outlined the steps of the Ebola recovery process in the Western African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
While the disease had a deadly impact in 2015, its spread had already diminished. In January 2015,... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week that it will be accepting applications for the 2016 Secretary’s Honors Program Cyber Volunteer Initiative.
Under the program, more than 50 individually selected volunteers would complete assignments supporting the DHS cyber mission... Read More »
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) announced its ongoing support last Monday for the continuation of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) diagnostics in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The initiative is part of a cooperative biological engagement program (CBEP) in West Africa. The current program is... Read More »
The House Transportation Security Subcommittee last week re-examined the Transportation Security Acquisition Act (TSARA) one year after the legislation became law.
The meeting provided committee members with a snapshot of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) adherence to the... Read More »
Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul (R-TX) released a monthly snapshot on Monday of potential terror threats for the U.S. and its allies.
“ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists are expanding their networks and carving out sanctuaries abroad, while their supporters and... Read More »
Members of the House Committee on Small Business last Wednesday pushed back against Maria Contreras-Sweet, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on widespread mismanagement within the organization.
Committee Chairman Steve... Read More »
AAP Gateway, a department of the American Association of Pediatrics, released a report for February shedding light onto the ongoing problem regarding medical countermeasures (MCM) during emergencies, disasters and terrorism.
While major outlets that specialize in MCMs have made headway,... Read More »
Spiceworks recently released a new survey of IT security professionals that found that internal end users - employees - are among the greatest threats to network security in the coming year.
The study found that though 80 percent of the organizations surveyed in 2015 had experienced some kind... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), announced in December that it will be soliciting research proposals to develop technologies for detecting and recovering from cyberattacks on critical U.S. infrastructure.
The agency said that the venture focuses on early attack detection,... Read More »
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) announced on Thursday that his bill, the Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act of 2016 (H.R. 4314), has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The measure requires a detailed plan to combat international travel by radicalized militants, speeds up the transfer... Read More »
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, detailed the reasoning behind the inclusion of S. 2362, the “Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act,” in the December Omnibus bill.
“After the horrific... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) released a monthly assessment in late December of the growing terror threat the West continues to face.
In his inaugural State of Homeland Security Address, McCaul detailed the rise of radicalized militants, terror threats and how... Read More »
Worldwide drug manufacturer Merck recently announced that its application for Emergency Use Assessment and Listing (EUAL) for the company’s Ebola Zaire vaccine (V920) has been accepted for review by the World Health Organization.
The EUAL is designed specifically to expedite the availability... Read More »
The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National cheap jerseys Laboratory (ORNL) has developed a device that uses micro-fabricated bioreactors to facilitate the on-demand production of therapeutic proteins for medicines and biopharmaceuticals in an effort to saves lives in remote locations.
ORNL... Read More »
