Countermeasures
Lawmakers began laying the groundwork for domestic terrorism legislation that would explicitly bar certain violent and/or hate groups and acts occurring in the United States, much the way that current legislation bars international acts of terrorism and violence.
“As we sit here today, we are... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V), ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, visited the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) training facilities in West Virginia Monday.
Capito visited the training facilities in Summit Point, W.V, and the Advanced... Read More »
Department of Defense (DOD) officials have proceeded with transportable advanced nuclear microreactor prototype design initiatives through two contract options.
Teams led by BWXT Advanced Technologies, LLC, of Lynchburg, Va., and X-energy, LLC, of Greenbelt, Md., were selected from a preliminary... Read More »
Rep. John Katko (R-NY), lead Republican of the House Homeland Security Committee, recently highlighted the great powers’ competition between the United States and China and how the homeland security mission plays a heightened critical role.
House Republicans maintain China will be the chief... Read More »
The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded $959,305 to the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory this week to create testing criteria for a COVID-19 digital contact tracing app.
The award was granted through the Silicon... Read More »
A Stewardship and Access Plan Development Guide for countering the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs was developed and released this week by CARB-X, some of its leading funders and major antibacterial researchers.
The Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) commended President Joe Biden for his statement of support for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.
The legislation seeks to combat ongoing anti-Asian racism and violence and all other types of hate related to the coronavirus. Meng introduced the bill, with U.S. Senator... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced a bill that would improve coordination among government agencies when studying animal and human health to prevent disease outbreaks.
Specifically, the Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act would require the... Read More »
U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel recently joined Connecticut and New York law enforcement and police departments in aiding the Connecticut State Police (CSP) with drone detection testing.
“If you want to fully neutralize the threat from a drone, you need to locate... Read More »
Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jon Tester (D-MT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) reintroduced legislation last week designed to support federal firefighters by correcting disparity between federal firefighters and state, local and municipal... Read More »
A new bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) last week, the Stopping Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking Act, seeks to permanently schedule all illicit fentanyl and remove concerns surrounding the pending expiration of a temporary Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) effort.
“One of... Read More »
As the debate over AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine rages in Europe, the results of a phase three trial in the United States have shown the vaccine to be 79 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100 percent effective at preventing severe cases and hospitalization.
The... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) reintroduced legislation that would establish and expand state strategic stockpiles Thursday.
The legislation, H.R. 2006, would help states prepare for future events like the COVID-19 pandemic, the Congressman said.
"The COVID-19 pandemic made it... Read More »
The House Committee on Homeland Security advanced seven pieces of legislation this week, including bills that would secure critical infrastructure networks, enhance air travel safety during COVID-19 and future pandemics, improve information sharing, and support first responders.
One of the bills... Read More »
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Munich Security Conference (MSC) personnel recently collaborated to convene 19 current and former global leaders and experts to address reducing high-consequence biological threats.
The endeavor was offered in conjunction with the MSC’s “Beyond... Read More »
Two Georgetown University infectious disease experts maintain vaccines alone may not be enough to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angela L. Rasmussen and Saskia V. Popescu, faculty affiliates of the university's Center for Global Health Science and Security, noted that protecting against the... Read More »
Pointing the finger firmly at China in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee have written to the National Institutes of Health, urging its experts to join them in an independent investigation of the disease’s origins.
As the... Read More »
Warning that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest public health threats of the age, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and several partner organizations wrote to House leaders last week urging them to create a comprehensive One Health approach to counter the rising... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced Wednesday that it will expand its export restrictions on Russia in response to a March 2, 2021, determination by the Secretary of State that the country’s government had used chemical or biological weapons against... Read More »
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Justice (DOJ), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel have released an unclassified summary assessing domestic violent extremism.
The National Counterterrorism Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and DHS... Read More »
The FBI's recently released 2020 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, the top three crimes reported by victims in last year were phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion.
Authorities indicated the report stems from 791,790 complaints of suspected internet... Read More »
Following the suspension of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine by several European countries this week, owing to reports of rare types of blood clots emerging among the vaccinated, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that vaccinations continue.
While the European Union suspensions... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted this week marketing authorization of the BioFire Respiratory Panel 2.1, allowing it to become the first SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic able to be marketed past the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
BioFire Respiratory Panel 2.1 is a test by BioFire Diagnostics... Read More »
Moderna announced Tuesday that it has started its study of the COVID-19 vaccine in children.
Called the KidCOVE study, Moderna began Phase 2/3 of its study by administering the vaccine in children from 6 months to less than 12 years of age. The study is being done in collaboration with the... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security personnel recently joined the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in assessing findings regarding federal election integrity.
The findings from a joint report to the President issued... Read More »
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) joined 16 colleagues to introduce this week legislation designed to create federal penalties for individuals deliberately targeting local, state, or federal law enforcement officers with violence.
The Protect and Serve Act would make it a federal crime to knowingly cause,... Read More »
Roche recently announced the launch of a new cobas SARS-CoV-2 Variant Set 1 Test to detect and differentiate between viral variants, recognizing the growing prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as those first seen in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil.
“Viruses naturally evolve... Read More »
AstraZeneca announced plans this week to supply up to 500,000 additional doses of AZD7442, an under-development, long-acting antibody combination meant for use against COVID-19, modifying an existing agreement with the U.S. government.
Specifically, the agreement was reached with the Departments... Read More »
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that until the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) fully implements its organization plan, it may put the country at risk for identifying and responding to cyberattacks.
The GAO said legislation in 2018 elevated... Read More »
Stefanie Tompkins is the new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) director.
Tompkins, who possesses nearly eleven years of DARPA service, is the 23rd person to hold the post, noting the former Army military intelligence officer has an exceptional understanding of the agency’s... Read More »
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) are advocating legislation that would create a COVID-19 Commission modeled after a similar panel that examined the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The National Coronavirus Commission Act of 2021 would establish an independent, non-partisan... Read More »
Sanofi Pasteur and Translate Bio launched a Phase 1/2 clinical trial last week for an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate known as MRT5500, hoping for interim results in the third quarter of 2021.
The united efforts of the vaccine and mRNA therapeutics companies include parallel preclinical studies... Read More »
The first candidates were dosed this week as part of a phase one study of mRNA-1283, a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, Inc.
Unlike its predecessor, which has proved highly effective against the original strain of the virus, this new vaccine candidate is meant to solve a major hiccup to... Read More »
Drugmaker AstraZeneca defended the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine after three more European countries said they would suspend the use of the vaccine.
Over the weekend, Germany, Ireland, and The Netherlands announced they would stop using the vaccine temporarily over concerns about the vaccine's... Read More »
World Health Organization (WHO) officials recently touted the progression of the ACT- Accelerator, noting the initiative has driven progress to accelerate the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The initiative was initiated in April 2020 by the WHO, the European Commission, France, and The Bill &... Read More »
