Sen. Tester urges Biden administration to reopen northern border
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is requesting the Biden administration reopen the northern border and recently encouraged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end the trucker and traveler vaccination mandate. Tester recently implored Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro... Read More »
NIH Clinical Center begins phase 1 trial of universal flu vaccine candidate
Inoculations began this week at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for up to 100 participants in a phase 1 trial of novel universal flu vaccine candidate BPL-1357. Testing will be conducted at this site alone and will focus on volunteers between 18 and 55... Read More »
Lockheed Martin building new missile facility
Security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin is building a new missile facility on its campus in Huntsville, Ala., to serve as an investment in innovation while advancing capability. During the recent groundbreaking ceremony, Lockheed Martin officials said the $16.5 million Missile System... Read More »
FDA to review biologics license application for Emergent BioSolutions anthrax vaccine candidate
With the acceptance of a biologics license application (BLA) from Emergent BioSolutions Inc. last week, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to review the potential of AV7909, an anthrax vaccine candidate. “Over the last 20 years, Emergent has partnered with the U.S.... Read More »
Sikorsky secures government Black Hawk helicopters contract
U.S. government officials said the Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky has agreed to a five-year contract to provide a baseline of 120 H-60M Black Hawk helicopters. The agreement includes options to reach a total of 255 aircraft to be delivered to the U.S. Army and Foreign Military Sales (FMS)... Read More »
DARPA researchers unveil improvements to robotic system performance
At the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Machine Common Sense (MCS) program, researchers last week offered demonstrations of improvements to robotic system performance, showcasing advancements in intuitive physics, intentional actors, and spatial navigation. Comparing the... Read More »
DHS awards nearly $4.5M in research contracts to 30 small businesses
As encouragement for proof-of-concept research into homeland security technology, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) divided up $4.479 million in competitive research contracts to 30 small businesses. This first phase of the DHS Small... Read More »
Rep. Cicilline urges increased legislative action to combat gun violence
Following the advancement of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Rep. David N. Cicilline said the momentum must be used to pass other gun violence combating measures. “This is the first time in nearly 28 years that Congress has sent a comprehensive gun violence prevention bill to the... Read More »
National Defense Authorization Act for 2023 advances to chamber reconciliation
After a final vote last week, the House’s $850 billion version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 advanced toward reconciliation with its Senate counterpart. Notably, the NDAA as written surpassed President Joe Biden’s own proposal for $813 billion and... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection, Grace Farms Foundation host federal law enforcement summit
At a conference jointly hosted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Grace Farms Foundation last week, hundreds of law enforcement officials gathered to discuss transnational threats, as well as the information sharing and best practices needed to tackle them. “U.S. Customs and... Read More »
Soligenix bivalent thermostabilized vaccine demonstrations full protection against filovirus in non-human primates
Late-stage biopharmaceutical company Soligenix, Inc. announced last week that it has created and tested a bivalent filovirus vaccine that offered 100 percent protection to non-human primate test subjects against the lethal Marburg and Ebola viruses. "Filoviruses such as Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan... Read More »
Legislation seeks sensitive data protections from high-risk foreign countries
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) recently introduced the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Surveillance Act, which seeks to create protections against selling or transferring domestic sensitive... Read More »
BAE Systems secures $7.8M AFRL contract for machine learning software
BAE Systems recently secured a $7.8 million Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract to develop Multi-Sensor Exploitation for Tactical Autonomy (META) program machine learning software. “With the addition of environmentally adaptive processing, this solution bridges a critical gap in... Read More »
CDC expands monkeypox testing capacity with shipments to five commercial lab companies
Working through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began shipping monkeypox tests to five commercial lab companies this week. It aims to boost the nation’s monkeypox testing capacity at large, with assistance from Aegis... Read More »