Home » Featured » Page 64
Featured
The House Committee on Homeland Security unanimously approved amendments on Tuesday authored by U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) on two different counterterrorism measures.
The first bill, the Community Counterterrorism Preparedness Act, H.R. 5859, establishes a grant program to help major... Read More »
More than 100 first responders gathered in New York this week for the state’s largest emergency response training exercise featuring realistic scenarios inspired by terrorist threats in the United States and abroad and utilizing the newest communications technology for law enforcement.
The... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) questioned Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan on Tuesday about his agency’s strategy to secure the border at a hearing that featured testimony from Arizona residents.
The resident’s testimony focused on the potential public safety threats they face due to Border... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the State Sponsors of Terrorism Review Enhancement Act, H.R. 5484, authored by U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL).
“Today, Congress sent a message to supporters of terrorism, if you engage in terrorist activity or are a state sponsor of terror; you... Read More »
A coalition of worldwide business groups recently met at a cybersecurity conference in Dubai to focus on facilitating a sustained dialogue between American companies and those in the Arabian Gulf.
During the meeting, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Dubai Chamber of... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) formally requested on Thursday at a Northern Border Caucus meeting with Canadian Ambassador David MacNaughton that Canadian officials increase border staffing to reduce delays.
Prior to the caucus meeting, Higgins and MacNaughton briefly discussed traffic issues... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) called for a hearing on Wednesday to investigate emergency preparedness and response procedures at multiple American airports in the wake of incidents in New York and Los Angeles.
Rice’s call to action follows an Aug. 14 incident at John F. Kennedy International... Read More »
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., released positive results on Wednesday from a proof-of-concept study of its broad spectrum antiviral, BCX4430, for the delayed treatment of Ebola virus infection in rhesus macaques.
The study sought to assess the effects of different dosing regimes of BCX4430... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded $2.4 million to Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles County for information-gathering systems to detect microcephaly.
Microcephaly is a serious birth defect of the brain that is closely linked to... Read More »
The Institute for Science and International Security recently released a report that found that Iran was not in compliance with the original conditions of the Iran Nuclear Deal, agreed to in July 2015.
The report said that the Obama administration, along with the other P5+1 nations, secretly... Read More »
The U.S. government has become “somewhat complacent” in preparing for potential bioterrorist attacks and needs to implement a national biodefense strategy, Daniel Gerstein, a senior policy researcher at the nonpartisan RAND Corporation, recently told Homeland Preparedness News.
The anthrax... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) agriculture specialists recently uncovered multiple pests and invasive seeds while inspecting rail containers at the Portal Port of Entry rail facility.
A team of specialists normally assigned in Pembina, N.D., and... Read More »
Legislation that would require the United States to develop a national biodefense strategy to help prevent and respond to a bioterrorist attack or public health emergency is awaiting Senate floor action.
The Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016, S. 2967, would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002... Read More »
More federal counterterrorism funding should be directed to local law enforcement agencies for human intelligence initiatives in urban areas where the risk of a terrorist attack is high, according to Matt Mayer, a homeland security expert at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), recently told... Read More »
A collaborative research effort by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and Florida State University recently revealed two classes of compounds already in use in the pharmaceutical industry that might prove useful in the fight against Zika virus.... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) recently said that the challenges of protecting the state’s wild and rugged 611-mile border with Canada highlight the need for a tougher stance on border security from the U.S. administration.
“It would be very easy for someone to slip in or out of the... Read More »
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released new labor-management relationship guidelines between the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the agency on Thursday.
TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger sent the new guidelines to all employees in the middle of ongoing... Read More »
Johns Hopkins Medicine formally opened the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Zika Center on Tuesday, becoming the first known multidisciplinary Zika virus center in the world.
The center is composed of providers and related staff from departments and divisions at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns Hopkins... Read More »
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) continued his push on Tuesday to further North Dakota’s role in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) development and integration into the national airspace at the Unmanned Aerial Systems Summit and Expo in Grand Forks, N.D.
“What we’re seeing in Grand Forks are the... Read More »
A California woman was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison on Friday for conspiring to illegally export fighter jet engines, along with unmanned aerial vehicles and related technical data, to the People’s Republic of China.
The investigation was handled by U.S. Immigration and Customs... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) sent a letter on Friday to Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) John Roth calling for a review of the department’s use of privately-operated prisons.
Thompson’s letter comes after the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that it would... Read More »
U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) will join Mark Morgan, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, for a full-day tour of Maine’s northern border this week.
After his tour, McCaul will attend a town hall hosted by U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME).
“Understanding... Read More »
A coalition of 40 Asia-Pacific former leaders and experts from 14 different countries urged the United States on Tuesday in a letter to adopt a “no first use” nuclear policy and called for Pacific-based allies to support the initiative.
The coalition included U.S. allies Australia, Japan... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), released a study on Tuesday with evidence showing that people who were infected with the Ebola virus were 20 percent more likely to survive the virus if they were co-infected with the... Read More »
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved plans on Friday set forth on July 6 to set up an EU border control system that brings together the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, and national border management authorities.
The plan calls for national authorities to continue the... Read More »
Ceragon Networks recently released a new wireless backhaul platform with enhanced security features that seeks to overcome what can at times be a major obstacle for public safety forces - access to a reliable and secure communications network.
Ceragon’s FibeAir IP-20 Assured Platform is geared... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for the manufacture of BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) at the company’s large-scale Building 55 manufacturing facility in Lansing,... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued a request for information (RFI) on Thursday for ways to improve the protection of fixed, mobile ground and naval forces against a variety of small unmanned air systems (sUAS) technologies.
“DARPA is interested in identifying novel,... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) released an unclassified report on Wednesday summarizing the terrorist activities and affiliations of the 107 Guantanamo Bay detainees who were detained there as of Nov. 25, 2015.
"The Obama administration promised transparency, but this new report shows why... Read More »
In order to stem massive data breaches and strengthen cyber security, U.S. policymakers should reform laws to help make it easier for researchers to identify and address software bugs, according to a recent report from New America’s Open Technology Institute.
The report, “Bugs in the... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) called for action by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday to strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity efforts against foreign actors who attempt to exploit cyber vulnerabilities in the nation’s voting systems.
“The Department of Homeland... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) called for action on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in voting machines and other information technology used in election systems across the U.S.
“Election security is critical and a cyberattack... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) renewed his push on Thursday to reintroduce legislation that would provide additional protections from the Zika virus to U.S. military men and women, including those serving in high-risk areas.
“At the start of June, I introduced an amendment to the 2017 National... Read More »
A Pittsburgh-based team of cyber researchers achieved the top spot at the Defense Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC), the world’s first all-hacking tournament, on Thursday.
The CGC is the first fully-automated computer security challenge, with teams coming from... Read More »
A major gap in international standards for biosafety in laboratories handling contagious pathogens potentially increases the risk that an accident could result in a disease outbreak that threatens global security, according to a recent study by the UPMC Center for Health Security.
The year-long... Read More »
