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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 »
A team of researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently developed a flexible material that is both highly breathable and protective from various biological agents that soldiers may come into contact with.
The material is the first key component of a new type of... Read More »
A disaster strikes a congested city, cell phone networks are overwhelmed and internet access is spotty. Nearly everyone has a mobile device in their pocket, but few can use them to communicate.
San Francisco-based start-up OpenGarden, Inc., has a solution to this type of crisis with its FireChat... Read More »
The U.S. House Homeland Security Committee released a report on Tuesday titled “Streamlining the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Overhead Will Make the Homeland Safer” that shows department-wide waste across DHS’s 22 offices and agencies.
“Despite existing for over 13 years,... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) awarded a $5.1 million, two-year contract to InBios International, Inc., on Monday for a newer, faster Zika virus diagnostic blood test.
InBios’ test may have the... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a clinical trial this week for an experimental vaccine to prevent Zika virus infections, an effort that comes after local transmission of the virus hit a neighborhood in Florida.
“Given the Zika situation internationally and in the United... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) held a course last week with representatives of 42 national authorities from across the globe focused on enhancing their capacity for implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
The course focused on the vital tasks nations... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Wellcome Trust of London, the AMR Centre of Alderley Park and Boston University released plans on Thursday to create one of the world’s largest public-private partnerships centered on the preclinical discovery and development of new... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Wednesday urged President Obama to use unspent funds from other programs to combat the emerging threat of Zika virus in the United States.
Rubio sent a letter to the president, citing specific examples of unused funds that could be reallocated in an expedited... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) applauded President Barack Obama this week for signing Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 41, entitled “United States Cyber Incident Coordination.”
The directive complements the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, which was introduced earlier this year to build... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently adopted a decision that calls for the necessary international assistance in response to a request from the Libyan Government of National Accord to destroy its remaining Category 2 chemical weapons on an expedited basis outside... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) will hold its inaugural forum in the Southwest border region in August to engage with federal and regional public safety stakeholders about the communications challenges they face ahead of the deployment of a nationwide public safety broadband... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) on Tuesday decried actions by his congressional colleagues for jeopardizing the development of a vaccine for the Zika virus.
Donovan’s statement came in the wake of three different companies threatening to halt their developments due to funding uncertainty.... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee released its “Terror Gone Viral” report that shows that the wave of terror attacks in the past month have helped ISIS reach a record-level of plotting following the attacks in Germany, France and Orlando.
“ISIS terrorists have reached an alarming and... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy, chaired a hearing on the Securing Energy Infrastructure Act, S. 3018, and to examine protections designed to guard against energy disruptions last week.
“In the United States, we too often we... Read More »
Soligenix released positive preliminary proof-of-concept results on Monday from its collaboration with Axel Lehrer to develop a heat-stable subunit Ebola virus vaccine.
Lehrer is a doctor in the Department of Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology at the John A. Burns School of... Read More »
Homeland security leaders joined forces on Thursday at the “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland: ISIS and the New Wave of Terror” to discuss how to keep Americans safe from both cyber threats and acts of terror.
Many national leaders were in attendance, including U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez... Read More »
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill on Thursday introduced by U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) aimed at incentivizing investments in vaccines and treatments for dangerous and deadly diseases identified as threats to our national security.
The Strengthening... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced legislation on Wednesday to assist communities in preparing for and responding to active shooter events.
The bill, the Active Shooter Preparedness Enhancement Act of 2016, would ensure that the Department of Homeland Security... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began a series of actions this week designed to combat the emerging threat of Zika virus and to mitigate its spread throughout the U.S. and the world.
The FDA began with important steps to help protect the safety of the blood supply. One of the first... Read More »
The European Parliament has taken an important step toward protecting victims of potential biological, chemical and other types of terrorist attacks in the European Union with its new draft counterterrorism directive that is being negotiated this week.
The European Parliament’s Civil... Read More »
The European Commission launched a privacy shield for the United States and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday to strengthen protection for transatlantic data flows.
The framework of the project protects the fundamental rights of anyone in the EU whose personal data is transferred to the United... Read More »
Committee on Small Business Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH) recently chaired a full committee hearing on the threat of cyber attacks on small businesses in the U.S.
“According to a recent study, over 70 percent of cyber attacks occur in businesses with fewer than 100 employees,” Chabot said at... Read More »
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) announced its support on Thursday for a bill authored by U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) that aims to control the spread of Zika virus.
The Strengthening Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health (SMASH) Act aims strengthen the nation’s ability to... Read More »
The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) recently announced that is has developed a decontamination spray that enables soldiers at the unit level to decontaminate vehicle surfaces in the field immediately after exposure to a chemical warfare agent and continue with their mission.
The... Read More »
The European Commission launched a new public-private partnership on cybersecurity on Tuesday that is expected to trigger $1.9 billion of investment by 2020.
The partnership is part of a series of a new initiatives to better equip Europe against cyber attacks and to strengthen the... Read More »
An independent panel of public health, emergency response and communication experts issued a report on Friday on the Ebola epidemic of 2014, identifying recommendations to improve the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) response to urgent public health threats.
Concerns... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) moved forward on Friday with its preparations for a public-private partnership to deploy and operate a nationwide public safety broadband network.
During their meeting in Chicago, the FirstNet board of directors provided strategic guidance for... Read More »
A coalition of research institutions published a report in the Clinical Infectious Disease Journal on Wednesday that analyzed the immune responses of Ebola patients treated in the United States.
The coalition includes the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control (CDC), the Emory University School... Read More »
With the goal of improving U.S. threat preparedness, U.S. Rep. Daniel Donovan (R-NY), who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, recently introduced legislation to help fight potential terror attacks in urban areas and in cyberspace.
Donovan recently introduced the Terrorist Asset... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Tuesday that found that the National Guard, part of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), has made progress incorporating the Homeland Response Force (HRF) into the chemical, biological radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response... Read More »
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Monday described how combining engineered anthrax toxin proteins and existing chemotherapy drugs could potentially yield a therapy to reduce or eliminate cancerous tumors.
Data was provided by the National Institute of Allergy and... Read More »
U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY), along with other House members, was blocked by the Cuban government last week from entering the country to assess security risks associated with resuming air travel between the United States and Cuba.
The Cuban government signed an accord on Feb. 16 that will allow... Read More »
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet held a hearing on Tuesday to examine the progress of FirstNet, the first nationwide, high-speed network dedicated to public safety.
Chairman of the Subcommittee... Read More »
The United States Senate voted 58-38 on Wednesday to reject an amendment that would enable the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to more quickly obtain the electronic transaction records of suspected terrorists.
The amendment was offered by U.S. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and John McCain... Read More »
