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U.S. Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent a letter to Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), on Wednesday requesting an update on efforts to complete and issue revisions to Circular A-130.
Circular A-130 establishes OMB’s official policy on... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a new milestone on Thursday for the automated commercial environment (ACE) system, with more than 75 percent of all cargo imported into the United States now being processed by the system.
The system is also now successfully processing 97 percent... Read More »
A coalition of Congressional Republicans sent a letter on Thursday to the Obama administration pushing back against a plan to shift funding from the BioShield special reserve fund (SRF) to help combat the emerging Zika virus.
The coalition was led by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman... Read More »
The Security Industry Association (SIA) applauded the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday for passing the Developing Innovation and Growing Internet of Things (DIGIT) Act.
The legislation directs the secretary of commerce to convene a governmental working group to address the federal... Read More »
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director General Ahmet Üzümcü met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday to discuss a wide variety of issues pertaining to chemical weapons.
One of the main topics for discussion was the... Read More »
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released its annual assessment of health security and preparedness on Monday, which showed improvement for the United States.
The report, entitled the “2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index,” showed that the United States scored a 6.7 on a... Read More »
The U.S. is woefully underprepared for potential bioterrorist attacks or naturally occurring pandemics like the Zika virus, and the federal government must do more to partner with the private sector in order to combat those threats, U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) warned this week.
“The answers... Read More »
The House Judiciary Committee on Friday announced the release of a roadmap intended to identify solutions to the ongoing debate surrounding encryption.
Members of the working group include U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Bill... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) will continue to accept proposals from private partners for deployment of an innovative nationwide public safety broadband network until May 31, with the goal of making an award Nov. 1, the agency recently said.
“FirstNet is going to really... Read More »
The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Wednesday regarding strengthening oversight of high-containment laboratories.
“Sweeping improvements and policy changes only work if the policies are effective,” Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) said.... Read More »
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Monday entitled, “Deciphering the Debate Over Encryption: Industry and Law Enforcement Perspectives.”
Members weighed the benefits and vulnerabilities of strong encryption and the needs of law enforcement, with officials... Read More »
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Subcommittee for Emerging Threats and Capabilities (ETC) held a markup of its proposals for the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization (NDAA) on Thursday.
“[O]ur oversight often involves reviewing sensitive Department of Defense (DoD)... Read More »
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) on Monday pressed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson about possible retaliation against the head of the border patrol union regarding recent testimony he gave.
Brandon Judd, president of the American Federation of Government... Read More »
A survey released on Wednesday by the Alliance for Biosecurity, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense and the Trust for America’s Health found that the American public is concerned about biosecurity threats and believes that the government should invest more in preparedness.
“The... Read More »
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) signed S. 2512 on Friday as companion legislation to H.R. 4400, a proposal introduced earlier this year by U.S. Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Susan Brooks (R-IN) to add the Zika virus to the Tropical Disease Priority Review Voucher Program.
“Our... Read More »
The United States House of Representatives passed U.S. Rep. Candice Miller’s (R-MI) Border and Maritime Coordination Improvement Act, H.R. 3568, on Thursday.
The bills seeks to streamline the logistics and coordination of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) diverse operational... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday for the approval of the manufacture of BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) in the company’s large scale Building 55 manufacturing... Read More »
The Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, chaired by U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA), held a hearing entitled “Blackout! Are We Prepared to Manage the Aftermath of a Cyber-Attack or Other Failure of the Electrical Grid?” on Thursday to examine the... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the States and High-Risk Urban Area Working Group Act, H.R. 4509, on Wednesday.
The legislations requires decision makers involved in disaster response planning to work together to gain a complete understanding of a community’s vulnerabilities so that... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) chaired a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday to address the federal perspective on the state of U.S. biodefense preparedness.
“Today, we look forward to learning the perspective of federal agencies on the state of our... Read More »
President Barack Obama signed the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Modernization Act of 2015, S.1180, into law on Monday to modernize the nation’s public alert and warning system.
The bipartisan legislation was introduced by U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Claire McCaskill... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday to add the Zika virus to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Priority Review Voucher Program.
The legislation, the Adding Zika Virus to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act, S. 2512, would add Zika virus to the... Read More »
Founded in 2001 to train professionals in biosecurity and disaster preparedness, the Institute for Biosecurity at Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice recently told Homeland Preparedness News that the United States needs to continuously improve on its... Read More »
The United States Army Cyber Command announced last week that soldiers and operators at the corps level or below will be shifting towards cyber electromagnetic activities (CEMA).
Officials emphasized that CEMA capabilities are both for protection of the homeland as well as assets to be used by... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced this week that its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) research effort recently conducted its first successful flight tests.
The new system is a shoebox-sized, plug-and-play system designed to enable manned and... Read More »
At an industry day hosted by U.S. Army Cyber Command as part of the Army's Cyber Innovation Challenge last week, officials engaged tech industry vendors and assessed technology solutions and prototypes that could potentially increase the Army’s ability to combat threats to cyber security, as well... Read More »
Speaking at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock emphasized that international law enforcement is the most important line of defense in the struggle against nuclear terrorism.
The 2016 NSS took place from last week in Washington, D.C. It served as the... Read More »
The United States is increasingly turning to biodefense as threats against the homeland continue to grow, but the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey's Dr. Raymond Zilinskas recently warned that the larger problem remains that no one knows the true state of American... Read More »
The RAND Corporation released a new report on Thursday that highlights new counterterrorism tactics and technologies to help prevent potential disasters in various cities throughout Europe.
The new report illustrates the essential role of counterterrorism technologies used by diverse... Read More »
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), along with Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) criticizing the department’s response to the ongoing spread of the Zika... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) released statements on Monday regarding the ongoing privacy battle between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
“The government’s decision to drop its case against Apple, however, does not mean that America is ready to... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Friday introduced by Rep. Donald Payne, Jr., (D-NJ) to improve coordination between state and local partners on funding priorities for homeland security grants.
“Emergency preparedness takes a whole community, but too often there is a... Read More »
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense’s “National Blueprint for Biodefense” warned that “the United States is underprepared for biological threats,” adding that “biological events may be inevitable, (but) their level of impact on our country is not.”
To combat a biological... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Rick Larsen (D-WA) on Wednesday introduced a bill to help the U.S. keep its competitive edge in the electromagnetic spectrum domain and aid warfighter readiness when needed.
The Electronic Warfare Capabilities Act will aid in getting electronic warfare... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), recently voted seven bipartisan bills out of committee aimed at strengthening the nation’s counterterrorism defense while keeping Americans safe.
Two bills are specifically aimed at counterterrorism initiatives.... Read More »
