International Policy
Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) introduced last week the Cyber Diplomacy Act of 2019 (H.R. 739), which they said seeks to globally ensure the Internet is kept open, reliable and secure.
The legislators introduced H.R. 739 to ensure American leadership on the world stage in... Read More »
A group of Sandia National Laboratories researchers, social-behavioral scientists, and computational modelers recently completed a program designed to assess extremist group interactions and behaviors.
The purpose of “Mustang,” a two-year effort, stemmed from the goal of informing U.S. and... Read More »
In recent years, India and the nations of Europe have poured a record amount of funding into research and development surrounding neglected diseases, reaching more than $3.5 billion in 2017, according to the annual G-FINDER report.
The G-FINDER report -- a survey of R&D funding for neglected... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) has joined 2018 Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace, an organization designed to improve and secure the cyber environment and its critical infrastructure.
The Paris Call -- launched on Nov. 12, 2018, by French President Emmanuel Macron -- is... Read More »
The joint U.S.-U.K. Swarm and Search AI Challenge: 2019 Fire Hack challenges research teams to discover ways unmanned aerial systems can be used in search and rescue missions.
The challenge is sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the United Kingdom Defence Science and... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives advanced a bill this week that would increase international pressure on Syrian President Assad and his backers.
Specifically, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (H.R. 31) would impose new sanctions on human rights abusers and encourage negotiations to end... Read More »
Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) recently joined their colleagues in introducing a measure designed to emphasize Congressional support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The legislators said the NATO Support Act backs the world's longest-standing military... Read More »
As an Ebola outbreak continues to affect the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaders from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee are requesting a situation brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a joint statement issued last week, committee chairman Frank... Read More »
Qatar’s Ministry of Defense gave its support to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) regarding DOD activities at Al Udeid Air Base (AUAB).
The agreement was signed this week during the U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue in Doha, Qatar. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) will help promote... Read More »
The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced last week four bills designed to promote American interests domestically and abroad while also enhancing national security.
Officials said legislation to authorize counterterrorism operations in Africa known as the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism... Read More »
INTERPOL officials said the organization has established global drone use guidelines earmarked for first responders investigating device-based criminal incidents.
Officials said drones and other technologies are more frequently being used to execute a range of crimes via surveillance,... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced a bill that would counter Iranian money laundering and financing of terrorism.
The Blocking Iranian Illicit Finance Act would protect the global financial system from Iranian illicit finance and impose... Read More »
The international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently helped Qatari first responders plan and prepare chemical emergency response for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The assistance was provided at the first International Workshop on Chemical Emergency Planning and... Read More »
A collection of more than 40 individuals and non-governmental organizations have endorsed a joint NGO statement to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), following its 2018 Meeting of States Parties and first annual Global Forum on Scientific Advances Important to the BWC.
That statement began... Read More »
The Senate advanced Wednesday the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (ARIA), which serves as a policy framework to enhance American leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.
The measure, authored by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Ed Markey (D-MA), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), also... Read More »
Six U.S. senators introduced a resolution Wednesday that holds Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman accountable for contributing for a variety of actions including the unjustified killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsey Graham... Read More »
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed another 10 million Canadian dollars for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) this week, in an effort to bolster the development of vaccines.
The announcement was made following the recent G20 summit and supports that body’s... Read More »
The Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) at the Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé (GRAS) are launching a vaccine study in Burkina Faso, focused on a typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV).
The study represents their second effort in the area... Read More »
A new report released by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Moscow-based Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS) maintains that sustained regional dialogue is essential to addressing Central Asia's radioactive source security challenges.
“Largely as a result of poor... Read More »
Several U.S. senators have expressed concern with President Donald Trump expressed intention to pull the United States out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is an arms control agreement between the United States and Russia, then... Read More »
Policy leaders and scientific experts met in November to assess the impact of advances in technology on biological risks and brainstorm new ideas to address them.
The meeting -- sponsored by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Oxford University, and Johns Hopkins University -- included... Read More »
A group of lawmakers recently praised the House advancement of legislation designed to reduce worldwide violence, enhance engagement, and address instability in other countries.
Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Ted Poe (R-TX), Adam Smith (D-WA) and Bill Keating (D-MA) said the... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) has joined over 60 global health security organizations in calling for bolstered funding in the Trump Administration’s 2020 budget request to counter biological threats.
The groups forwarded correspondence to Secretary of Health and Human Services and Chair... Read More »
During the recent NATO-hosted Mediterranean Dialogue Conference, representatives from six nations shared intelligence insights as a means of broadening the scope of challenges the region faces.
The NATO Joint Intelligence and Security Division welcomed to the NATO Headquarters Intelligence... Read More »
Kim Jong Yang of the Republic of Korea has been elected the new president of Interpol, a network of police forces from 194 countries around the world.
Kim has served as Interpol’s Vice President for Asia since 2015 and was the head of Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Seoul from 2011 to... Read More »
Merck has started the submission of a rolling Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an investigational vaccine to combat the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, the company recently announced.
The V920 vaccine, scientifically known as rVSV-ZEBOV, falls under... Read More »
The next five years of focus for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be decided at the 23rd session of the Conference of the States Parties and fourth Review Conference beginning today.
For the next two weeks, member states will discuss budgets, programs,... Read More »
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein recently returned from a two-day visit to Colombia where he pledged to accelerate joint training activities with the Colombian Air Force.
Colombia has worked closely with the United States for decades on security and regional concerns. ... Read More »
A bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation to ensure Congressional oversight of U.S. policy on Yemen and demand accountability from Saudi Arabia for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act of 2018 would suspend weapons... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first single-use fingerstick tests for Ebola virus detection, complete with a portable reader system more easily used outside of labs.
While this is the second fingerstick test made... Read More »
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) recently announced the development of three new technologies designed to detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as part of its Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Program.
The three technologies -- a semi-autonomous robot for detection of mines... Read More »
Officials from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department attended the Fifth Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Ministerial Meeting in Indonesia this week to reaffirm U.S. support for the initiative and commit additional funding.
GHSA, which launched in 2014, is a worldwide effort to... Read More »
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to increase its support of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).
The GHSA, launched following the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2013, is focused on pandemic prevention. It helps... Read More »
INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters served as the backdrop for the recent Global Congress on Chemical Security and Emerging Threats conference, which was designed to address chemical terrorism and related factors.
“This Congress comes at a pivotal time in the international security... Read More »
In the wake of recent developments in Saudi Arabia, several lawmakers are seeking suspension of civil nuclear cooperation talks with that nation's government.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) has forwarded correspondence to President Donald Trump requesting... Read More »
