International Policy
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) Executive Council recently reconvened to further discuss allegations that the Syrian regime, led by President Bashar al-Assad, used chemical weapons on its own people in southern Idlib, Syria.
On April 4, a chemical weapons... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) Executive Council convened last week to discuss allegations that the Syrian regime, led by Bashar al-Assad, conducted a chemical weapons attack on its own people.
On April 4, a chemical weapons attack occurred in the Khan... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) recently sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, requesting communications related to a 2013 chemical weapons agreement by the Obama Administration, the Russian Federation, and the Syrian government.
The letter comes in... Read More »
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü recently addressed the 17th Regular Session of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE), part of the Organization of American States (OAS), to discuss OPCW’s goals for the full... Read More »
A delegation from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently visited the Blue Grass Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility (CWDF) in Kentucky after receiving an invitation from U.S. officials.
The visit comes in the wake of a deadly chemical weapons attack in the... Read More »
Congressional leaders said they supported President Donald Trump’s authorization of a missile strike against Syria on Thursday in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians.
Trump authorized the launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base suspected of... Read More »
A pair of U.S. House members recently called upon the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense to continue its funding of key U.S.-Israel defense cooperation programs.
U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Grace Meng (D-NY) sent letters to both Subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) and... Read More »
In response to recent reports of a chemical weapons attack in the Khan Shaykhun area of southern Idlib in Syria, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) condemned the reported use of chemical weapons and provided updates of its fact-finding mission in the country.
The... Read More »
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new strategic plan last week to improve the prevention, surveillance, and emergency response to infectious diseases on the continent.
Prior to its approval, the plan was reviewed by Africa CDC experts, the advisory and... Read More »
U.S. Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) and Jim Langevin (D-RI) recently participated in a panel at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference to discuss cybersecurity-related bills that recently passed through Congress.
Langevin and Ratcliffe began their discussion by detailing... Read More »
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) recently held a three-day training course in Thailand, which discussed various ways law enforcement entities can identify individuals who use forged travel documents.
Participants included law enforcement officials, immigration agents,... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü recently paid an official visit to Singapore, where he gave the keynote address at the Singapore International Symposium on Protection Against Toxic Substances.
In his address, Üzümcü touched on... Read More »
Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee recently returned from a trip to the Middle East to examine the region’s anti-terrorism efforts and provide oversight of key intelligence programs.
Included in the delegation were U.S. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) released a plan this week to introduce a bill that would re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Cruz’s bill received cosponsors from U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis
(R-NC), Dean Heller (R-NV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inaugurated the new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer at OPCW’s laboratory last week in Rijswijk, South Holland Province.
The ceremony was led by OPCW Director General Ahmet Üzümcü.
NMR is widely used in... Read More »
In response to recent missile launches by the North Korean government, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford held a 30-minute telemeeting with the Chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Sun Jin-Lee to assess the security situation for allies in the area.
On... Read More »
Secretary General of Interpol Jürgen Stock recently addressed the Chiefs of Police Conference of South Asia and Neighboring Countries, stating that regional and global police cooperation has never been more essential in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.
“In today’s world,... Read More »
The Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently adopted a decision to condemn the use of the Schedule 1 liquid nerve agent VX, which was used in a fatal incident last month at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The incident occurred on Feb.... Read More »
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), in conjunction with the Council of Europe, recently launched a new initiative aimed at building capacity and enhancing cooperation amongst cybersecurity investigators around the world.
The Global action on Cybercrime extended (GLACY+)... Read More »
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) recently adopted a resolution urging the European Commission to take measures to temporarily reintroduce visa reciprocity for citizens of the United States and all states within the European Union (EU).
Currently, citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,... Read More »
Civil Liberties Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted for stronger entry protections and a shorter retention period for traveler data stored in the new European Union (EU) entry/exit system, which aims to modernize checks on non-EU nationals traveling to EU member countries.
The move... Read More »
Fifteen member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) took part in a training course last month aimed at preparing each member in handling emergency response to chemical incidents.
The course was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from Feb. 6-10 and was the fifth... Read More »
The European Commission recently heard testimony from three European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) on the various problems regarding money laundering and terrorist financing affecting the European Union’s (EU) financial sector.
The groups, the European Banking Authority, the European... Read More »
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) recently held a three-day exercise for cybercrime investigators to develop skills in combating real crimes in cyberspace.
The event, held Feb. 13-15 and hosted by the National Police Agency of Japan, saw participants from 10 countries... Read More »
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced last week the Stop Terrorists Operational Resources and Money (STORM) Act of 2017, which seeks to provide the president additional leverage in penalizing foreign governments that fail to stop terrorist financing.
The bill was authored by Sens.... Read More »
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) appointed Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) to the U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Group (IPG) for the 115th Congress last week.
IPG is tasked with fostering dialogue between members of the United States’ and Mexican legislative bodies on issues of bilateral... Read More »
The United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act, which aims to create a cybersecurity grant program for joint research and development initiatives between American and Israeli organizations, advanced the U.S House of Representatives earlier this week.
The bill was introduced... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. recently received approval by a regulatory agency under the German Federal Ministry of Health for its large-scale manufacturing facility in Michigan, paving the way for the company to market its anthrax vaccine BioThrax in Germany and other countries.
Emergent said its... Read More »
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday led the North Atlantic Council in formally opening the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) Regional Centre.
Stoltenberg highlighted the centre’s potential in strengthening the partnership between... Read More »
Ministers of the European Parliament (MEPs) recently voted to return to the European Union (EU) Commission a blacklist of countries that were determined to be at risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, citing the list’s limited nature and a need to include territories that facilitate... Read More »
The Pakistani Centre for Excellence for Nuclear Security recently entered into a partnership with the International Network for Nuclear Security Training and Support Centres (NSSC Network) to build national capacity through training courses and strengthening technical and scientific support... Read More »
On the one year anniversary of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Iran had removed excess centrifuges and infrastructure from the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
“The JCPOA... Read More »
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently implemented sanctions in response to findings that the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad used industrial chlorine as a weapon against its own people.
OFAC’s conclusions were based on a... Read More »
The European Commission recently adopted a series of measures to strengthen the European Union’s (EU) ability to combat the financing of terrorist organizations and organized crime, which were included in the Feb. 2016 Action Plan Against Terrorist Financing.
The initiatives presented by the... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) recently began a fact-finding mission in Syria in the wake of allegations that chemical weapons have been used in the area of Uqayribat in the Hama Governate in Syria.
The area in question has been linked to the control of the... Read More »
