International Policy
U.S. Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) introduced this week legislation that seeks to reduce demand for sex trafficking worldwide.
The Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act would amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to reflect the need to... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday as part of their bipartisan Congressional Delegation to Ukraine.
The... Read More »
Under a long-term agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced this week, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics have agreed to provide 3 million courses of COVID-19 oral antiviral molnupiravir for use in low and middle-income countries.
Distribution will occur throughout... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) recently collaborated to advance COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
CEPI seeks to develop vaccines against future epidemics, while IPD is a non-profit public interest foundation located in... Read More »
Following requests from U.S. authorities, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested members of the REvil ransomware gang and shut their operations, which in the last few years have struck American ventures such as the Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods, and Kaseya.
The Russian-based group... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) joined U.S. Reps. Brian Higgins (D-NY) and Chris Jacobs (R-NY) in urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to keep the U.S.-Canada border open for vaccinated individuals.
Citing the economic livelihoods of New York businesses, as well as supply chain... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently sent correspondence to Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin advocating Brazil bilateral security cooperation expansion.
Rubio indicated the effort would counter growing Chinese Communist Party influence (CCP) in the Western Hemisphere.
“Brazil... Read More »
Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and Former Secretary of Energy under the Obama administration Ernest J. Moniz, co-founders of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said they applaud the position of world leaders that a nuclear war “cannot be won,” in a statement Monday.
The statement comes in... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) announced the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative has been extended through 2022 as part of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The funding was increased from $250 million to $300 million per year, with at least $75... Read More »
The Independent Allocation of Vaccines Group (IAVG), a manager of needs-based allocations for the global COVAX initiative, criticized rich nations last week for hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and issued steps to achieve a new goal of 70 percent immunization coverage by mid-2022.
“As the overall... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urged the U.S. Department of Defense to address the DOD’s overreliance on pharmaceuticals produced abroad in a letter on Friday.
The letter, to Gregory Kausner, acting Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, said... Read More »
An investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation’s (HSI) Washington D.C. Field Office and Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office has led to the seizure of Iranian arms from vessels in the Arabian Sea.... Read More »
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced Monday it was creating a new whole-of-government effort, the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access (Global VAX), to accelerate efforts worldwide to provide COVID-19 shots and overcome access barriers to vaccines, with a priority on... Read More »
The U.S. Marines, Navy, and Army will join Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) members for a bilateral training exercise in multiple training locations across Japan.
Resolute Dragon 2021 involves almost 2,650 Marines from across III MEF, representing all functions of the Fleet Marine Force.... Read More »
Last week, the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, approved an initial investment of $155.7 million to support the introduction, acquisition, and delivery of malaria vaccines throughout eligible nations in sub-Saharan Africa between 2022 and 2025.
The public-private health organization hopes... Read More »
This week, the World Health Assembly announced that it intends to jumpstart a process to draft and negotiate a global agreement to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
The decision came with the ongoing -- and evolving -- COVID-19 pandemic firmly in mind and will utilize... Read More »
As the world continues to realign its approach and expectations in the wake of the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in South Africa last week, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) took the opportunity to renew calls for expanding U.S. vaccine aid to other nations.
“The emergence of... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) recently reached a joint licensing agreement with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) for a non-exclusive COVID-19 serological antibody test.
The CSIC-developed test, to be... Read More »
In facing down a future of potential biological dangers, a new report from authors at NTI | bio recommended concrete action at the national and international level, from new oversight agencies to process overhauls and funding, to improve prevention and response.
In “Strengthening Global... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) recently responded to a report alleging the Chinese Communist Party is expressing opposition to his bill he said seeks to invest in technologies aiding in outcompeting China.
Young's rebuttal stemmed from a Reuters report alleging that the Chinese Embassy is... Read More »
Ronapreve, a Roche and Regeneron-developed drug cocktail of casirivimab and imdevimab, gained marketing authorization from the European Commission last week for treatment of COVID-19 cases before hospitalization among adults and adolescents at least 12 years old.
Ronapreve can now be used in... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Justice recently outlined a federal jury's conviction of a Chinese national and Deputy Division Director of the Sixth Bureau of the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security.
Authorities indicated Yanjun Xu was convicted of conspiring to and attempting to commit economic... Read More »
The antiviral Molnupiravir became the first oral treatment for COVID-19 to receive authorization this week, winning approval from the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases in adults.
Specifically, users must have had at... Read More »
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator released a new strategic plan last week that seeks $23.4 billion from international investors by September 2022 to patch inequalities in access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, vaccines, and personal protective equipment.
This is particularly... Read More »
According to a new report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), the world is broken in its inequality, division, and lack of accountability, making a health emergency ecosystem incapable of ending the COVID-19 pandemic or preventing another.
The opportunity for reform is... Read More »
The Biden-Harris administration has reprioritized global health security at the top of America’s national security agenda in efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic and bolster health systems worldwide by improving preparation, prevention, detection, and response to the next public health... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), John Thune (R-SD), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Ben Sasse (R-NE) forwarded correspondence last week to President Joe Biden encouraging the United States to take the global lead regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and pandemic combating efforts.
“We urge you in the... Read More »
In a new position paper, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the setbacks and failures faced worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted seven means for nations to begin building a more resilient and secure health system.
These recommendations include:
Utilizing... Read More »
During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Deputy Undersecretary for Policy at the Department of Defense, Sasha Baker, affirmed a U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker's (R-MS) naval fleet requirement advocacy.
A hearing exchange resulted in Baker expressing... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and Israel Ministry of Public Security (MOPS) officials are touting a partnership to aid homeland security technology development.
The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Homeland Security (BIRD... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the first vaccine to treat malaria in children, a mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 260,000 children under the age of five annually in sub-Saharan Africa, in what public health officials have called a historic development.
“The... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said the agency is evaluating air domain awareness technologies as a means of protecting northern border airspace.
S&T’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory recently spearheaded a test team that... Read More »
Leaders of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness wrote to President Joe Biden this week requesting more work to remove medical trade barriers and bolster distribution to better combat the global spread of COVID-19.
U.S. Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE)... Read More »
Earlier this month, the Nuclear Threat Initiative gathered 100 international experts on biosafety for the 2021 Virtual Global Biosecurity Dialogue (GBD), the latest in an annual series of discussions on how best to maintain attention on and advance biosecurity across the world.
COVID-19 loomed... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) approved Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ drug cocktail of casirivimab and imdevimab for use on COVID-19 patients last week, but that endorsement came with a caveat: it urged lower prices, patent releases and equitable distribution.
The Regeneron antibody... Read More »
