U.S. Policy
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has a plan to secure needed inventories of low-enriched uranium through 2038, but a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) review found that longer-term enriched uranium needs haven’t been clearly defined and cost estimates are... Read More »
A House panel recently weighed a measure that would expand Customs and Border Protection (CBP) access to national forests, wildlife refuges, and other federal lands near the southern border without navigating an authorization process.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and... Read More »
After assessing the extent to which critical infrastructure sectors have adopted the federal Framework for Improving Infrastructure Cybersecurity standards, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has since made nine recommendations for improvement.
The framework in question was developed in... Read More »
Using drugs or illegal substances to compel victims of human trafficking to perform commercial sex acts would be considered coercion, and new protections would be established for human trafficking victims, under bicameral legislation introduced on Thursday.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and U.S.... Read More »
Republican senators introduced legislation on Thursday that would establish a $25 billion trust fund for border security and codify legal protections for people covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rob Portman (R-OH), and John... Read More »
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Board of Commissioners recently approved the construction of a $30 million permanent U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspection area at the Stewart International Airport to accommodate the increase in international passengers at the airport... Read More »
The Open Philanthropy Project awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense on Thursday, which will be used to help the organization continue to assess biodefense, identify needed changes and make recommendations.
In a 2015 report, the panel made 33 recommendations... Read More »
The Congressional Task Force on Election Security released a report on Wednesday that outlines 10 recommendations to protect state election systems for cyberattacks, including allocating funds, more training, minimum requirements for voting machines, and threat assessments.
The task force was... Read More »
In urging Congress to reject public health cuts proposed by the Trump Administration, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said on Wednesday that the fiscal year 2019 budget proposal reflects a “narrow and short-sighted understanding of national safety and well-being.”... Read More »
The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Health Security recently on Wednesday a preliminary analysis of health security funding in President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2019 (FY2019) budget, which highlighted several major budgetary and organizational... Read More »
A federal judge sentenced a New Jersey man to life in prison on Tuesday for detonating and attempting to detonate a series of bombs in New York City and New Jersey in September 2016.
Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 30, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, planted improvised explosives devices (IEDs) in Chelsea, one... Read More »
Whether an infectious disease ever reaches U.S. shores or not, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now warning of the damage they could still do to U.S. interests--notably, its export economy.
In articles published in Health Security, the agency noted that there are 49... Read More »
Researchers at the University of Indiana suggested that an independent cybersecurity agency board should be established to investigate cyber attacks and data breaches after conducting a comprehensive academic review.
The board’s structure would resemble the National Transportation Safety... Read More »
The shift in Project BioShield Act of 2004 funding from its original 10-year appropriations cycle to year-by-year funding has posed challenges for the program by creating an uncertain climate for private-sector firms investing in developing medical countermeasures (MCM) against chemical,... Read More »
Following President Donald Trump’s release of his Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal last week, U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) applauded the inclusion of a control shift of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the Department of Health... Read More »
President Donald Trump delivered on Monday his Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Budget to Congress, which requests $47.5 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a 7.8 percent increase from the FY 2018 President’s Budget.
“The budget demonstrates the... Read More »
With midterm elections approaching in November, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) warned on Monday that federal and state officials remain unable to ensure that elections are secure from outside attacks.
Klobuchar and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson discussed... Read More »
Indictments have been issued against 36 defendants by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), targeting them for potential roles in the Infraud Organization--an Internet-based operation which has defrauded victims throughout the world of more than $530 million.
Of those charged, 13... Read More »
The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) pushed back on a recent report about Russian hackers penetrating state-based voter systems on Thursday, reiterating that just one state voter system was breached and that efforts to shore up cybersecurity have been ongoing.
NASS responded... Read More »
Republican senators announced plans on Friday to introduce legislation that would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, allocate $25 billion for border security, and make reforms the nation’s immigration system.
The Secure and Succeed Act... Read More »
Bills that would mandate that all multi-line telephone systems connect directly to 9-1-1 systems and would require the FCC to establish minimum call completion standards for intermediary phone providers in rural areas cleared the House of Representatives on Friday.
The Kari’s Law Act was... Read More »
Leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee pressed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for answers on Thursday amid reports that citizenship applications were approved without background checks and green cards were erroneously issued.
U.S. Sens. Ron... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently awarded a total of $5,643,466 across seven organizations to develop new tools for cybersecurity researchers.
“Cybersecurity research and development, and the ability to develop new solutions will be... Read More »
Reps. Filemon Vela (D-TX) and Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) recently introduced a bill designed to enhance U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) support, staffing, and resources.
The lawmakers said the Border and Ports Security Act would increase the CBP’s capacity to screen passengers and... Read More »
Revelations that mobile devices can reveal the identities, activities and locations of U.S. service members stationed abroad prompted members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to call for a Department of Defense (DoD) review on Wednesday.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, U.S.... Read More »
Amid concerns about potential espionage, the federal government would be prohibited from procuring telecommunications equipment or services from China-based Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.
In 2012, the Permanent Select Committee on... Read More »
As hundreds of thousands of attendees sought return flights following Super Bowl LII, the local branch of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) set a one-day record for security screenings.
In total, MSP TSA screened 60,883... Read More »
Federal agencies would be given new tools to track white supremacist and other extremist groups and to coordinate multi-agency efforts under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Under the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, H.R. 4918, the Department of Homeland Security,... Read More »
A New York man who pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and conspiring to attack federal agents was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday in federal court.
Munther Omar Saleh, 22, was arrested in 2015 after he allegedly attacked an FBI agent who was... Read More »
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons is not supported by the administration’s budget, and Department of Energy (DoE) environmental cleanup could cost billions more than projected, according to a recent Government Accountability... Read More »
Top officials at the Department of Homeland Security conceded Wednesday to a weariness and anxiety about the repeated congressional efforts to agree to a longtime spending plan, resulting in recurring threats of a government shutdown until a budget is voted.
Elaine Duke, deputy secretary of DHS,... Read More »
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently joined 10 congressional colleagues in demonstrating support for funding of three Homeland Security labs.
Officials said correspondence to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees backs full funding of the National Urban Security Technology Laboratory... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate recently issued a press release highlighting its Coast Guard Search and Rescue Visual Analytics (cgSARVA) system.
cgSARVA, a visual, user-centered platform, helps USCG decision-makers identify boat stations most... Read More »
Gregory Allen Justice, an engineer who worked for a cleared government contractor in California, was recently sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to commit economic espionage, attempting to violate the Arms Export Control Act and violating the International... Read More »
A framework would be established for law enforcers to legally access email communications stored on overseas cloud-based servers, and U.S. officials would be authorized to negotiate bilateral data sharing agreements with foreign countries, under a Senate bill announced on Monday.
The Clarifying... Read More »
