U.S. Policy
A meeting between Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodale on Monday focused on raising global security standards.
Nielsen and Goodale discussed standards pertaining to cyber security, counterterrorism,... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently selected Booz Allen Hamilton as the first prime contractor under the government-wide Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND) Program.
DHS gave Booz Allen a $621 million... Read More »
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced new sanctions against six individuals and seven entities tied to Hezbollah on Friday in an effort to cripple the terrorist organization’s business operations.
The six individuals targeted by OFAC sanctions, all... Read More »
Pointing to pledges made in the State of the Union speech earlier this week, both the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and HIV Medicine Association have asked Congress and President Donald Trump to raise budget caps for both defense and nondefense spending.
Their reasoning is that... Read More »
A new study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization found that the global spread of a serious infectious disease could cause 700,000 deaths and annual economic losses of US$500 billion.
"Pandemic risk: How large are the expected losses” applied a theoretical model to... Read More »
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will begin to aggregate and analyze data to identify and target prescribers and pharmacies moving unusually large amounts of opioid drugs, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced.
Sessions said a “surge” of DEA agents would be directed to the... Read More »
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that newer applications for asylum will be processed before older filings in an effort to mitigate potential fraud and abuse in the backlog of pending asylum applications,
The asylum applications backlog had reached 311,000... Read More »
At Cybertech TLV, the largest convening of cybersecurity industries held in Tel Aviv, Israel, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO James Patchett announced three Israeli cybersecurity firms had committed to expanding to New York City.
Israel-based investment... Read More »
Raytheon announced Wednesday that will be upgrading its Patriot Air and Missile Defense System under a $235 million modernization task order from the U.S. Army.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the task order Monday. The United States and the other 13 Patriot partner nations that rely on... Read More »
In response to reports that the fitness-tracking platform Strava shared user information that could be used to identify military installations, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sought information about company data security practices and potential changes on Wednesday.
Strava... Read More »
Wireless providers taking part in the wireless emergency alerts (WEA) system will be required to deliver notification more precisely to geographical areas that are affected by the warning under action taken by the FCC on Tuesday.
The FCC will require participating wireless carriers to target... Read More »
The FBI does not currently have a hard-and-fast threshold or indicators to determine the appropriate response when America’s small businesses face cyber attacks, according to testimony before a House panel on Tuesday.
The House Small Business Committee convened a hearing to probe the federal... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended on Tuesday that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) begin to independently validate that life extension programs (LEPs) for nuclear weapons are meeting management best practices.
Given that LEPs used to refurbish or replace... Read More »
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen announced Monday additional security procedures and recommendations for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).
The additions include additional screening for certain nationals of countries identified as high-risk, a periodic review and... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) added government-wide personnel security clearance to its “High Risk List” on Thursday, which designates programs in need of transformational changes to reduce the risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
GAO typically updates the High Risk... Read More »
An international public-private partnership called the Global Centre for Cybersecurity was launched last week during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to assess and tackle global cybersecurity challenges.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen highlighted U.S. efforts to... Read More »
After warning last year that lack of funding could force three of nine A-10C Thunderbolt squadrons to be grounded, the United States Air Force said that it would include funding for additional wings in its fiscal year 2019 budget request on Friday.
To maintain current levels, Congress included... Read More »
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently sanctioned six individuals, designating them as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224.
OFAC designated four of the individuals -- Abdul Samad Sani, Abdul... Read More »
In order to shield international financial markets from Iranian money laundering and terrorist financing, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) said last week that the Financial Action Task Force must continue to blacklist Iran and re-impose countermeasures.
Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs... Read More »
After a career spanning more than 30 years with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Customs Service, Alfonso Robles was tapped Thursday to serve as CBP’s director of field operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Robles’ appointment marks his second posting in... Read More »
The Kansas Highway Patrol recently announced its decision to subscribe to FirstNet, a nationwide public safety broadband network designed specifically for first responders, become the first agency in Kansas to do so.
The update to their communications gives them access to a secure network that... Read More »
Chinese fentanyl sellers commonly use United States Postal Service (USPS) to traffic the drug into the United States because USPS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have not yet adopted widespread use of advanced electronic data (AED), according to a Senate report released on Wednesday. ... Read More »
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Wednesday 16 individuals, nine entities, and six shipping companies that have been linked to North Korea’s development of weapons of mass destruction and other illicit activities.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) met this week with Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen and a bipartisan group of Senators to develop a border security plan.
Tester is the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, which sets funding levels for security and... Read More »
Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked tech companies on Wednesday to explain their response to vulnerabilities known as Meltdown and Spectre that left devices using the companies’ processors susceptible to data theft.
The CEOs of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Intel,... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced this week that it will be working bilaterally with Israeli counterparts through five separate divisions on projects meant to aid public security.
While the United States and Israel began annual bilateral... Read More »
The House of Representatives approved a bill on Tuesday that would clarify and codify State Department roles in advancing U.S. cybersecurity interests and require regular reports to Congress.
The Cyber Diplomacy Act, H.R. 3776, would require State Department briefings on cyberspace policy... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Tuesday that it has issued a waiver to expedite the construction of barriers and roads near the international border near the Santa Teresa, New Mexico port of entry.
The waiver covers a variety of environmental, natural resources and land... Read More »
A congressional panel probed ongoing efforts to secure the nation’s transportation networks Tuesday in response to the rise of terrorist attacks around the world targeting rail, mass transit, and highways.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Surface Transportation... Read More »
Democrats on the Congressional Task Force for Election Security are seeking answers from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristjen Nielsen regarding its responsibilities related to the now-defunct Presidential Commission on Election Integrity.
The commission was established to... Read More »
Decreased and episodic funding from the United States government has stakeholders questioning the true commitment federal lawmakers have for sustaining the nation’s preparedness and response capabilities during a catastrophic event linked to infectious diseases, natural disasters or chemical,... Read More »
Nuclear security experts from Scandinavia and the United States took part in a workshop hosted in Oslo last week that focused on leveraging international cooperation to enhance nuclear security and nuclear forensics.
Page Stoutland, vice president of scientific and technical affairs at the... Read More »
All 50 states and all but one U.S. territories are on schedule to meet “REAL ID” requirements for driver’s licenses and identification cards to prevent fraud by terrorists and other perpetrators, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week.
DHS began to enforce... Read More »
Leaders of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube recently appeared before a Senate panel to highlight efforts to curb terrorist recruitment, to ban users with extremist ideology, and to remove “how-to manuals” and other terrorism-related content.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation... Read More »
Every member of the Florida congressional delegation signed a letter spearheaded by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) seeking Defense Department (DOD) Secretary Jim Mattis’ support in making sure that a recent Department of Interior proposal does not impair military... Read More »
