U.S. Policy
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 »
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 »
