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Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) recently introduced two bills in an attempt to protect local businesses and communities against potential terrorist attacks.
The first bill, the CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act, would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish chemical,... Read More »
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) was renamed chair of the House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee last week for the 115th Congress.
“The importance of cybersecurity to every aspect of society is becoming increasingly apparent,” Ratcliffe said.... Read More »
According to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should evaluate the procedures used by the agency’s National Targeting Center (NTC) to determine its overall effectiveness at keeping high-risk travelers off of United... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents last week seized more than $2 million worth of illicit narcotics over separate incidents.
The first incident occurred on Jan. 18 as officers stationed at the Port of Hidalgo, Texas, encountered a white 2012 Ford Mustang driven by a 27-year-old U.S.... Read More »
In response to continued illegal border crossings through Otay Mountain near San Diego, the U.S. Border Patrol in October launched an enforcement strategy, called Task Force Otay, which focused criminal organizations that exploit various human smuggling routes along the mountain.
Since the task... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) Predator B returned to San Angelo Regional Airport for a 14-week deployment on Jan 17.
The first UAS deployment at a civilian airport occurred in Jan. and Feb. 2016 for a four-week... Read More »
Battelle, a nonprofit research and development institute, said the key to preparing for the rapidly growing threat of biological or chemical weapons is by developing countermeasures with technology that is tested against live agents.
Battelle’s recommendation was directed toward defense... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) was recently chosen as chair for the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities for the 115th Congress.
Ernst's responsibilities as chair include overseeing hearings and policy decisions pertaining to intelligence, counterterrorism, and... Read More »
In response to the rapid increase in attacks on the nation’s cyber infrastructure, the Senate Armed Services Committee recently formed a new subcommittee on cybersecurity for the 115h Congress.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) was named as the subcommittee’s chair, while U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson... Read More »
Research teams at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center recently developed a new detection test for Zika virus that is faster and more accurate than contemporary tests.
“The new diagnostic test was designed to more... Read More »
A team of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently studied a new mouse model that shows how early responses of the immune system can affect the development of the Ebola virus disease (EVD).
Researchers said the model could help identify protective... Read More »
Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the Border Security Technology Accountability Act this week, which seeks to improve the management of new border technology acquisitions.
The bill originally advanced through the House of Representatives in July 2015, and... Read More »
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), along with colleague Catharine I. Paules, recently published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association calling for continued research into the Zika virus even as individual diagnoses... Read More »
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) recently announced that the Denver Police Department will receive a $240,000 Countering Violent Extremism Grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the exclusive use of training and engagement.
The grant is part of an effort by DHS for activities that... Read More »
Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma returned to its homeport on Friday after completing a 49-day operation in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, where it conducted a series of drug interdiction efforts.
The crew’s operations centered on strategically intercepting and boarding suspected... Read More »
Rep. Dennis A. Ross (R-FL) recently reintroduced the Finish the Fence Act, which would amend the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to complete a 700-mile border fence between the United States and Mexico by Dec. 31, 2017.... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in conjunction with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported a record number of seizures of shipments containing goods that violated intellectual property rights throughout FY2016.
The agencies reported a nine percent increase in total... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), along with the World Customs Organization (WCO), recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that enhances cooperation to tighten national and international controls on the trade of toxic chemicals.
The MOU was signed by... 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 »
At a recent gathering of students, academics, and government officials at Georgetown University, a group of world health experts spoke on the need for the incoming Trump Administration to plan for an inevitable pandemic.
The event was organized by the Center for Global Health Science and... Read More »
A group of committee chairman with jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently submitted a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a plan to regularly reauthorize, reform and improve the department in the 115th Congress.
DHS was established in 2002 in the wake of the... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report on U.S. Border Patrol’s Consequence Delivery System (CDS), a process that identifies what practices are most effective and efficient to deter illegal border activity, and how useful the system is for assessing department... Read More »
During a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on the nomination of Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) to be the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) asked Pompeo a series of questions on cybersecurity and the danger it poses to national... Read More »
Physicians at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine published a case study this week on the first locally-transmitted case of Zika virus.
The study, titled Cutaneous Eruption in a U.S. Woman with a Locally Acquired Zika Virus Infection, focused on the skin rash associated with the... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at the Port of Nogales in Arizona arrested a 21-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico on Jan. 9 for attempting to smuggle a large weapons cache into Mexico through the port.
During routine outbound operations, officers selected the... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Jim Risch (R-ID) this week reintroduced the Securing Energy Infrastructure Act, which seeks to examine solutions to defend the U.S. energy grid by replacing vulnerable computer-connected operating systems with analog and human-operated systems.
The bill received... Read More »
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) was recently selected to chair the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities in the 115th Congress.
The subcommittee is tasked with overseeing counter-terrorism initiatives as well as counter proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently opened a new general aviation processing facility for the PAZOS Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
CBP said the new general aviation facility (GAF) was built in compliance with... Read More »
Two bills introduced by U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to help spur collaborative efforts between the private sector and the federal government in cybersecurity initiatives.
The Support for Rapid Innovation Act of 2017 will aim to... Read More »
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Deming Station in New Mexico recently apprehended a Mexican national who is wanted by Mexican authorities on homicide charges.
The incident occurred on Jan. 3 as border agents spotted several individuals entering the United States through camera... Read More »
In order to stay one step ahead of potential emergencies, the Houston Airport System has begun utilizing a new 40-foot mobile incident command vehicle equipped with cutting-edge technology to improve public safety.
The three airports in the Houston area form one of the largest airport systems in... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a January terror threat “snapshot” release that the overall terror threat environment worsened throughout 2016, even as law enforcement increased their efforts to combat it.
“This year terror... Read More »
On the second anniversary of the L’Enfant Plaza smoke incident, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a public letter to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), containing questions related to communications issues that hindered emergency response operations at the scene of the... Read More »
In response to a series of reports that the Russian government interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson publicly released last week plans to designate election systems as a critical infrastructure subsector.
“By... Read More »
U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector and Rio Grande Valley Sector recently cooperated in the rescue of 44 undocumented immigrants from a South Texas stash house.
After receiving a tip that undocumented migrants were being housed in a home south of Donna, Texas, Border Patrol agents... Read More »
