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The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Cyber Policy Task Force released this week its final report titled From Awareness to Action - A Cybersecurity Agenda for the 45th President, which offered a series of recommendations on policy and resources for the President-elect.... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stationed at the Port of Nogales apprehended two individuals over separate incidents attempting to smuggle a combined 32 pounds of methamphetamine and heroin, worth approximately $224,000, through the port on Dec. 23.
While conducting routine sweeps... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its Morbidity and Mortality Report, which highlights 10 critical contributions the agency has made in the fight against the spread of Zika virus in 2016.
CDC highlighted new public health surveillance and infection... Read More »
Soligenix Inc. recently extended its development agreement with Emergent Biosolutions to implement a commercially viable production technology for a vaccine candidate being developed to protect against ricin exposure called RiVax.
Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded a grant worth $10 million to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) to establish a new center to help combat the spread of diseases carried by mosquitos and ticks.
“With UTMB’s unparalleled... Read More »
Vermont’s Burlington Electric Department recently took action to isolate a single laptop that federal officials have said has been linked to a potential Russian-related hacking campaign.
The laptop was flagged on Dec. 29 due to the detection of suspicious traffic. Vermont officials were quick... Read More »
With the recent release of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) FY 2016 statistics report, DHS immigration enforcement efforts showed an increase in prioritizing apprehension of convicted criminals and threats to public safety.
DHS saw a 19 percent increase in arrests compared to the... Read More »
U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed in the Del Rio Sector recently seized more than 1,000 pounds of illicit narcotics over a series of eight separate incidents.
The total street value of the confiscated drugs was approximately $990,000.
The first incident occurred on Nov. 18, when agents with... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Todd Breasseale recently issued an executive summary on malicious cyberattacks conducted by the Russian government, known as Grizzly Steppe, during the U.S. election cycle.
The report stated that Russia’s... Read More »
In response to multiple reports of Russian cyber interference in the recent U.S. election cycle, the Obama Administration issued a series of sanctions against the Russian Federation in violation of established international norms of behavior.
Among the actions issued by the President, 35... Read More »
The U.S. Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector Foreign Operations Branch (FOB), along with binational partners from the Mexican Attorney General Attaché’s Office (PGR) in El Paso, recently announced the conviction of Santos Villalva Celedonio for human trafficking of migrants.
The case was carried... Read More »
El Paso Border Sector Patrol Agents assigned to the Forward Operating Base Bounds in Lordsburg, New Mexico rescued a group of undocumented migrants last week after they were abandoned during freezing weather conditions.
The migrants, consisting of six adults and twelve children, told the... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded a $10 million grant to four Florida-based universities to collaborate on a newly-formed research center that will focus on combating diseases such as the Zika virus.
The facility, called the Southeast Regional Center of... Read More »
According to a recently published study, an experimental Ebola virus vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial that took place in Guinea.
The study was conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with Guinea’s Ministry of Health,... Read More »
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), recently launched a campaign to raise awareness about the problems with border corruption so that citizens and government employees who see misconduct or suspicious activity can report... Read More »
A research team at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently published two studies that identify the three-dimensional shapes of two enzymes critical to replication and survival of the Zika virus.
The first study, published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, examined... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, recently awarded a series of contracts for various technology initiatives related to border security.
DHS first awarded $162,302 to Tamr, a Cambridge,... Read More »
The U.S. Navy recently awarded a $32 million production contract to Raytheon Company for next-generation encryption systems to safeguard tactical military data transmissions across air, surface, subsurface and group assets.
Raytheon’s Link Level Communication Security 7M encryptor (LLC 7M)... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded $184 million in funding to states, territories, local jurisdictions and universities to support initiatives to protect Americans from the spread of Zika virus.
The awards are part of the $350 million in funding provided... Read More »
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit apprehended this week a resident of Crown Point, Indiana after being indicted on a felony charge of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship after emigrating from Bosnia and Herzegovina.... Read More »
A bipartisan coalition of House members of the encryption working group recently released a year-end report, which details observations from the current state of encryption services and what the next steps should be to improve them for public security.
For the past year, the group has worked... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs announced this week that Irfan Demirtas, a Dutch-Turkish dual citizen, was sentenced to 88 months in prison after providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).... Read More »
The United States House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing released the results this week of a two-year investigation into terror financing and the threat it poses to the U.S. financial system.
“Combating terror financing is a significant and often... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents seized more than 13 pounds of narcotics concealed within everyday objects in unrelated incidents earlier this week.
The first event began as agents with CBP’s Office of Field Operations working at the Columbus port of entry recommended a 2000... Read More »
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently released a study using DNA markers to discern coccobacillus Francisella bacteria to provide a means to distinguish them from the harmful F. tularensis, a virulent pathogen that causes the disease tularemia.
“This large study is particularly... Read More »
A research team at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston recently developed the first vaccine for chikungunya fever, which was made in part from an insect-specific virus that does not have any effect on people.
The new vaccine quickly produces a strong immune defense and... Read More »
A new law that would protect first responders in the event of a terrorist attack using anthrax drew strong support from the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC).
The First Responder Anthrax Preparedness Act requires the Department of Homeland Security to carry out a five-year pilot... Read More »
A bill, authored by U.S. Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX), to strengthen collaborative cybersecurity research initiatives between the United States and Israel was signed into law last week.
The bill, titled the United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act of 2016,... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), co-founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, recently sent a letter to Speaker of the House U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) calling for the creation of a Select Committee on Cybersecurity.
Approximately 80 committees and subcommittees currently claim some... Read More »
The U.S. Border Patrol recently launched a new initiative called Se Busca Información, which will seek to expand on consequences against dangerous smugglers operating in the Del Rio Border Sector.
The initiative will focus on obtaining information from the public in order to locate smugglers.... Read More »
As the prevalence of smart meters has grown in recent years, utilities are now grappling with cybersecurity challenges presented by the need to protect large volumes of data.
The potential for security breaches can rise exponentially as more smart meters are implemented into utilities systems.... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agriculture Specialists at Port Huron recently discovered remnants of a khapra beetle, an insect designated for a high-risk of pest infection, in a cargo shipment of split and washed beans from India at the Blue Water Bridge.
After a brief examination,... Read More »
The U.S. House Homeland Security Committee released last week a comprehensive review of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) use of intelligence to counter terrorist threats and activities.
The report, “Reviewing the Department of Homeland Security’s Intelligence Enterprise... Read More »
President Barack Obama signed last week the Northern Border Security Review Act, which passed Congress with bipartisan support and aims to assess and strengthen security at the U.S. border with Canada.
The legislation would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to evaluate... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) released this week a minority staff memorandum detailing federal support for public health research on gun violence and revealing a setback in federal efforts due to a lack of funding
The memo was released on the four-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary... Read More »
