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In the wake of the House passage of a three month Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization patch - H.R. 4721 - ahead of its March 31 expiration, U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) released a statement calling for even further action.
“As the House acts to clear the way for a... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Tuesday the launch of the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS), an electronic program designed to enhance border security as per the bilateral arrangement with China to issue 10-year validity tourist and business visas.
According to the... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Friday that Martel Valencia-Cortez, a known criminal and human trafficker, had turned himself in to authorities at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Martel Valencia-Cortez is a known human trafficker and has been linked to and involved with numerous... Read More »
U.S. Army Cyber Command and Second Army (ARCYBER) recently announced that it had launched several new initiatives to realize Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s vision for greater cooperation between DOD and Silicon Valley.
One of these initiatives is the Silicon Valley Innovation Pilot, which... Read More »
The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) announced on Monday that it has built an enhanced threat detection device called CASTLE that increases the range of detection for CBRNE threats.
CASTLE, which stands for CBRNE assessment science and technology lab at ECBC, greatly... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in cooperation with the National Authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, began a new training course last week dealing with potential transfers of chemical weapons in certain areas.
The initiative focuses on... Read More »
A new report released on Monday by the Syrian-American Medical Society revealed that more than 600 chemical attacks have killed 1,491 people during the five years of ongoing conflict in Syria.
The report, “The New Normal, Ongoing Chemical Attacks in Syria,” found that 69 chemical weapon... Read More »
The National International Health Regulations (IHR) Focal Point of Uruguay announced last week that the country has seen a sustained increase in the number of suspected cases - 570 - and confirmed cases - 17 - of dengue fever.
All confirmed cases were positive for dengue virus by reverse... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Wednesday that officers assigned to the Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge seized a load of alleged methamphetamine hidden within a vehicle attempting to pass customs.
“I congratulate our CBP officers for their diligence and... Read More »
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson addressed the state of the nation’s border security last week, with a particular emphasis on the southern border.
“In February 2016, apprehensions by the Border Patrol on our southwest border – an indicator of total attempts to cross the border... Read More »
After a three-day consultation on the virus, the World Health Organization released the criteria on Wednesday by which Zika virus research and development should advance.
The first way to to combat the virus to is continue to develop novel ultiplex tests for flaviviruses, or viruses related to... Read More »
The Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), part of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC), hailed the substance of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework on Wednesday, calling its standards “rosetta stone-like.”
The framework... Read More »
The Alliance for Biosecurity applauded Wednesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approval of the Medical Countermeasure Innovation Act, S. 2055.
The legislation would accelerate the development of new vaccines and medicines meant to protect American citizens from... Read More »
The U.S. Army Contracting Command announced on Feb. 25 that it had awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to provide logistics support services to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense... Read More »
As part of the yearly budget process for the Department of Homeland Security, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ron Johnson (R-WI) opened the budget submission for fiscal year 2017 on Tuesday.
“I would like to thank Secretary Jeh Johnson for appearing... Read More »
The 2016 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) kicked off on Friday to showcase college students from more than 180 schools in a contest to determine who best protects their computer network against real-world cyber attack scenarios.
The contest begins with 10 regional events,... Read More »
According to a study released on Monday by the Governing Institute, AT&T and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), 80 percent of elected and appointed officials say that they don’t know if their home state has a cybersecurity incident plan in place.
The survey included responses from a... Read More »
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director General Ahmet Uzumcu announced last week that the European Union has provided a total of $5 million for fact-finding work in Syria and other joint United Nations ventures.
“This important contribution will enable the... Read More »
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its travel and trade-related statistics for fiscal year 2015 on Monday.
“I want to thank the men and women of CBP for their unrelenting commitment to our national security mission,” CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske said. “CBP... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry arrested three suspects on Saturday in a failed smuggling attempt on March 1.
A Canadian citizen, Leszek Budzyna, was charged with attempted alien smuggling and making false statements to officials. Two Polish... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday responded to a letter led by Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) urging the agency to add Zika virus to the FDA tropical disease priority review voucher (PRV) program.
In its response, the FDA opted to not add the virus to its voucher program.
By... Read More »
Immunovaccine, Inc., announced on Wednesday that it will begin a research project toward the development of a vaccine to fight against the emerging Zika virus.
Immunovaccine said the vaccine will be developed using its proprietary DepoVax platform, which has produced some promising results in... Read More »
Harris CapRock Communications announced on Thursday the launch of its SafePass Pro software, which is an advanced cyber security solution for proactive defense against cyber attacks targeting oil and gas IT infrastructures.
The cyber security platform features Alert Logic threat monitoring... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Thursday the opening of a Global Entry Enrollment Center in Port Clinton that will operate as a center for processing applicants for CBP’s trusted traveler programs, including Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI.
Enrollment centers like the new... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published a study this week detailing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) efforts to curb illegal immigration into the United States.
The study stems from previous agency reports... Read More »
A new study published this week in the online open-access journal mBio suggests that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) develops mutations that make the virus less virulent, rather than more virulent.
The virus causes severe respiratory infection and has a worldwide... Read More »
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the National Commission on Security and Technology on Monday.
The commission was formed in the wake of the Apple’s public refusal to follow the FBI’s order to program a backdoor into... Read More »
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office, along with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, announced this week that a compound demonstrated no adverse effects in its Phase 1 trials against the Ebola virus.
The compound, GS-5734,... Read More »
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced this week that they have developed a new simulation for drug-membrane permeability, increasing the production speed for nerve agent treatments.
By using in-house supercomputers, LLNL researchers are simulating the energy... Read More »
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Wednesday about the continuing danger posed by Zika virus to the Americas and plans to respond to the virus both nationally and internationally.
Zika virus is primarily spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Such... Read More »
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced on Monday the discovery of one of the key ways the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) changes and adapts between patients, allowing for even more research on the complex condition.
MERS-CoV is a deadly... Read More »
Tenable Network Security, Inc., released on Monday its latest security solution - a series of dashboard useable across multiple platforms that allow governments and other organizations to keep track of its cyber security status in real time - on Monday.
The dashboards are configured according to... Read More »
The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced a discovery last week that a single monoclonal antibody isolated from a human Ebola virus disease survivor protected non-human primates from the virus.
The antibody can now advance to testing in humans as a potential... Read More »
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) recently announced that it has developed a device known as SmartCAR that uses colorimetric assay to identify such dangerous chemical compounds as anthrax, ricin and plague.
“Although much of the technology in SmartCAR is commercial off-the-shelf, it... Read More »
SIGA Technologies, Inc., announced on Wednesday that it had officially received FDA concurrence on its lead product, tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX and ST-246.
Tecovirimat is an orally administered antiviral drug that targets orthopoxvirus-related diseases, including smallpox.
The... Read More »
