Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen met with the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) to discuss her priorities for the Department. The group discussed a range of homeland security issues and Secretary Nielsen swore in eight new members to the HSAC: Jayson P. Ahern, Stewart A. Baker, Frank J. Cilluffo, Mark J. Dannels, Carol DiBattiste, Cathy Lanier, Wendy Smith-Reeve, and Chad Sweet.
A new web-based tool can help security professionals for commercial office buildings perform assessments based on the Best Practices for Anti-Terrorism Security (BPATS) for commercial office buildings. With best practices developed by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, in partnership with the National Institute of Building Sciences, building owners seeking protections under the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act can use the tool when developing their application packages.
President Donald Trump has released a National Biodefense Strategy and signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum that will strengthen the nation’s defenses against biological threats to health and safety. The implementation of these actions will promote a more efficient, coordinated, and accountable biodefense enterprise.
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed by a voice vote the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 2018 (H.R. 6198). Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen established the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office in December 2017. If enacted into law, this legislation would permanently establish the office and grant it new authorities to protect the American people against evolving WMD threats.
As Hurricane Florence makes landfall, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and its federal partners remain in close coordination to help ensure that emergency officials effectively address the needs of at-risk populations as part of disaster response. Emergency responders and officials should consider adopting, as circumstances and resources allow, practices to help make sure all segments of the community are served.
In a crisis, a picture or video is worth a thousand words. The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) saw a requirement to provide responders with a secure, readily accessible way to allow both the picture and the words to help responders make better decisions in a crisis. Together, S&T and partners, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab and SpectraRep, developed the solution: S&T’s Datacasting Project.
Calling all chief officers, company-level officers, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) supervisors, and EMS personnel who operate within the Incident Command System (ICS) and want to study successfully employed incident command techniques for the management of medium to large incidents involving multiple sick or injured patients. Course openings available in October 2018 and January 2019. Register today!
In 2017, the United States suffered three back-to-back hurricanes that caused catastrophic damage in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. That experience highlighted the importance of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) – a federally coordinated system that augments the nation’s medical response capability during times of disasters or public health emergencies.
The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) released the Fentanyl Safety Recommendations for First Responders’ companion training video Fentanyl: The Real Deal. The video was produced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to help first responders protect themselves when the presence of fentanyl is suspected or encountered on the job.
Tragic events at the Boston Marathon, African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, and Pulse nightclub in Orlando are reminders that ideologically motivated violent extremists pose a persistent threat to Americans of all backgrounds. Since 2010, the U.S. government has invested more than $20 million into understanding all forms of radicalization to violence, as well as effective prevention and intervention measures.
