• CyberForce Program Now offering Year-Round Cyber Defense Events

    The cybersecurity field is facing a shortfall of 1.8 million professionals by 2022. To fill that skills gap, Argonne, in partnership with DOE, launched CyberForce in 2016 as an annual competition that has challenged college teams to build and defend a simulated energy infrastructure from cyber attacks. DOE is now expanding its CyberForce program and offers more ways for students to test their cybersecurity skills.

  • Delivering Aid to Disaster Scenes with Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Vehicles

    DHS S&T, along with other government agencies, is working on the design and creation of the “H2Rescue” emergency vehicle. The H2Rescue is an innovative new truck that can be a lifeline to responders and community members during times of chaos and uncertainty because the H2Rescue is fully powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

  • Redefining Homeland Security: A New Framework for DHS to Meet Today’s Challenges

    A new report from the Center for American Progress says that to meet the challenges of today, the Biden administration and Congress should reform the Department of Homeland Security around a mission that highlights safety and services alongside its traditional protecting roles.

  • New Federal Agency Needed to Help U.S. Compete with China in Advanced Industries, Technologies: Report

    To compete effectively with China, the United States must develop and implement a national advanced industry and technology strategy that is explicitly focused on the commercial competitiveness of select sectors that are most critical to the economy—and the U.S. government needs a new, free-standing agency that is solely dedicated to carrying out that mission.

  • The Future of U.S. Pandemic Preparedness

    On May 26, 2021, the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB) held a (virtual) public meeting that discussed actions that the United States needs to take to be better prepared for the challenges posed by public health emergencies such as pandemics, “Disease X,” and other biological threats.

  • Evaluating Border Security Technologies on the Plains (and in the Skies) of North Dakota

    Safeguarding and securing the northern border against threats and illegal activities, such as human trafficking and smuggling of illicit drugs, presents unique challenges because of its various distinct landscapes and multiple points of entry into the country.

  • DHS Awards $4.2 Million to U.S. Small Business for Homeland Security R&D

    DHS S&T announced the award of 29 competitive research contracts to 25 small businesses across the United States to participate in Phase I of the DHS Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Each project will receive up to $150,000 from the DHS SBIR Program to conduct proof-of-concept research over a five-month period to address specific homeland security technology needs.

  • At the Critical Intersection of Public Health and Homeland Security

    Promoting wellbeing of “communities and families” makes the nation safer, says the new chief medical officer for DHS. “I think what this pandemic has shown us is that if we think about the need to build systems that promote the health and wellbeing of communities and families, we’re going to be better off as a nation,” he says. “We’re going to be safer.”

  • Biden to Quadruple Refugee Cap

    U.S. President Joe Biden, who initially decided to keep intact his predecessor’s historically low number of annual refugee admissions, Monday announced he is quadrupling this year’s total. Two weeks ago, the White House announced that the cap for the current fiscal year would be kept at 15,000, the level set by former President Donald Trump. That announcement came despite Biden’s promise that after his inauguration in January he would significantly expand the program.

  • Georgia State’s Designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research, Education

    The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have designated Georgia State University as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research and a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education through 2025.

  • DHS Announces Domestic Violent Extremism Review at DHS

    DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday announced an internal review to address the threat of domestic violent extremism within DHS. A cross-departmental working group comprising senior officials will begin a comprehensive review of how to best prevent, detect, and respond to threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS. 

  • Students Collaborate to Solve Homeland Security Challenges

    In the parlance of homeland security, soft targets are places that are easily accessible to the general public and relatively unprotected. Last month, innovative students from Arizona State University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas competed in “Hardening Soft Targets” – a DHS-sponsored 3-day event in which students worked directly with experts from DHS, the Phoenix Police Department, industry leaders, and academics.

  • Cybersecurity Tech for Emergency Communications Centers

    DHS S&T is expanding pilot testing of a technology to improve the cybersecurity defenses of the nation’s emergency communications infrastructure. Odenton, Md.-based SecuLore Solutions in the research and development (R&D) of a cybersecurity defense solution based on predictive analytics and cyber data that helps detect and mitigate cybersecurity attacks against legacy emergency communications systems and new Next Generation 911 (NG911) and Internet Protocol-based technologies.

  • Monitoring Current and Future Biological Threats

    DHS S&T has awarded $199,648 to Mesur.io Inc., for analysis and reporting of outbreak-related data. The Mesur.io project proposes to adapt their Earthstream Platform to provide DHS and NBIC with data that tracks metrics related to an outbreak or emergence to predict various risks of a biological threat.

  • U.S. Set to Retaliate against Russia, China for Massive Cyber Attacks

    Senior officials in the Biden administration on Friday said that the administration is finalizing its decision on how to retaliate forcefully for state-sponsored hacking, as fears in the United States and Western Europe are growing over the consequences of two recent major cyberattacks. Officials said that U.S. retaliatory measures – “some seen, some unseen” – will be coming in matter of weeks, nit months.