Government - federal, state, local | Homeland Security Newswire

Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened
The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noem’s big donors make the ask.
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Health Officials from 10 Northeast States Officially Band Together
More states are responding to – and rebuking — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s antivaccine efforts by pulling their resources so they can provide evidence-based, science-informed vaccine guidance and coordinate public health efforts which are independent of the federal government.
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As Tensions Over RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policy Mount, States Act to Secure Access to Vaccines
In an effort to secure the health of their citizens, several states have acted quickly to preserve vaccine access through legislation, bills, executive orders, and regional collaborations that can issue independent recommendations and expand pharmacy-based administration of vaccines regardless of federal guidance. The action reflects a loss of confidence in the CDC and its vaccination committee which HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stacked with vaccine skeptics.
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Vaccine Death and Side Effects Database Relies on Unverified Reports – and Trump Officials and Right-Wing Media Are Applying It Out of Context
In its meeting over the last two days, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has discussed reports linking 25 child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines. These death reports are derived from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a database the anti-vaccine movement and conspiracy theorists have used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.
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The Future of Malign Influence Campaigns Is Here: In Moldova, the U.S. Allows Russia a Free Play
The Trump administration has dismantled the U.S. capabilities built to track, thwart, and respond to Russian disinformation and influence campaigns both around the world and in the United States. Russia will not be the only one to exploit this unilateral U.S. disarmament: China, Iran, North Korea, and other adversaries of the United States will readily, and gratefully, exploit it, too.
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Two Decades Later, the Experience of Katrina Continues to Shape How the Nation Prepares for and Responds to Disasters
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath exposed profound gaps in multiple systems, including flood protection, emergency response, health care, and housing. It marked a turning point in the way we understand the impacts of natural disasters.
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Kennedy Hearing Deepens Crisis Over Dismantling of CDC Leadership - Health Scholar Explains Why the Agency’s Ability to Protect Public Health Is Compromised
CDC, long considered the nation’s –if not the world’s –premier public health organization, is unraveling. The reason: HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s effort to emasculate the agency, undermine its scientific foundations, replace scientists in the agency with unqualified anti-vaxxers, do away with its evidence-to-recommendations framework, and promote skepticism, if not rejection, of science and scientific methods. Public health professionals are now warning the public that vaccine recommendations coming from the CDC may not be trustworthy.
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Former NIH Officials File Whistleblower Complaint
Two former top NIH officials have filed whistleblower complaints, claiming they were removed from leadership positions over their objections to agency leadership’s hostility toward vaccines, politicization of scientific research, and suspension of funding for clinical trials and foreign research.
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We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who served as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations, serving under presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trrump, argue that HHS Secretary Roert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a clear and present danger to the health of Americans. He has placed anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists at top HHS positions, and he appears to be guided by a hostility to science and a belief in bizarre, unscientific approaches to public health.
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Florida Plans to Scrap Kid Vaccine Mandates as HHS Employees Demand RFK Jr Resignation
In ongoing upheaval over antivaccine policies espoused by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his allies in Florida today—in a national first—announced plans to scrap requirements for school-based vaccination.
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Health Leaders, Medical Groups: CDC Leader Exodus Puts Nation's Health at Risk
As news broke of the ouster of newly confirmed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, PhD, and the resignations of some of the agency’s top scientists, reactions came fast and furious from public health leaders, professional groups, and lawmakers.
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Chaos Continues at CDC
RFK Jr. has replaced the scientists who served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with individuals who share his skepticism about the efficacy of vaccines in fighting disease. These vaccine-skeptics have formed a new working group to review the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and named an operation research professor with no background in medicine, or in science more generally, to chair the working group. Chaos ensued.
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Standing Around in Washington, D.C.
What, exactly, is the National Guard really doing in Washington, D.C.? Benjamin Wittes writes in Lawfare that they just stand around. “This deployment isn’t really about doing anything. It’s not going to do anything about D.C.’s crime problem, though I’m sure the president will make up whatever numbers he needs to claim otherwise.” The answer is: “It’s a way of showing who owns whom. And doing it over nothing, for no reason other than that the president can do it, shows who’s boss in a way that doing it for a reason never could.”
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Hurricane Katrina: 3 Painful Lessons for Emergency Management Are Increasingly Important 20 Years Later
Hurricane Katrina looms large in the history of American emergency management, both for what went wrong as the disaster unfolded and for the policy changes it triggered. As efforts to reform –and possibly rebalance –the U.S. emergency management system continue, it is essential to remember and heed the costly lessons of Hurricane Katrina.
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A Shining Star in a Contentious Legacy: Could Marty Makary Be the Saving Grace of a Divisive Presidency?
While much of the Trump administration has sparked controversy, the FDA’s consumer-first reforms may be remembered as its brightest legacy. From AI-driven drug reviews to bans on artificial dyes, the FDA’s agenda resonates with the public in ways few Trump-era policies have.
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Government - federal, state, local

Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened

Health Officials from 10 Northeast States Officially Band Together

As Tensions Over RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policy Mount, States Act to Secure Access to Vaccines

Vaccine Death and Side Effects Database Relies on Unverified Reports – and Trump Officials and Right-Wing Media Are Applying It Out of Context

The Future of Malign Influence Campaigns Is Here: In Moldova, the U.S. Allows Russia a Free Play

Two Decades Later, the Experience of Katrina Continues to Shape How the Nation Prepares for and Responds to Disasters

Kennedy Hearing Deepens Crisis Over Dismantling of CDC Leadership - Health Scholar Explains Why the Agency’s Ability to Protect Public Health Is Compromised

Former NIH Officials File Whistleblower Complaint

We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

Florida Plans to Scrap Kid Vaccine Mandates as HHS Employees Demand RFK Jr Resignation

Health Leaders, Medical Groups: CDC Leader Exodus Puts Nation's Health at Risk

Chaos Continues at CDC

Standing Around in Washington, D.C.

Hurricane Katrina: 3 Painful Lessons for Emergency Management Are Increasingly Important 20 Years Later

A Shining Star in a Contentious Legacy: Could Marty Makary Be the Saving Grace of a Divisive Presidency?

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