DHS Awards $14.9M to 15 U.S. Small Businesses for R&D Prototypes

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program awarded a total of $14,994,521 to 15 small businesses to further develop technologies intended to support homeland security mission needs. Based on the feasibility of the technologies demonstrated in their Phase I efforts, each Phase II awardee received approximately $1 million to build and demonstrate a prototype over a two-year period.

Cyber Safety Review Board Releases Report on Activities of Global Extortion-Focused Hacker Group Lapsus$

the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the Cyber Safety Review Board’s (CSRB) report summarizing the findings of its review into the activities associated with a threat actor group known as Lapsus$. The CSRB found that Lapsus$ leveraged simple techniques to evade industry-standard security tools that are a lynchpin of many corporate cybersecurity programs and outlined 10 actionable recommendations for how government, companies, and civil society can better protect against Lapsus$ and similar groups.

DHS Announces Additional $374.9 Million in Funding to Boost State, Local Cybersecurity

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the availability of $374.9 million in grant funding for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP). State and local governments face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats to their critical infrastructure and public safety. Now in its second year, the SLCGP is a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity grant program specifically for state, local, and territorial (SLT) governments across the country to help them strengthen their cyber resilience.

HHS Awards $2.5 Million to Help Decrease Food Insecurity in Native Communities

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Indian Health Service, awards $2.5 million in funding to support the development of produce prescription programs in tribal communities. The purpose of the IHS Produce Prescription Pilot Program is to help reduce food insecurity and improve health care outcomes among American Indian and Alaska Native people by increasing access to produce and other traditional foods within Native communities.

Joint Statement from Mexico and the United States on Shared Efforts to Combat Illicit Fentanyl, Disrupt Arms Trafficking, and Humanely Manage Migration

On July 24, a U.S delegation led by Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie Canegallo, Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco, and Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Rich Verma were hosted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and senior Government of Mexico officials to further the significant cooperation that our countries already have undertaken, including on the global fight against illicit fentanyl and dual-use chemical substances, combatting arms trafficking, managing migration, and modernizing our shared border. This meeting built on previous high-level meetings led by Dr. Sherwood-Randall and Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez.

DHS S&T Awards Funds to PNNL to Research the Future of Emergency Management

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded $1.67 million to the Department of Energy (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to conduct research on strengthening and reimagining the future emergency response structure. Tactical actions will focus on advancing next generation emergency operation centers (EOCs), supporting state, local, tribal, territorial emergency managers to enhance communication and coordination, improving response capabilities during emergencies, and aiming to reduce societal and economic costs of disasters.

SAFECOM Nationwide Survey

Influence the future of emergency communications by participating in the SNS! Any agency or organization that is charged with a public-safety related mission and uses emergency communications technology is encouraged to take the survey.

TSA Stopped 3,251 Firearms at Airport Checkpoints Nationwide During the First Half of 2023

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intercepted 3,251 firearms at airport security checkpoints during the first half of 2023, which ended June 30. The total represents an average 18 firearms per day at TSA checkpoints of which more than 92% were loaded. This is an increase from the first half of 2022 when Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) stopped 3,053 firearms at security checkpoints of which more than 86% were loaded.

Secretary Mayorkas Delivers Updates on DHS Campaign to Stop Fentanyl Through Interdiction and Supply Chain Disruption

after an inspection of contraband interdiction operations at the International Mail Facility (IMF) operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at JFK International Airport, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas provided an update on DHS’s surge campaign to target and prevent fentanyl and its precursor chemicals from entering the United States. Following the success of Operations Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen, which stopped nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl and led to 284 arrests during a two-month period earlier this year, the next phase of DHS’s campaign to target and disrupt the fentanyl supply chain has stopped over 5,000 pounds of precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl in its first few weeks.
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