Recent News

By Category: Countermeasures

State Department Elevates Office of Counterterrorism to Full Bureau

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced the elevation of its counterterrorism office to a full-scale bureau in accordance with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call last year for a global effort “that is as nimble and adaptive” as the violent extremists it seeks to defeat. Establishing the Counterterrorism Bureau was one Read More »

January 6, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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U.K. Administers Smallpox Vaccine to Medical Personnel for Bioterror Response

(Global Security Newswire) The United Kingdom has administered smallpox vaccinations to more than five hundred medical personnel who could treat victims of a potential terrorism strike involving the virus at this summer’s Olympic Games in London, the London Telegraph reported on Sunday. The nation has amassed enough smallpox vaccine doses to "mount a U.K.-wide vaccination Read More »

January 5, 2012
| Filed under Europe and Countermeasures
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NIAID Awards $9.4M for Anthrax Vaccine Project

(Global Security Newswire) A New Jersey firm has won $9.4 million in federal funding for work on a new anthrax vaccine in conjunction with Harvard University, the Times of Trenton reported on Tuesday. The funds, provided by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, would support efforts by the biopharmaceutical company Soligenix to Read More »

January 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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FEMA Trained 93,500 Emergency Responders on WMD Readiness in 2011

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Center for Domestic Preparedness in 2011 helped prepare 93,500 state and jurisdictional emergency personnel in averting and managing the aftermath of a terrorist strike incorporating chemical , biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive substances, the Homeland Security Department said. Separately, the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and Read More »

January 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Using microbes to fight microbes

(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) There are more microorganisms in and on our bodies than human cells. In fact, scientists estimate that microorganisms outnumber human cells by 10 to 1. These microbes cover our skin, nose, mouth, and gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts. Called the “human microbiome,” scientists are investigating the relationship between these microbes and Read More »