The 2024 Hurricane Season Campaign began for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) this week, and this year, the agency’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) intends to expand its community outreach by communicating risks through six languages. Targeting those in the most vulnerable locations, the effort will incorporate English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Haitian and Vietnamese languages for all messaging going forward. Over six months, this messaging will encourage residents in hurricane-prone states to study the risks of flooding and obtain quotes for flood insurance policies t ..read more

As a way to support veterans, U.S. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Dale Strong (R-AL), Lou Correa (D-CA), and Glenn Ivey (D-MD) recently introduced legislation that would offer local law enforcement grants to create veteran response teams for use during emergencies. Cosponsored by 13 additional lawmakers, the Supporting Every at-Risk Veteran in Critical Emergencies (SERVICE) Act (H.R. 8140) would authorize the Attorney General to create a pilot program, backed by grants, for local law enforcement agencies. With that funding, law enforcement officers would be expected to form local response ..read more

Mere days after the Department of Homeland Security formed a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety and Security Board, it also released new guidelines for how to protect critical infrastructure and weapons of mass destruction against the threats posed by AI. The report followed six months after President Joe Biden’s executive order on the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” and addressed AI misuse in the development and production of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats.  To start, it offered guidelines for mitigatin ..read more

KBR will continue to provide life support, equipment readiness, training and supply chain solutions for the United States Army Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and European Command (EUCOM) under a new $771 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract option.  The contract awarded this week will perform between March 2024 and March 2025 as part of a Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) V contract. LOGCAP offers indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts with combatant command-based task orders, and in this case, will allow KBR to continue supporting approximately 20,000 U.S. personnel ..read more

In a bid to update federal spectrum and communications network policy, restore the auction authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and push technological investments, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) recently introduced the Spectrum and National Security Act. Pitching the bill as a force positive for national security, Cantwell suggested the legislation would keep millions of consumers connected. It would do so through a balanced process meant to maximize government spectrum usage and promote interagency spectrum cooperation, from military operations to emergency preparedness ..read more

As a new means to advise the Secretary of Homeland Security and stakeholders, and promote safe development of artificial intelligence (AI), the department recently formed the AI Safety and Security Board. Joined by more than 20 technology and critical infrastructure executives, civil rights leaders, academics and lawmakers, the board will recommend ways to assist transportation and internet service providers, pipeline and power grid operators, and others, in using AI technologies more responsibly. It will also develop recommendations related to the prevention of and preparation for AI-related ..read more

Members of Congress recently paraded a mix of recommended updates to benefit military service members as part of the new Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act (H.R. 8070) – and it is set to serve as the base for the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill was introduced by U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Adam Smith (D-WA), chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. They were backed by more than a dozen cosponsors, for legislation that followed a report on bipartisan policy recommendations from the Panel for the FY25 NDAA. “Day and ..read more

The ByteDance-owned TikTok faces an uphill battle in the United States after President Joe Biden signed a law this week forcing it to sell to a U.S. company or be banned outright. Biden’s signature was the final stroke needed to pass the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, originally introduced by U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). While ostensibly introduced to make it illegal to own, distribute, or update social media apps designated foreign adversary controlled applications unless exempted, the act explicitly targeted the C ..read more

Promising to grow space for integrating and delivering on critical defense programs by more than 50 percent, the RTX company Raytheon recently broke ground on a $115 million expansion to its Redstone Raytheon Missile Integration Facility in Alabama. When finished, it should grow the facility by 26,000 square feet and draw approximately 185 new jobs to the area. Primarily, this new work will focus on key missile and defense programs, such as the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) – a tool slated to be the first interceptor to counter the threat of hypersonic glide vehicles during the glide phase of ..read more

In unsealing a 13-page indictment this week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed charges against four Iranian nationals for their alleged involvement in a hacking campaign against the U.S. government and private companies.  The defendants remain at large and the United States has offered a $10 million reward for their whereabouts. Manhattan court documents named the four men as: Hossein Harooni, Reza Kazemifar, Komeil Baradaran Salmani and Alireza Shafie Nasab. Nasab was particularly notable, given previous charges for the same conduct in an unsealed Feb. 29 indictment as well ..read more