Category: IA News

Last week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new partnership between their Blue Campaign and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General to raise awareness about human trafficking. Blue Campaign Chair Maria Odom, said “The Blue Campaign is honored to work alongside the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. Partnerships like this are important to our […]

Today the White House released a Presidential Policy Directive (PPD-41) focused on U.S. cyber incident coordination. PPD-41 sets forth principles governing the federal government’s response to any cyber incident, whether involving government or private sector entities. The new directive also establishes lead federal agencies, lays a structure for coordinating broader federal government response, and requires the Departments […]

On Tuesday, members of the  Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC) met to discuss cybersecurity policy issues in the financial sector. The FBIIC is made up of 18 federal and state financial regulatory organizations, and is chaired by the Treasury Department. The FBIIC meets regularly to coordinate cybersecurity strategy and policy developments, adopting cybersecurity best […]

On July 13, the State Department hosted a public-private sector roundtable discussion on the Zika virus. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom and Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Amy Pope opened the discussion. Higginbottom and Pope both spoke on the “growing public health emergency” that is already effecting tens of thousands of lives. In her […]

In June, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report assessing federal agencies’ efforts to combat human trafficking. The report, GAO-16-555, focuses on the prevalence of human trafficking, victim issues, and avoiding grant duplication. Many U.S. federal agencies lead efforts to address human trafficking. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security lead federal investigations and prosecutions of trafficking crimes. The […]

The State Department has announced that they will host a series of working discussions to encourage private-public partnerships to combat the Zika virus on July 13. The event will bring together over 100 participants from the government and the private sector, and will be lead by senior representatives from the Departments of State and Homeland Security. During the discussions, […]

Today the Obama Administration announced a new strategy to help agencies build the cybersecurity workforce. The Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy is designed to “grow the pipeline of highly skilled cybersecurity talent entering federal service” and to retain and invest in that talent. In a blog post announcing the Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy, the authors discuss the persistence […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report assessing the Department of Defense’s (DoD) progress incorporating the Homeland Response Force into the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) response enterprise. DoD is expected to play a prominent role in supporting civil authorities in a CBRN incident, and the Homeland Response Force is intended to bridge […]

On June 30, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the release of the State Department’s 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report focuses on strategies to prevent human trafficking around the globe, analyzing governments’ prosecution, protection, and prevention efforts. The 2016 report also builds on previous reports, featuring ways governments can identify people most at-risk and reduce […]

The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi has released their proposed report on 2012 terrorist attack that killed four Americans. The report includes “many new revelations” and is critical of the Obama administration’s response. The report details relevant events in 2011 and 2012 that led up to the terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in […]