The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has made progress by taking a number of actions to address the 35 recommendations from the Army’s 2015 investigation report on the inadvertent shipments of live Bacillus anthracis (anthrax). The U.S. Government Accountability Office reviewed DOD documents and key actions in response to the Army’s recommendations and conducted site visits to DOD’s laboratories to develop this report.
As all facets of American life have become more dependent on a secure cyberspace, new vulnerabilities have been revealed and new threats continue to emerge. Building on the National Security Strategy and the Administration’s progress over its first 18 months, the 2018 National Cyber Strategy outlines how the United States will ensure the American people continue to reap the benefits of a secure cyberspace.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) goal for federally supported surveillance activities is to get the right information into the right hands at the right time. A strategic plan to improve surveillance at the CDC was launched in February 2014 to better achieve this goal. This report is a summary of highlighted results from their work to improve surveillance.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Policy– Strategy, Plans, Analysis, and Risk, asked the RAND National Defense Research Institute to design and implement a risk identification and characterization of natural and manmade threats and hazards to identify the greatest risks to homeland security and support prioritization of DHS mission elements as part of DHS strategic planning processes. This report describes the risk assessment methodology RAND researchers devel- oped to address these goals.
The National Biodefense Strategy sets the course for the United States to combat the serious biothreats the country faces. The strategy provides the following: enables risk awareness to inform decision-making across the biodefense enterprise; ensures biodefense enterprise capabilities to prevent bio-incidents; strives for biodefense enterprise preparedness to reduce the impacts of bio-incidents; enables rapid response to limit the impacts of bio-incidents; and facilitates recovery to restore the community, the economy, and the environment after a bio-incident. The strategy establishes a strong leadership structure and a dedicated mechanism to improve coordination of federal biodefense activities.
Disaster-damaged roads and public transportation systems are eligible for federal assistance under two U.S. Department of Transportation programs, the Emergency Relief (ER) Program administered by the Federal Highway Administration and the Public Transportation ER Program administered by the Federal Transit Administration. This report discusses both assistance programs.
The aim of this document is to support countries in developing and conducting simulation exercises to test and validate their national pandemic influenza preparedness plans. It is intended to provide practical guidance on how to select, plan, conduct and evaluate simulation exercises specific to pandemic influenza preparedness and response, and how to set up a process for using the outcomes of these exercises to review and improve pandemic influenza preparedness plans.
The purpose of this publication is to discuss the challenges faced by children and adolescents following natural disasters, shed light on behavioral health consequences (such as PTSD, depression, and acute stress disorder) of being exposed to traumatic events, and present various ways to reduce lasting impacts of such events.
On 1 October 2017, a lone gunman opened fire into the crowd of the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 people and injuring more than 850, including first responders. This report evaluates the strengths and areas for improvement observed during the response to share the knowledge gained from this incident with public safety agencies from across the country to assist in their preparedness efforts.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released the Biosimilars Action Plan to provide information about the key actions the agency is taking to encourage innovation and competition among biologics and the development of biosimilars.
