The Budget Control Act established a set of limits on federal spending, as well as a set of mechanisms to adjust those limits to accommodate special categories, like congressionally designated major disasters. This report examines how the adjustment has functioned over the first five years, and what the future of disaster relief may look like for the next five years and beyond.
As part of the broader response to Zika, the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated an emergency research and development (R&D) plan that aims to develop and implement a roadmap for R&D preparedness regarding emerging pathogens, for which there are no, or insufficient, preventive and curative solutions.
The Office of National Capital Region Coordination, within the Department of Homeland Security, has taken various actions - mainly through coordination with state and local agencies - to help improve emergency communications interoperability in the National Capital Region, a legally designated area including Washington, D.C., and nearby parts of Virginia and Maryland. This report reviews these efforts.
The World Health Organization has activated its emergency operations incident management system to coordinate the international response to the Zika outbreak. This plan provides support to affected countries, builds capacity to prevent further outbreaks and control them when they do occur, and facilitates research to better understand this virus and its effects.
This report addresses the ethical and operational concerns in research design, participant recruitment, data collection, and data interpretation during disaster research. In this report, researchers learn about procedural challenges that can only be overcome by prior planning, including having a research team properly trained in and prepared for the unique aspects of disaster research.
The purpose of the study was to learn more about people's opinions and attitudes toward disaster preparedness with a focus on children in disasters. Findings from this national survey have identified important insights into the lack of preparedness among U.S. households as well as a lack of progress in integrating families and children into community disaster planning.
James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence for the U.S., offered this Statement of the United States Intelligence Community's 2016 assessment of threats to US national security. Global threats discussed include cyber and technology, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and proliferation, space and counterspace, counterintelligence, transnational organized crime, economics and natural resources, and human security.
This statement describes progress and challenges that the U.S. Government Accountability Office has reported in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) implementation of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center and BioWatch as well as considerations for the future of biosurveillance efforts at DHS.
This U.S. Government Accountability Office reviewed the extent to which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and regional offices have: (a) addressed preparedness grant management coordination challenges; (b) established a system to assess National Incident Management System implementation; and (c) collaborated with Regional Advisory Council stakeholders.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) leads the agency's preparedness and response activities by providing strategic direction, support, and coordination for activities. This report highlights how OPHPR strengthens the nation's health security to save lives and protect against public health threats.
