Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announced the members of the new Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Registration Task Force. Earl Lawrence, director of the FAA's UAS Integration Office, and Dave Vos of Google X will co-chair the group. Interested parties who are not members of the task force may submit comments to the public docket.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced nearly $2.3 billion in loans to build and improve rural electric infrastructure in 31 states. The funding includes more than $108 million for smart grid technology, $41 million for renewable energy improvements and $9 million for storm damage repairs. These loans will help build or improve 12,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines.
To enable a better understanding of how terrorist organizations network and function over time, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) has launched the Big Allied and Dangerous (BAAD) online platform. This tool features updated, vetted and sourced narratives, and relationship information and social network data on 50 of the most notorious terrorist organizations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a redesigned online tool making it easier to search data on foodborne disease outbreaks. The updated Foodborne Outbreak Online Database Tool (FOOD Tool) lets users search nearly 20 years of outbreak data by state, food, or germ.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Continuity Programs' Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Division has begun to assess the feasibility of a public alert and warning capability that is being developed in the private sector.
Smiths Detection Inc. announces its dual-view HI-SCAN 6040-2is X-ray has become its latest system to be accepted into the "Qualified" section of TSA's Air Cargo Screening Technology List (ACSTL.) The HI-SCAN 6040-2is is an advanced, dual-view X-ray inspection system which uses multiple views and sophisticated algorithms to indicate items that might be threats.
Establishing global food security is important not only to hundreds of millions of hungry people, but also to the sustainable economic growth of developing nations and the long-term economic prosperity of the United States. By helping countries become more food secure and raising incomes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is also expanding markets for U.S. producers.
A recent large-scale training exercise, called MOBEX 2015, tested the readiness levels and skills of first responders with the Florida Task Force 4 (FL-TF4) and Lakeland Fire Department. The scenario revolved around a simulated tornado that ripped through Lakeland, Florida, on 8 October 2015, and trapped multiple "victims" in the path of its destruction.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Kathryn Sullivan announced $5.7 million in cooperative research agreements and grants to improve the forecasting of hazardous and extreme weather, which will accelerate the development and use of advanced observing systems, forecast models, and other decision-support tools to improve the nation's resilience to hazardous weather.
The United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) awarded contracts to two companies to manufacture doses of avian influenza vaccine. This action is being taken to develop the Agency's National Veterinary Stockpile, and does not signal a decision to vaccinate for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
