Critical Releases in Homeland Security: April 20, 2022

From the Executive Summary: "More than ever before, cyber criminals have the ability to disrupt Americans' lives from anywhere in the world. Over time, attackers' tactics have evolved and improved and cyberattacks now have the potential to paralyze entire industry sectors. Organizations are racing to update their systems and improve their defenses to counter this threat. The proliferation of ransomware attacks is a primary example of this challenge. [...] This report details the attacks by Russia-based ransomware group REvil [Ransomware Evil] on three American companies, and the experiences of those companies during the incident response. The goal of this report is to provide information companies and agencies can use to prepare for and respond to ransomware attacks."

From the Executive Summary: "The exploitation of wildlife through hunting and trade facilitates opportunities for animal-human interactions and zoonotic disease transmission. Furthermore, advances in DNA sequencing, gene-editing, and synthetic biology (among others) hold the promise of profound advances in healthcare, crop and environmental sustainability, and economic growth. Unfortunately, these are dual-use technologies that could yield accidental, unintended, and deliberate misuse by creating deadly pathogens or disrupting ecological balances. [...] 'The Athena Agenda: Advancing The Apollo Program for Biodefense' contains additional recommendations to execute The Apollo Program, building on the Commission's previous work and taking into consideration the efforts of current and former Administrations and Congresses. This report provides the following specific governance and technology recommendations to implement The Apollo Program for Biodefense and identifies the US government organizations responsible for leadership and accountability, though certain actions may require or benefit from public-private partnerships."

From the Document: "As the nation's largest law enforcement agency, DHS has a vital role to play in keeping Americans safe while also advancing equity and safeguarding civil rights and civil liberties. To deliver its mission of securing the homeland, DHS is focused on addressing the threats that underserved communities face, especially from racially motivated domestic violent extremism. Over the past year, DHS has worked to address threats to Asian American communities stemming from anti-Asian bias and xenophobia while addressing the continuing threats that domestic violent extremism poses to all Americans, including threats targeting communities of color and religious communities. DHS is committed to combatting all forms of terrorism and targeted violence, including terrorism and targeted violence meant to intimidate or coerce specific populations on the basis of their ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or political views."

From the Executive Summary: "In 2019, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) was directed to provide Congress with a report on the state of school policing in the United States that examined the current role of police in schools and provided recommendations on how they can better serve the needs of students. To address this directive, NIJ engaged two consultants to conduct a comprehensive literature review and examination of data sources, facilitate four days of expert panel discussions, and synthesize the results from these data collection efforts. This report is the result of those efforts. The report focuses exclusively on the United States and on sworn officers and does not consider the use of school police in nations outside the United States or on the employment of private security, retired military, or other types of nonsworn police in schools. Much of the writing of this report occurred in 2020 amid the civil unrest stemming from the murder of George Floyd and the police killings of other people of color. It also was written during the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, which undoubtedly will also have impacts on school policing. This report focuses on what we currently knew at the time of its writing."

From the Introduction: "The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has significant opportunities to improve collaboration with the electric industry to bolster the resilience of the Defense Critical Electric Infrastructure (DCEI) that serves Critical Defense Facilities (CDFs). Based on insights provided by responsible utilities (RUs) that own or operate DCEI, this report offers specific proposals for progress. Some proposals can be implemented by DOE under its own authorities. Yet, given the inherently public-private and intergovernmental nature of many DCEI challenges, other recommendations would require DOE to partner with RUs, additional industry stakeholders, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and state regulators."