Weapons of Bioterrorism

Specific Technologies, a Mountain View, California-based diagnostic system developer, announced the results on Monday of a study that demonstrates the pathogenic detection abilities of the company’s bioterrorism detection system. The study was published in PLoS ONE and demonstrated 100 percent … Read More…

U.K. Foreign Minister David Hague urged Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime on Thursday to allow the U.N. chemical weapon investigation team to have unlimited access to Syria. Hague made the statement after hearing new reports alleging the use of chemical weapons … Read More…

The New York City Police Department, along with the Brookhaven Lab, will conduct a study this summer of how airflow in the streets and subways could move airborne contaminants. The Subway-Surface Air Flow Exchange study seeks to determine how a possible … Read More…

RAE Systems announced on Wednesday that it will soon demonstrate its new personal gas and radiation detection monitor data stream that connects to its ProRAE Guardian browser based software. RAE Systems gave the announcement in anticipation of the American Industrial … Read More…

Argon Electronics launched its new spectrometer simulation probe on May 3, the RIIDEye-SIM-NaI-P, which simulates hazardous materials to safely train response teams for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. The new device uses the Thermo RIIDEye handheld Radiation Isotope Identifier … Read More…

Battelle was recently awarded a contract for $76 million from Bechtel National, Inc., to support chemical weapon destruction at its Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Kentucky. The new Destruction Pilot Plant is part of the Blue Grass Chemical Agent facility. … Read More…

The Second Assistance and Protection Training Course for Instructors took place at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Headquarters in The Hague May 1 through May 8. The initial course was a test project in November that proved … Read More…

The U.S. Army posted a formal notice on Tuesday seeking a company to develop and produce systems for the Joint Biological Tactical Detection System, including biological warfare agent detection, collection and identification hardware and software. The JBTDS system is a … Read More…

Two instructors from Hotzone Solutions gave support to the Centre d’expertise Sécurité Nucléaire – Nucléaire, radiologique, biologique et chimique to train fire fighters in Cazaux, France from March 25 to 29. CBRN handling is an important part of the modern … Read More…

Battelle announced on Wednesday that it was recently awarded a $76 million contract to support the ongoing systemization activities at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Richmond, Kentucky. Battelle is a company that applies science and technologies to … Read More…

The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center announced on Tuesday that it would support a long-term remediation effort at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama with near real-time monitoring capabilities. ECBC’s Chemical Biological Application and Risk Reduction Business Unit has supported chemical and … Read More…

Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team and 1st Calvary Division received a refresher lesson on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear training on May 1. Staff Sgt. Sandra Shane-Trovato, a CBRN specialist, conducted the CBRN training. Shane-Trovato said the Chemical … Read More…

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced on Monday that Libya completed the destruction of sulfur mustard agent that was stored in bulk in a depot in Ruwagha. Libya has destroyed 22.3 metric tons of Category 1 chemical … Read More…

An independent United Nations panel said on Monday that it has found “no conclusive findings” of chemical weapon use in Syria, although a final statement must be made June 3. The International Commission of Inquiry on Syria was established in … Read More…

U.S. State Department Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell clarified statements on Monday that were recently made by the United Nations about the possibility that the Syrian opposition used chemical weapons. Over the weekend, the U.N. released a statement that chemical … Read More…

United Nations Human Rights officials are investigating the claim Syrian Rebels allegedly used the chemical agent sarin, which may have serious consequences, considering the international support the rebels have received. “Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors … Read More…

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that the U.N. must be allowed to conduct on-site activities to be able to establish facts related to chemical weapons use in Syria. In March, Ban formed a team of experts, led … Read More…

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü discussed Chemical Weapons Convention compliance during a series of meetings with Azerbaijan government officials in Baku on April 25 and 26. Üzümcü commended Azerbaijan officials on their compliance with the … Read More…

The Chemical Biological Application and Risk Reduction Business Unit of the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center announced on April 30 that it will investigate the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. The Redstone Arsenal contains a reservoir of chemical weapons that … Read More…

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his appeal on Monday for on-site access to Syria for the U.N. team probing the alleged use of chemical weapons during the ongoing conflict. Ban addressed reporters in New York with Åke Sellström, a Swedish … Read More…

The Naval Medical Center Portsmouth began training staff on April 22 to treat patients in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. Twenty-five staff members, already certified at an Operator Level in Hazardous Waste Operations, were trained … Read More…

The staff of Hotzone Solutions recently gave support to a Dutch CBRN team’s live cold-weather training exercises. Military forces need to have teams capable of handling CBRN threats. One of these teams is the Dutch 101 CBRN defense company, which … Read More…

Multiple divisions of the U.S. State Department are watching the chemical weapons accusations in Syria very closely, according to a press briefing on Wednesday. Patrick Ventrell, the acting deputy spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, reaffirmed that the U.S. is … Read More…

U.S. Representative Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) recently commented on the inclusion of funding for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget proposal. The NBAF is a proposed biocontainment facility for the study of foreign … Read More…

The U.S. will not confirm or deny the use of chemical munitions in Syria until an investigation is conducted, according to a State Department press briefing on Tuesday. While Israel claims that Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime has repeatedly used chemical … Read More…

The 26th Marine Expenditionary Unit, along with a sailor assigned to the Battalion Landing Team 3/2, underwent a level B hazardous material suit training on April 17. Since CBRN weapons became a reality in the battlefield, regular training for different … Read More…

The European Commission opened a new European nuclear security training center in Karlsruhe Thursday as part of a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear action plan created in December 2009. EUSECTRA will be used to instruct front-line officers, trainers and CBRN … Read More…

A new Mayo Clinic study suggests that a person’s genetic makeup affects the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine and can have implications for individualizing the vaccine development process. Findings from the genomic screening, conducted by the Mayo Clinic to test … Read More…

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s director and Azerbaijan’s ambassador met on April 12 to talk about defense strategies and other efforts they could work together on. Azerbaijan is tasked with keeping its territories safe from attacks, and the DTRA, an … Read More…

The FBI arrested a Mississippi man on Wednesday that it “believed to be responsible” for mailing letters containing the poison ricin to President Obama, Sen. Rocker Wicker (R-Miss.) and another official. The FBI said that Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested … Read More…

Law enforcement officials confirmed on Tuesday that they had launched an investigation into an envelope containing the poison ricin that was sent to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). “The U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and other agencies are involved in the … Read More…

Chemical weapons were allegedly dropped in a civilian area near Aleppo from a Syrian Army helicopter on April 14, killing a woman and two children, according to Al-Arabiya. Physicians in the Sheikh Maqsood area of Aleppo reported that victims of … Read More…