The Department of Defense has created a new DoD Laboratory Network (pdf) to coordinate existing programs on the assessment of and response to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The new Network is intended “to provide timely, high-quality, actionable results for early detection, confirmation, response, and effective consequence management of acts of terrorism or warfare involving CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear] agents; infectious disease outbreaks; and other all-hazards agent events requiring a DoD integrated incident response.”
The initiative was set forth in DoD Instruction 6440.03, “DoD Laboratory Network (DLN),” June 10, 2011.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has updated its “Minimum Security Standards for Safeguarding Biological Select Agents and Toxins,” OPNAV Instruction 5530.16A (pdf), 11 May 2011.
The Department of Defense has also issued new guidance on regulating access to classified nuclear weapons information, including the relatively new (2006) category known as “Sigma 20” information, which pertains to improvised nuclear devices. See “Access to and Dissemination of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data,” DoD Instruction 5210.02 (pdf), 03 June 2011.
This is not the first time Google has agreed to censor imagery at the behest of governments, but be warned: obfuscation at this broad level poses a direct threat to the public’s ability to monitor and scrutinize government operations.
America’s affordability problem is bigger than home prices and rents. The best housing policies make it easier to build homes, and recognize how housing connects to other domains.
America’s affordability problem, for instance, is bigger than home prices and rents. How we build affects household costs like insurance and utilities.
As humans expand our geographic reach, encroach on untouched natural territories, and interact more with animal populations, we will encounter novel zoonotic diseases that threaten the human body. The sooner we act to address these risks, the better.