Professional Documents
Culture Documents
“Bioterrorism is a real threat to our country. It’s a threat to every nation that loves freedom.
Terrorist groups seek biological weapons; we know some rogue states already have them.…It’s
important that we confront these real threats to our country and prepare for future
emergencies.”
“Armed with a single vial of a biological agent…small groups of fanatics, or failing states, could
gain the power to threaten great nations, threaten the world peace. America, and the entire
civilized world, will face this threat for decades to come. We must confront the danger with open
eyes, and unbending purpose.”
Biological weapons in the possession of and life sciences -- including the spread of
hostile states or terrorists pose unique and expertise to create modified or novel
grave threats to the safety and security of the organisms -- present the prospect of new
United States and our allies. toxins, live agents, and bioregulators that
would require new detection methods,
Biological weapons attacks could cause preventive measures, and treatments. These
catastrophic harm. They could inflict trends increase the risk for surprise.
widespread injury and result in massive Anticipating such threats through
casualties and economic disruption. intelligence efforts is made more difficult by
Bioterror attacks could mimic naturally- the dual-use nature of biological
occurring disease, potentially delaying technologies and infrastructure, and the
recognition of an attack and creating likelihood that adversaries will use denial
uncertainty about whether one has even and deception to conceal their illicit
occurred. An attacker may thus believe that activities.
he could escape identification and capture or
retaliation. The stakes could not be higher for our
Nation. Attacks with biological weapons
Biological weapons attacks could be could:
mounted either inside or outside the United
States and, because some biological • Cause catastrophic numbers of acute
weapons agents are contagious, the effects casualties, long-term disease and
of an initial attack could spread widely. disability, psychological trauma, and
Disease outbreaks, whether natural or mass panic;
deliberate, respect no geographic or political
borders. • Disrupt critical sectors of our economy
and the day-to-day lives of Americans;
Preventing and controlling future biological and
weapons threats will be even more
challenging. Advances in biotechnology • Create cascading international effects by
The United States has pursued aggressively • Provided Federal funds to improve the
a broad range of programs and capabilities capacities of state and local health
to confront the biological weapons threat. systems to detect, diagnose, prevent, and
These actions, taken together, represent an respond to biological weapons attacks;
extraordinary level of effort by any measure. and
Among our significant accomplishments, we
have: • Worked with the international
community to strengthen global,
• Expanded international efforts to keep regional and national programs to
dangerous biological materials out of the prevent, detect, and respond to
hands of terrorists; biological weapons attacks.
The Secretary of State is the principal Another critical element of our biodefense
Federal officer responsible for international policy is the development of periodic
terrorist incidents that take place outside the assessments of the evolving biological
U.S. territory, including United States weapons threat. First, the United States
support for foreign consequence requires a continuous, formal process for
management and coordinates, as conducting routine capabilities assessments
appropriate, with heads of other Federal to guide prioritization of our on-going
departments and agencies, to effectively investments in biodefense-related research,
accomplish this mission. When requested development, planning, and preparedness.
by the Secretary of State, and approved by These assessments will be tailored to meet
the Secretary of Defense, the Department of the requirements in each of these areas.
Defense will support United States foreign Second, the United States requires a periodic
consequence management operations, as senior-level policy net assessment that
appropriate. evaluates progress in implementing this
policy, identifies continuing gaps or
The following sections describe our aims vulnerabilities in our biodefense posture,
and objectives for further progress under and makes recommendations for re-
each of the pillars of our national biodefense balancing and refining investments among
program, as well as highlight key roles the pillars of our overall biodefense policy.
played by Federal departments and agencies. The Department of Homeland Security, in
coordination with other appropriate Federal
Threat Awareness departments and agencies, will be
responsible for conducting these
Biological Warfare Related Intelligence assessments.
these same technologies to ensure that we efforts, encouraging increased political and
can anticipate and prepare for the emergence financial support for nonproliferation and
of this threat. We are building the flexibility threat reduction programs. We will also
and speed to characterize such agents, assess continue to expand efforts to control access
existing defenses, and rapidly develop safe and use of pathogens to strengthen security
and effective countermeasures. In addition, and prevention.
we must guard against the spread of
potentially infectious agents from beyond The National Strategy to Combat Weapons
our borders. We are strengthening the of Mass Destruction, released in December
ability of our medical, public health, 2002, places special emphasis on the need
agricultural, defense, law enforcement, for proactive steps to confront WMD
diplomatic, environmental, and threats. Consistent with this approach, we
transportation infrastructures to recognize have improved and will further improve our
and confront such threats and to contain ability to detect and destroy an adversary’s
their impact. The Department of Health and biological weapons assets before they can be
Human Services, in coordination with other used. We are also further expanding
appropriate Federal departments and existing capabilities to interdict enabling
agencies, is working to ensure an integrated technologies and materials, including
and focused national effort to anticipate and through the Proliferation Security Initiative.
respond to emerging biological weapons Additionally, we are working to improve
threats. supporting intelligence capabilities to
provide timely and accurate information to
Prevention and Protection support proactive prevention.
coordination with other appropriate Federal and experience, may be called upon to play
departments and agencies, is developing important supporting roles in mass casualty
comprehensive plans that provide for care.
seamless, coordinated Federal, state, local,
and international responses to a biological Risk Communication
attack.
A critical adjunct capability to mass casualty
Mass Casualty Care care is effective risk communication.
Timely communications with the general
Following a biological weapons attack, all public and the medical and public health
necessary means must be rapidly brought to communities can significantly influence the
bear to prevent loss of life, illness, success of response efforts, including health-
psychological trauma, and to contain the and life-sustaining interventions. Efforts
spread of potentially contagious diseases. will be made to develop communication
Provision of timely preventive treatments strategies, plans, products, and channels to
such as antibiotics or vaccines saves lives, reach all segments of our society, including
protects scarce medical capabilities, those with physical or language limitations.
preserves social order, and is cost effective. These efforts will ensure timely domestic
and international dissemination of
The Administration is working closely with information that educates and reassures the
state and local public health officials to general public and relevant professional
strengthen plans to swiftly distribute needed sectors before, during, and after an attack or
medical countermeasures. Moreover, we are other public health emergency.
working to expand and, where needed,
create new Federal, state, and local medical The Department of Homeland Security, in
and public health capabilities for all-hazard coordination with other appropriate Federal
mass casualty care. departments and agencies, is developing
comprehensive coordinated risk
The Department of Health and Human communication strategies to facilitate
Services, in coordination with other emergency preparedness for biological
appropriate Federal departments and weapons attacks. This includes travel and
agencies, is the principal Federal agency citizen advisories, international coordination
responsible for coordinating all Federal- and communication, and response and
level assets activated to support and recovery communications in the event of a
augment the state and local medical and large-scale biological attack.
public health response to mass casualty
events. For those mass casualty incidents Medical Countermeasure Development
that require parallel deployment of Federal
assets in other functional areas such as Development and deployment of safe,
transportation or law enforcement, the effective medical countermeasures against
Department of Homeland Security will biological weapons agents of concern
coordinate the overall Federal response in remains an urgent priority. The National
accordance with its statutory authorities for Institutes of Health (NIH), under the
domestic incident management. Under direction of the Department of Health and
certain circumstances, the Department of Human Services, is working with the
Veterans Affairs and the Department of Department of Homeland Security, the
Defense, given their specialized expertise Department of Defense, and other agencies
BIODEFENSE FOR THE 2 1 ST C E N T U R Y
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Decontamination