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Bioterrorism

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The threat of biological weapons poses unique challenges for government officials charged with devising immediate and longer-term response plans. RAND has developed exercises to train and evaluate the preparedness of state and local public health agencies to respond to bioterrorism. RAND researchers have also examined the longer-term psychological consequences of bioterrorism and created guidelines to improve individual preparedness for chemical, radiological, nuclear, and biological attacks.

Report

Developing Navy Capability to Recover Forces in Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Hazard Environments

Jan 28, 2014

How do you recover and decontaminate amphibious forces if they are attacked with chemical, biological, or radiological weapons while ashore?
Commentary

Countering Bioterror

Jan 18, 2016

While advances in biotechnology have brought a wide range of benefits, biological weapons are now within the reach of many rogue nations and possibly some terrorist groups. Reports show that the U.S. is ill prepared to address this threat.

Explore Bioterrorism

Commentary

Could the Bioweapons Treaty Be Another Tool for Addressing Pandemics?

What might governments do to reduce the risk of future large-scale biological attacks or naturally occurring pandemics? Perhaps now is the right time to revisit the 46-year-old Biological Weapons Convention treaty and make it a better tool against future biological threats.

Mar 12, 2021
Testimony

The Strategic National Stockpile and COVID-19: Rethinking the Stockpile: Addendum

Document submitted August 21, 2020, as an addendum to testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 24, 2020.

Aug 24, 2020
Multimedia

Rethinking the Role of the Strategic National Stockpile

An overview of testimony by Daniel M. Gerstein presented before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 24, 2020.

Jun 29, 2020
Testimony

The Strategic National Stockpile and COVID-19

The United States maintains a stockpile of drugs, vaccines, and other medical supplies to provide for the nation's emergency health security. COVID-19 has highlighted the need to update current stockpiling capabilities to help prepare for future biological events, including pandemics.

Jun 24, 2020
Journal Article

Continuity of Operations Plan Improvement Tool for Public Health Laboratories

Public health laboratories are in various stages of development of their continuity of operations plan (COOP). The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) contracted with RAND to develop and pilot test a COOP tabletop exercise.

Mar 12, 2020
Report

Environmental Biodetection and Human Biosurveillance Research and Development for National Security: Priorities for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate

This report examines the Department of Homeland Security's chemical and biological defense research and development portfolio to identify priorities for future investments to effectively address biological threats.

Nov 28, 2018
Commentary

Achieving the Trump Administration's National Biodefense Strategy

The Trump administration recently published its National Biodefense Strategy, which says that managing the risk of biological threats is in the “vital interest” of the United States, however they might present. The document provides a solid foundation, but more may be required to fully realize its goals and objectives.

Oct 2, 2018
Testimony

Federal Research and Development for Agricultural Biodefense: Addendum

Document submitted December 5, 2017, as an addendum to testimony presented before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Research and Technology on November 2, 2017.

Dec 6, 2017
Multimedia

Federal Research and Development for Agricultural Biodefense

An overview of testimony by Daniel Gerstein presented before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Research and Technology on November 2, 2017.

Nov 2, 2017
Testimony

Agriculture Security in America

The United States has made progress in developing systems to safeguard the nation's agriculture. But threats persist because of socioeconomic, environmental, and ecological factors.

Nov 2, 2017
Commentary

A Countering Bioterrorism Facility Worth a Second Look

President Trump's proposed budget would close a laboratory dedicated to countering bioterrorism and providing the science behind bioterrorism response and recovery. Policymakers should assess whether the lab's capabilities are worth the price when weighed against the potential cost of a bioterror attack.

Jun 7, 2017
Commentary

Can the Bioweapons Convention Survive Crispr?

Crispr is a biotechnology that's making genetic editing easier, cheaper, and far more accessible, but it has also been called a major security threat. Do such advances in biotechnology make the bioweapons convention obsolete?

Jul 29, 2016
Commentary

The U.S. Needs to Exercise Leadership at the Biological Weapons Convention

The world is one rogue microbiologist away from a potentially devastating biological attack. In this new, evolving environment, the United States should establish its goals and objectives and build coalitions to help meet them.

Dec 28, 2015
Commentary

Ebola: The Faceless National Security Threat

The rapid, uncontrolled spread of aggressive diseases such as Ebola is often a matter of national security. U.S. intelligence professionals must establish relevant information collection and dissemination mechanisms to deal with such contingencies.

Sep 10, 2014
Commentary

Tuberculosis Outbreak in LA Reminds Us of Importance of 'Bread and Butter' Public Health Capabilities

In this fiscally uncertain climate, we should continue to leverage the dual-use benefit of bioterrorism investments by building and maintaining those routine (but essential) public health capabilities that can also be used in response to a variety of public health emergencies.

Mar 12, 2013
Commentary

Far More U.S. Health Security Research Effort Aimed at Bioterrorism than Natural Disasters

Given the broad range of threats facing the United States, including those related to extreme weather, it is imperative that monies invested in enhancing health security be well spent, writes Shoshana Shelton.

Dec 3, 2012
News Release

Nation's Health Security Research Is Not Balanced Enough to Meet Broad Safety Goals

Federal support for health security research is heavily weighted toward preparing for bioterrorism and other biological threats, providing significantly less funding for challenges such as monster storms or attacks with conventional bombs.

Dec 3, 2012
Journal Article

Nation's Health Security Research Is Not Balanced Enough to Meet Broad Safety Goals

Federal support for health security research is heavily weighted toward preparing for bioterrorism and other biological threats, providing significantly less funding for challenges such as monster storms or attacks with conventional bombs.

Dec 1, 2012
Commentary

Heed Film Lessons on Outbreak

To assure the health security of the United States, we must be capable of stopping anything a terrorist or Mother Nature might throw at us. Wholesale cuts to public health are taking us farther from that goal, write Art Kellermann and Melinda Moore.

Dec 29, 2011

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RAND Topic:
Bioterrorism

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Donell Harvin

Senior Policy Researcher

Donell Harvin is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His expertise is in complex homeland security issues, including domestic intelligence and information sharing, planning and response to terrorism, and countering weapons of mass destruction. He has been involved in public…
John V. Parachini

Senior International and Defense Researcher, former Director of RAND National Defense Research Institute's Intelligence Policy Center

John Parachini (he, him, his) is a senior international and defense researcher, former director of the RAND Intelligence Policy Center, and a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty. His primary areas of research include intelligence, counterterrorism, weapons proliferation, and…

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