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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

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
News Release

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
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
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
Report

Report

New Tools for Assessing State and Local Capabilities for Countermeasure Delivery

Presents assessments that test five critical elements of state and local health departments' capability to deliver countermeasures to the population under rapid timeframes.

Sep 3, 2009
Research Brief

Research Brief

Are Communities Ready to Conduct Rapid and Large-Scale Dispensing of Medications During a Public Health Emergency?

This research highlight summarizes the findings of RAND's initial evaluation of the Cities Readiness Initiative and the program's impact on communities' readiness to conduct mass dispensing of medications and other medical supplies.

Apr 1, 2009
News Release

News Release

Federal Program Has Improved Health Agencies' Preparedness for Large-Scale Bioterror or Disease Outbreaks

A federal program designed to help metropolitan public health agencies prepare to deliver essential medicines to the public after a large-scale bioterror attack or natural disease outbreak has succeeded in improving the level of readiness.

Mar 24, 2009
Research Brief

Research Brief

Bioterrorism with Zoonotic Disease: Public Health Preparedness Lessons from a Multiagency Exercise

This fact sheet describes tabletop exercises in six Georgia health districts and at the state level to understand what coordination and public health response are required among groups with diverse responsibilities and at different government levels.

Aug 5, 2007
News Release

News Release

RAND Panel Identifies Key Components of Public Health Emergency Preparedness

April 5, 2007 news release: RAND Panel Identifies Key Components of Public Health Emergency Preparedness.

Apr 5, 2007
Testimony

Testimony

Public Health Preparedness in the 21st Century

Testimony presented before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness on March 28, 2006.

Mar 27, 2006
Report

Report

Public Health Preparedness Lessons for Responding to Agricultural Bioterrorism

An exercise in responding to agricultural bioterrorism examined the intentional introduction of avian influenza in commercial poultry operations during a severe human influenza season. The scenario enabled exploration of a range of issues associated with public health preparedness for major disease outbreaks.

Jan 1, 2006
Journal Article

Journal Article

Evaluating Statistical Methods for Syndromic Surveillance

The goals of this chapter are (1) to introduce the statistical issues in syndromic surveillance, (2) to describe and illustrate approaches to evaluating syndromic surveillance systems and characterizing their performance, and (3) to evaluate the performance of a couple of specific algorithms through both abstract simulations and simulations based on actual data.

Jan 1, 2006
Research Brief

Research Brief

Will Smallpox Vaccinations Save Lives?

To prevent significant loss of life in the event of a smallpox bioterrorist attack, should smallpox vaccination be reintroduced?

Nov 25, 2005
Report

Report

Process Evaluation of Project Public Health Ready

An evaluation of the pilot year of Project Public Health Ready, a voluntary program for which participants receive recognition and which prepares local public health agencies to respond to bioterrorism and to protect the public's health.

Oct 6, 2005

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RAND Topic:
Bioterrorism

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

John Parachini

Director, Intelligence Policy Center, RAND National Defense Research Institute

John Parachini is a senior international policy analyst and director of the Intelligence Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He has led RAND projects on the propensity of terrorists to acquire chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons; how the U.S. government can capture…
Stuart S. Olmsted

Director of Operations, Research and Analysis

Stuart Olmsted is director of operations for research and analysis and a senior natural scientist at the RAND Corporation. He works on science and technology policy issues in education and health. Olmsted's recent research includes measuring laboratory capacity to respond to bioterrorism attacks…

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