Report
May 2025

Battle Rattle: Fast Movers for Military Biodefense

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Table of Contents

  • BACKGROUND
  • INTRODUCTION
  • RECOMMENDATIONS
  • CONCLUSION
  • ACRONYMS
  • METHODOLOGY
  • ENDNOTES

Commissioners

Thomas J. Ridge, Chair
Donna E. Shalala, Chair
Thomas A. Daschle
Frederick S. Upton
Susan W. Brooks
James C. Greenwood
Kenneth L. Wainstein
Margaret A. Hamburg

Ex Officio Members

William B. Karesh, DVM
Rachel Levinson, MA
Lewis Libby, JD
Rajesh R. Panjabi, MD
George Poste, DVM, PhD, DSc
Tevi Troy, PhD

Staff

Asha M. George, DrPH, Executive Director
Robert H. Bradley, Policy Principal
Ambika Bumb, PhD, Deputy Executive Director
John T. O’Brien, MS, Research Principal
Wendy Villalta, Program Manager

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Commission salutes our Nation’s warfighters and acknowledges the efforts of the Department of Defense and Congress (most notably the Chairs, Ranking Members, Members, and staff of the House Committee on Armed Services and the Senate Committee on Armed Services) to support them. We especially recognize the leadership and contributions of Dr. Anne Cheever, Dr. Richard J. Danzig, Dr. Kerri Dugan, Dr. Edward M. Eitzen, Dr. John W. Ezzell, Dr. David R. Franz, Dr. Eric van Gieson, Dr. Erik A. Henchal, Dr. Matthew Hepburn, Dr. Lisa Hensley, Dr. Peter B. Jahrling, Constance L. Jenkins, Dr. Franca Jones, Dr. Robert P. Kadlec, Dr. George W. Korch, David Lasseter, Dr. Geoffrey S. Ling, Dr. Gerald W. Parker, William C. Patrick, Dr. C.J. Peters, Aaron C. Pitney, Dr. Michael L. Place, Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Deborah Rosenblum, Dr. Justin Sanchez, Dr. Andrew Schrader, Dr. Richard O. Spertzel, and Dr. Ian Watson to military biodefense. We thank Dr. George Poste for sharing his experiences of defending the Nation and our military forces from biological threats, and our other ex officio members for their advice and input. The Commission also expresses its gratitude for the financial support provided by our donors.

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Copyright © 2025 by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
All rights reserved.
www.biodefensecommission.org

Graphics and design by Factor3 Digital.
Base cover image courtesy of stock.adobe.com

Suggested Citation
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. (2025). Battle Rattle: Fast Movers for
Military Biodefense. Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense: Washington, DC.