July 19, 2024
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Takes on Hollywood
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 19, 2024) - Podcasts evolve. So do viruses and other biological threats. In response, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has taken its examination of scenarios involving biological weapons, accidents, and naturally occurring pandemics to the next level and created The Biollywood Podcast.
July 10, 2024
New Interactive Tool from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Maps the Nation’s Biodefense Enterprise
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 10, 2024) – Today, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is releasing B-SPAN, a first of its kind interactive tool that shows what parts of the executive and legislative branches of government address biodefense.
May 14, 2024
Report: Congress must take immediate action to defend US against biological threats
A group of researchers and former lawmakers urged Congress to update the government’s strategy against deadly outbreaks and biological attacks. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released its report, The National Blueprint for Biodefense, outlining 36 recommendations and 185 action items to defend against biological threats. “We’ve got to be prepared, no matter who’s the president, no matter who the administration is, or the Congress,” former congressman Fred Upton said. “We have to be prepared, ready for the next case.”
May 13, 2024
State public health advocates rally against $300M in proposed budget cuts
The groups warn that the proposed cuts to public health services would turn back the clock on the state’s readiness to fight disease, repeating the very mistakes that cost lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The warning comes amid threats of other infectious diseases as well as possible bio-terror attacks. The federal Bipartisan Commission on Bio-Defense has revealed that the next pandemic could be worse and yet the U.S. is poorly prepared, unorganized and not well funded, according to its report released in April.
May 7, 2024
Upton heads to Washington for report on biothreats
Upton was joined by Dr. Raj Panjabi, a former White House Senior Director for Global Health Security. He said the new report recommends funding research into cleaning air indoors. “By ensuring that our buildings are — like we do with fireproofing them and earthquake proofing them and flood proofing them — we need to pandemic proof them,” Panjabi said. “So, we’ve called for a new research and development plan with the goal of ensuring we’re using the latest technologies to clean the air from the inside out.”
May 7, 2024
AUDIO: Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense releases report on national measures needed to avoid another pandemic
A new report from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is calling for more action by all levels of the government to strengthen biodefense measures. Former Congressman Fred Upton is on the commission and joined WKZO’s Ken Lanphear to discuss the report. He says another pandemic will come and we can’t be caught off guard like with COVID-19 in March 2020.
May 7, 2024
Upton Heads to Washington for Report on Biothreats
Upton served on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, convened to study the possibility of another pandemic and come up with recommendations to respond. Speaking on Michigan’s Big Show, Upton said it’s not a question of “if,” but when.” He pointed to news here in Michigan.
May 7, 2024
Bipartisan Commission On Biodefense Urges Immediate Action to Address Major Vulnerabilities
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 7, 2024) – The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense will gather today at the National Press Club to urge our Nation’s leaders to change the government’s biodefense cadence from on-again/off-again to always on, or risk biological calamities that could destroy society.
May 7, 2024
Exclusive: Report urges sustained U.S. biodefense buildup
A new report calls on all levels of government to strengthen U.S. biodefense measures and urges policymakers to codify parts of a national strategy to address an array of biological threats. Why it matters: Threats in the form of infectious disease outbreaks, lab accidents and biology-based weapons are expected to increase in the coming years, according to the report's authors and other experts.
April 30, 2024
Bipartisan Commission On Biodefense Salutes the Life and Contributions of Professor Yonah Alexander
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 30, 2024) – The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is mourning the passing of longtime ex officio member Yonah Alexander, PhD. Professor Alexander, a pioneer in the academic study of international terrorism, died peacefully on April 25.
April 25, 2024
Donna Shalala Named Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Commission On Biodefense
Today, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense named former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala Co-Chair, effective immediately. The announcement follows the passing of former Senator Joe Lieberman, founding Co-Chair, whom we lost unexpectedly last month. Together, Secretary Shalala and Governor Tom Ridge will co-chair the Commission.
April 19, 2024
‘Astrobiodefense:’ Thinktank calls for defending Earth from space bugs
The Houston Chronicle published an opinion piece on April 11 titled "Is the U.S. ready for extraterrestrials? Not if they're microbes. How to defend Earth from space bugs." Under the rubric of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, former Democratic Congresswoman Donna Shalala and Susan Brooks, a former U.S. Attorney and Republican Congresswoman. Together they serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. Donna Shalala served as Secretary for Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration. Brooks served parts of Indiana.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
April 12, 2024
Is the U.S. ready for extraterrestrials? Not if they’re microbes. | Opinion
Astrobiodefense is the defense against biological threats in space and on Earth that result from space exploration. It represents the next frontier — another form of preparedness as we move toward the middle half of the 21st century. There are two goals: to prevent the contamination of extraterrestrial environments with Earth organisms; and to prevent extraterrestrial or mutated terrestrial microbes from harming Earth's inhabitants. As fantastical as it may sound, astrobiodefense is neither hypothetical nor fictional. It is a real challenge that requires urgent attention and action. Astrobiodefense is the defense against biological threats in space and on Earth that result from space exploration. It represents the next frontier — another form of preparedness as we move toward the middle half of the 21st century. There are two goals: to prevent the contamination of extraterrestrial environments with Earth organisms; and to prevent extraterrestrial or mutated terrestrial microbes from harming Earth's inhabitants. As fantastical as it may sound, astrobiodefense is neither hypothetical nor fictional. It is a real challenge that requires urgent attention and action.
April 12, 2024
Is the U.S. ready for extraterrestrials? Not if they’re microbes. | Opinion
Astrobiodefense is the defense against biological threats in space and on Earth that result from space exploration. It represents the next frontier — another form of preparedness as we move toward the middle half of the 21st century. There are two goals: to prevent the contamination of extraterrestrial environments with Earth organisms; and to prevent extraterrestrial or mutated terrestrial microbes from harming Earth's inhabitants. As fantastical as it may sound, astrobiodefense is neither hypothetical nor fictional. It is a real challenge that requires urgent attention and action.
February 8, 2024
Mass-Gathering Events Like the Super Bowl Remind Us That Post-9/11 Security From Biological Attacks Still Lacking More Than 20 Years Later
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, changed our daily lives and the federal approach to security in ways that we still experience today. How we move through airports and tolerate more biometric and video surveillance across major cities are two examples. The two of us were privileged, as the chairman of the Senate Committee from which the creation of the Homeland Security Department came and the Department’s first Secretary, to be much involved in the restructuring of the federal government after 9/11 which we believe improved our homeland safety and security in many ways.
January 23, 2024
PRESS RELEASE: Doomsday Clock remains at 90 seconds to midnight
The Doomsday Clock was reset at 90 seconds to midnight, still the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight, reflecting the continued state of unprecedented danger the world faces. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, stewards of the Doomsday Clock, emphasized in their announcement that the Clock could be turned back, but governments and people needed to take urgent action.
January 22, 2024
HSToday 2024 Threat Forecast: Part III: The Internal Threat
The United States will continue to grapple with substantial biological threats, both natural and human-generated, that could precipitate devastating losses. The escalating frequency and diversity of naturally occurring biological events underscores the heightened risk of pandemics now and in the future. Concurrently, the U.S. will continue to contend with threats to its agriculture from various diseases. Increasing dual-use research in laboratories will further exacerbate global catastrophic biological risks that could trigger widespread disasters. Past instances of accidental releases serve as stark reminders of the risks we will continue to face tied to laboratory accidents and inadequate biosecurity. Information hazards stemming from dual-use research and the increasing power of artificial intelligence will further complicate the emergence of biological information as a security concern. Revelations about the persistence of biological weapons programs in other countries, along with ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, have reignited concerns. The Department of State continues to identify China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia as engaging in activities related to biological weapons and questionable dual-use research. Current and future advances in synthetic biology and biotechnology will expedite the modification, development, and combination of dangerous pathogens. The growing interconnection and convergence of biological data, human health, and cyber/AI domains signify that security breaches in one area will have far-reaching impacts in others. U.S. vulnerability to the vast array of biological threats will increase if we do not take action now.
December 21, 2023
Dr. Asha George, Executive Director at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Discusses Biological Terrorism and The Current Threat
Dr. Asha M. George is the Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. She is a public health security professional whose research and programmatic emphasis has been practical, academic, and political. She served in the US House of Representatives as a senior professional staffer and subcommittee staff director at the House Committee on Homeland Security in the 110th and 111th Congress. She has worked for a variety of organizations, including government contractors, foundations, and non-profits. As a contractor, she supported and worked with all Federal Departments, especially the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. George also served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence officer and as a paratrooper. She is a decorated Desert Storm Veteran. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is also a graduate of the Harvard University National Preparedness Leadership Initiative.
November 10, 2023
WAGD Radio: Should We be More Terrified of Bioweapons in the Age of AI?
While nuclear weapons have been dominating headlines, there is reason to be just as concerned about bioweapons. China, Russia, and Iran likely have biological weapons programs, but the age of AI could make the threat of these weapons even greater from both state and non-state actors. Asha George joins Jon Wolfsthal to break down these issues and more.
November 9, 2023
Former Head of White House Global Health Security and Biodefense Dr. Raj Panjabi Joins Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 9, 2023) – Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, today announced that Dr. Raj Panjabi, renowned physician and entrepreneur, has joined the Commission as an Ex Officio member. Dr. Panjabi served in the Biden-Harris Administration from February 2021 to August 2023, most recently as Special Assistant to President Biden and Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the White House.
October 20, 2023
Former Bucks County Congressman Added To PA Biotech’s Wall Of Fame
DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Hepatitis B Foundation, Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) honored Jim Greenwood, former Congressman and ex-CEO of BIO, by adding his portrait to their Public Service Wall of Fame. The unveiling took place at the organizations’ first Fireside Chat held Oct. 17. BIO, or the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, is “the world’s largest advocacy association representing member companies, state biotechnology groups, academic and research institutions, and related organizations across the U.S. and in 30+ countries.”
September 28, 2023
Indiana contemplating own strategic medical stockpile following national shortages
Indiana is “seriously considering” creating its own stockpile of critical medical supplies after struggling to get stock from the Strategic National Stockpile during the Covid-19 pandemic, former State Health Commissioner Kris Box said Wednesday.
Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle
September 27, 2023
Biodefense Meeting at IMS
On Wednesday, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense will be discussing potential biological attacks. The meeting will be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It will highlight the important work being done at locations like IMS to protect people from biological threats.
September 26, 2023
Biodefense Commission heads to IMS for a public meeting on the perpetual race against biological threats
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has hosted countless legendary events for well over 100 years. Along with Lucas Oil Stadium, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis hosts countless large scale, mass-gathering events. It is part of what makes this city so dynamic and special. Sadly, in the world we live in now, it also makes us a potential target for those with ill intentions. That is why a special meeting taking place at the Brickyard on September 27th is quite significant to the safety and security of those across the Hoosier State and also across the country. After leaving Congress in 2021, where I had served as Chair of the Homeland Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, I was invited to join the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. For nearly ten years, the Commission – co-chaired by our nation’s first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Republican Tom Ridge and former Democrat U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman – has worked to advise Congress and the White House on specific steps the federal government can be taking to prepare for and respond to a biological incident. What does that mean exactly? A biological incident can be anything from a pandemic, as we all have lived through with COVID-19, to an accidental release of a deadly biological agent from a research lab, to a targeted attack with a biological weapon.
September 13, 2023
Lack of Standardization Across MDx Infectious Disease Tests Could Undermine Pandemic Preparedness
Ambika Bumb, deputy executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a privately funded organization founded in 2014 to help assess US biodefense capabilities, said that one useful role for the federal government would be to establish guidelines for what information molecular infectious disease tests should provide. She noted that currently the CDC doesn't have the authority needed to require standardized infectious disease data reporting across state and local governments.
August 31, 2023
Biotech promises miracles. But the risks call for more oversight
Now it’s the rise of biotechnology, a sector with its origins in the ability to sequence, synthesize, and edit the genes of organisms, that is joining the pantheon of advances that pose perplexing dual-use implications. Life sciences progress is creating both the potential for unprecedented benefits in medicine (and other areas) as well as new risks of harm from accidents, unforeseen consequences, or even deliberate abuse. There has never been a major technological disruption that countries haven’t sought to use for industrial or military superiority, or for terrorists and criminals in pursuit of their aims. The examples of historical bioweapons programs and bioterrorism suggest that these maxims will likely remain the case as the bioeconomy grows.
National Museum of American History.
August 28, 2023
Millennium | A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine: Dr. Asha M. George
Specializing in national security, intelligence and public health, Dr. Asha M. George has been recognized extensively for her work in strengthening U.S. national security. Joining the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense in Washington, D.C., in 2014, she has excelled as their executive director since 2016. As executive director, she leads the Commission’s assessment of the U.S. government’s biodefense operations and procedures and advises on various strategies to prevent, deter, prepare for, detect, respond to, attribute, recover from and mitigate biological events that may threaten the U.S. Her work and that of the Commission led to the development of a national biodefense strategy, the requirement for which was signed into law by former president Barack Obama, produced for the first time by the Trump Administration and revised by the Biden Administration.
August 27, 2023
Applying Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Research and Development to Future Epidemics
The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed unparalleled speed and cross-sector collaboration in the innovation of tools and technologies to address an emerging infectious disease outbreak. Continued innovation and collaboration in rapid development and implementation of new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics is central to future outbreak preparedness. The National Academies Forum on Microbial Threats; Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation; and the Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Emergencies and Disasters held a workshop in December 2022 to explore how innovative approaches in research can enhance health systems preparedness and responses to emerging infectious diseases and dangerous pathogens. Workshop participants reflected on critical scientific infrastructure for stakeholder coordination and innovations that can facilitate rapid and effective preparedness and response to emerging infectious disease threats. This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes the discussions held during the workshop.
August 23, 2023
Learning from COVID-19, Pentagon’s Biodefense Council to break down stovepipes
“It would be foolish for us to think that just these four countries have decided they’re getting involved and that’s it, there’s nobody else, just these four,” George told the audience. “That doesn’t make sense from a proliferation standpoint, both in terms of the proliferation of weapons, and the proliferation of science and quite frankly, the proliferation of fear.”
(US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Marisol Walker)
August 18, 2023
Commission Commends Department of Defense for 2023 Biodefense Posture Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 18, 2023) – Yesterday, the Department of Defense (DOD) released its 2023 Biodefense Posture Review. Requested by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and required by the Secretary of Defense, the Biodefense Posture Review acknowledges: (1) current biological threats to warfighters, America, and its interests overseas; (2) inefficiencies in the DOD biodefense enterprise, and (3) biodefense areas in which DOD must lead or follow. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense recognizes the value of this effort and the important signal it sends that DOD takes seriously the need to defend against biological threats to our national security.
August 17, 2023
Pentagon biodefense review points to Chinese, Russian threats
“I would not be surprised if by next year they’re saying China has some offensive biological weapons programs. Usually, they just say something like, you are concerned about dual use. And this year they didn’t do that,” said Asha M. George, executive director at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, who added that Russia remains an equally concerning threat.
(Ng Han Guan/AP)
July 10, 2023
New Manhattan Research Facility Will Save Lives — No, Not That Manhattan
Manhattan has been in the news quite a bit lately, especially when smoke from the Canadian wildfires turned the city dark and made the air difficult to breathe. Although it didn’t capture as many headlines, a different Manhattan should make the news, considering its potential to impact Americans for generations to come.
Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images
May 25, 2023
Commission Awarded Telly for Apollo Program for Biodefense
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 24, 2023) – The Telly Awards, the world’s largest honor for video and television across all screens, announced its 44th annual awards after a record-breaking year for entries. Winners include some of the most prominent global brands and companies alongside smaller and independent production houses, including Cut+Run, Audible, FEMA, Netflix, NASA, Disney, Media.Monks, Paramount, National Geographic Society, and the Golden State Warriors. The Commission’s Apollo Program for Biodefense media campaign won a Telly Award in the Public Service and Activism category. The Commission previously won a Telly for the audiovisual version of Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History in the Craft-Voiceover category of the 41st Annual Telly Awards.
March 22, 2023
Could the silver lining of the pandemic be pan-vaccines?
The White House has announced it will end the public health emergency for COVID on May 11, officially accepting that COVID is endemic, where the virus will have a constant but manageable presence in our country. Along with coronavirus strains with the potential to mutate, 20 different influenza A and B virus subtypes are also circulating in animal and human reservoirs. It is only a question of time before the next pandemic can emerge.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
March 10, 2023
As the COVID pandemic turns 3, are we ready for the next one?
The third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 11 may feel to some like a relief as we transition into a post-COVID era. Yet, many industry leaders, policy experts, and public health officials say it’s a reminder of the need for renewed rigor when preparing for the next pandemic—begging the question, are we ready for the next pandemic? As America reflects on the pandemic years, there is one aspect of the response the U.S. got right. “The shining star that everyone talks about when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic response,” said Ambika Bumb, Ph.D., Deputy Executive Director at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, “was Operation Warp Speed.”
February 7, 2023
Former Congressman Fred Upton Joins the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 7, 2023) – The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is pleased to welcome former Michigan Republican Congressman Fred Upton as a new Commissioner. Congressman Upton served his Michigan constituents since 1986, choosing not to seek reelection in 2022. He fills the vacancy created by the departure of Ken Wainstein who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2022 to serve as Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security.
January 31, 2023
Commission Executive Director Dr. Asha M. George to Testify Before House Subcommittee Examining Investigation of Biological Threats
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 31, 2023) – Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, will testify as an expert witness before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations tomorrow, February 1, at 2:00 p.m. The hearing, titled Challenges and Opportunities to Investigating the Origins of Pandemics and Other Biological Events will be held in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building and webcast. The purpose of the hearing is to examine current national capabilities to investigate origins of biological threats, and how to improve those capabilities.
January 31, 2023
The Doomsday Clock is Ticking on Biosecurity
The impact of this war on the global order has implications far beyond the nuclear realm and the battlefield more generally. The war thwarts international cooperation exactly when we need cooperation most—to address pressing 21st-century threats such as climate change, mis- and disinformation, and a problem we and others know quite well: the proliferation of biological threats.
January 19, 2023
Commission Welcomes New Analysis of Biodefense Spending That Will Help Inform Future Investments
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 19, 2023) – The Co-Chairs of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense issued a statement today praising the Biden Administration for releasing a new biodefense budget assessment which shows how and where the federal government spends taxpayer dollars on programs that defend against pandemic diseases and other biological threats. “This is a major development in the Nation’s ability to track biodefense spending and reallocate resources,” declared former Senator Joe Lieberman and former Governor Tom Ridge, the Co-Chairs.
January 11, 2023
Commission Applauds Passage of Biodefense Reforms in Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 11, 2023) – The Co-Chairs of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, former Governor Tom Ridge and former Senator Joe Lieberman, praised Congress and President Biden for enacting and funding programs that will strengthen our defense against a future pandemic. Legislation signed into law at the end of the 117th Congress authorizes and strengthens biodefense activities at the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
December 12, 2022
Two Decades After 9/11 Inquiry, a Similar Plan for Covid Stalls in Congress
But those efforts are not the same as a high-profile panel that has “the imprimatur of Congress and the White House,” said Joseph I. Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator who sponsored the bill that created the Sept. 11 panel, which passed in November 2002. Mr. Lieberman, who is now a chairman of a nonprofit devoted to biodefense, called on Mr. Biden to back the effort.
December 1, 2022
Commission to Address Response, Recovery, and Mitigation as Biological Events Continue to Plague the Nation
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 1, 2022) – Nearly three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and seven years after the release of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense’s National Blueprint for Biodefense, the Nation remains vulnerable to future biological events. At its next public meeting on Thursday, Dec. 8, the Commission intends to further explore challenges for biodefense response, recovery, and mitigation capabilities at all levels of government and the private sector. Titled Afterthoughts: Response, Recovery and Mitigation of Biological Events, the meeting will feature two members of Congress and several panels of distinguished experts.
November 17, 2022
The 20-Year Boondoggle
This same faulty biosurveillance program remains in place in 2022, sputtering along, costing $80 million a year. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has repeatedly called for BioWatch to be terminated or replaced, issuing a report last year deeming it “legacy technology that has long outlived its utility.” Lieberman called the program “an embarrassing failure.”
October 27, 2022
Biodefense measures can help prepare for another pandemic
With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, voters will cast their ballots on a wide array of candidates and issues, including congressional representation. The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a reminder that the leaders we elect to Congress will play a large role in shaping how we prepare for and respond to future pandemics and other biological threats. According to Homeland Security, a biological attack is defined as “the intentional release” of a disease or poisonous substances against humans, plants, or animals.
October 27, 2022
Biden Administration reveals new plan to guard against future pandemics, bioterrorist attacks
To date, more than a million Americans have died from COVID-19. With experts saying the pandemic is winding down, leaders in Washington are looking to the next pandemic. That includes former U.S. Senator and one-time Vice-Presidential nominee Joe Lieberman, and Margaret Hamburg, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. They’re part of a group tasked with examining the country’s biodefense. “Of course, it’s the most profound wake-up call we have had in our lifetimes,” Hamburg said of the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 21, 2022
America’s Ability to Manage Biological Crises Improves with Release of National Biodefense Strategy
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 21, 2022) – The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today applauded the Biden Administration for its comprehensive National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan (NBS) released this week and urged Congress to work in partnership with the Administration to put into effect the measures necessary to defend the Nation. The NBS is designed to be a comprehensive approach to protecting our Nation in the future from pandemics and other biological threats, including bioterror attacks perpetrated by nation-states, terrorist groups, or lone wolf attackers. Commission Co-Chair and former Senator Joe Lieberman says the new strategy is a much-improved version of the original strategy issued in 2018 and expressed his hope that interagency support in developing it will provide greater opportunities for successful implementation.
September 20, 2022
Dr. Asha M. George Named to Inaugural ‘Homeland’s Hottest 50’ List by Homeland Security Today
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 20, 2022) – Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, has been named by Homeland Security Today as one of their Homeland’s Hottest 50 professionals as part of the publication’s efforts to “bring attention and hope to the people burning through challenges and stoking solutions to the Nation’s toughest… threats and vulnerabilities.”
September 20, 2022
Homeland Security Today Hot 50: Asha George
Long before COVID-19 introduced lockdowns and social distancing to Americans’ everyday lexicon, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense had sounded the alarm about the risks of putting pandemic preparedness on the back burner – along with other biological threats from security of biological agents to bioweapons attacks. Dr. Asha M. George has led the prescient and critical commission as executive director since January 2018, when the group was known as the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense. She was co-director when the study panel released its landmark A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts; in the commission’s 2020 follow-up report, Biodefense in Crisis: Immediate Action Needed to Address National Vulnerabilities, George’s team determined that only 3 of the 87 action items in the Blueprint for Biodefense had been completed. “The nation remains at catastrophic biological risk,” she told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in February. “…This moment calls for bold action and clear vision to address national biological crises.”
September 19, 2022
Biological weapons threat evolving, experts say
“ISIS and al-Qaida in different times have expressed interest, but given alternatives, what we've seen is they moved to other means for conducting their dastardly violence,” Parachini said. However, what allied intelligence services know about can be assumed to be about one-sixth of what is actually happening, cautioned Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and a former military intelligence officer and paratrooper.
September 7, 2022
Updates on pandemic preparedness and current biological threats
Ambika Bumb, deputy executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, discusses the current landscape of biological threats, including Covid-19, monkeypox, “traces of polio,” avian influenza, African swine fever and biological weapons development, as well as government pandemic preparedness efforts and her organization’s recommendations
September 1, 2022
Commission Applauds Tangible Progress on Pandemic Preparedness by Biden Administration; Pushes for Remaining Gaps to be Filled
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 1, 2022) – In a new status report out today, the Biden Administration provides a look at progress made towards implementing its 2021 American Pandemic Preparedness Plan (AP3), which reflects many of the recommendations previously made by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. The report details both substantial progress and continuing gaps in the Nation’s ability to prepare for, and respond to, biological threats.
August 31, 2022
America’s land-grant universities uniquely positioned to fight today’s biological threats
This year marks the 160th anniversary of the establishment of the first land-grant university by President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln valued higher education and recognized the role that dedicated institutions could play in supporting food, animals, and plants, while also ensuring that citizens with modest means could obtain a university education.
August 29, 2022
Dr Asha M George, DrPH – Building Defenses Against Bio-Terrorism And (Re)Emerging Infectious Disease
Dr. Asha M. George, DrPH is Executive Director, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which was established in 2014 to assess gaps in and provide recommendations to improve U.S. biodefense. The Panel determines where the United States is falling short of addressing biological attacks and emerging and reemerging infectious diseases.
August 25, 2022
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense receives $5.2M Open Philanthropy grant for bio-preparation work
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense announced Tuesday that it had received a $5.2 million grant from Open Philanthropy to strengthen efforts to improve preparation for biological incidents, ranging from pandemics and zoonotic diseases to biological terrorism and warfare. The private organization is dedicated to assessing the state of U.S. biodefense efforts and providing recommendations for improvement. Founded in 2014, the Commission has provided details on perceived gaps and changes to policy and law that could strengthen national biodefense and make better use of investments.
August 23, 2022
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Receives $5.2 Million Grant from Open Philanthropy
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today announced a $5.2 million grant from Open Philanthropy to support the Commission’s work to better defend the nation against a wide range of biological incidents ranging from pandemics and zoonotic diseases to biological terrorism and warfare. This is the fifth grant from Open Philanthropy, whose critical support of the Commission’s work now totals more than $13 million.
August 18, 2022
Wide-Ranging Health Threats Prompt Homeland Office Overhaul
Standing up a new entity in a department plagued by organizational issues and low morale, however, comes with its own complications. And the office’s broad set of missions could become unwieldy — a trademark DHS challenge. “They need to be really clear right now as to what they’re doing,” said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. “What are they responsible for, how is it going to function?”
August 3, 2022
The Case for a Pandemic Moonshot
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed an estimated fifteen million people around the world, ravaged health systems, and destroyed economies. It has also exposed destabilizing divisions at home and abroad, and revealed domestic and global weaknesses in biodefense. The United States alone has seen a million lives lost to the virus and an estimated $16 trillion in economic costs, making it the deadliest pandemic in our history and the costliest catastrophe since the Great Depression. The turmoil and grief Americans have faced reflect their justified frustrations with the government’s ineffectiveness in handling the crisis.
August 3, 2022
The Honorable Secretary Dr. Donna Shalala, Ph.D. – Public Servant, Scholar, Teacher, Administrator
The Honorable Secretary Dr. Donna Shalala, Ph.D. currently serves as Professor Emerita, Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Miami, where she previously served as President from 2001 to 2015, where during her tenure as President, she advanced the university into the top tier of U.S. research universities.
June 28, 2022
Apollo Communications Kit
This public awareness campaign includes a 30-second PSA, suggested social media content and other sharable materials, all housed at our website about the Apollo Program for Biodefense: TheNextApollo.org. We have created this ‘Friends of the Commission’ digital toolkit so that you might help us to share this message with stakeholders that are important to you. Please consider forwarding this message to your communications manager for their awareness.
June 27, 2022
Amid the Turmoil of Covid, Biosafety Legislation Gets Political
In recent remarks to the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a nonprofit group, Koblentz warned that the stakes of inaction are only getting higher: New developments in genome editing, synthetic biology, and other fields could pose fresh risks. More private companies are doing work in this area, often with virtually no public scrutiny. And the pandemic, he predicted, would lead to a surge in pathogen research — fueling a growth of BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories in countries that have limited biosafety oversight. It’s time, he wrote, for reforms at home — and for a “new global architecture for biorisk management.”
June 27, 2022
Senator Joe Lieberman – Leading Bipartisan Moonshots For Health, National Security And Government
Since 2014, Senator Lieberman, and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, have Co-Chaired the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which has provided recommendations to improve the United States' efforts in the biodefense arena, particularly as it relates to biosecurity and pandemic preparedness
June 22, 2022
Lessons for the Next Pandemic
In the future, we will almost certainly need to create better plans, develop additional tools, and deploy those tools more effectively than we have in the past two and a half years. And yet, as we have seen since March 2020, plans and tools are insufficient on their own. When a crisis strikes a representative democracy like ours, plans and tools also have to be deployed properly and in ways that the populace will accept.
June 20, 2022
Out-innovating the next COVID-19 variant … and the next pandemic
In an ideal world, COVID-19 would be a thing of the past, and another pandemic would be a distant possibility. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world, and there is no way to predict when the next dangerous COVID-19 variant or pandemic will emerge. Case in point: monkeypox.
May 24, 2022
Opportunity to Reform the Department of Homeland Security’s Biodefense Operations and Governance
The present moment is ripe to reform biodefense efforts concerning homeland security. First, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine demonstrate both the actual harms and potentially devastating consequences of biological events. The sluggish initial U.S. response to the pandemic revealed the inadequacy of detection and mitigation measures embedded in federal government policies and practices.
May 17, 2022
Russian aggression underscores the U.S.’s need for greater investment in medical countermeasures
Russia is creating the possibility of a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) nightmare. Its aggression against Ukraine makes it clear that American investment in innovative medical countermeasures is long overdue. U.S. policymakers must ensure that this country is as ready as it can be before the worst comes calling.
May 10, 2022
Report: Land-grant universities key to agricultural biosecurity
Faced with disease threats to U.S. agriculture, land-grant universities such as Colorado State University must provide a first line of defense to protect public health, economic and national security and the livelihood of farm communities.
May 9, 2022
Land-grant universities like CSU will be key to preventing agriculture disease threats
Titled “Boots on the Ground, Land-Grant Universities in the Fight Against Threats to Food and Agriculture,” the 34-page report by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense casts the peril in a national and economic security context. Despite the danger, government policy and industry practices are not adequately prepared to respond to outbreaks that could affect crops, livestock and farms – a leadership void that select universities can help fill to benefit farmers and ranchers.
May 9, 2022
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Highlights Unique Role of Nation’s Land-grant Universities in Safeguarding America’s Food and Agriculture
A new report from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense finds that America’s land-grant universities can play a critical role in protecting the Nation’s food and agriculture, and details 15 specific recommendations to maximize their effectiveness. Titled "Boots on the Ground: Land-Grant Universities in the Fight Against Threats to Food and Agriculture," the report’s recommendations address the coordination of federal and land-grant food and agro-biodefense efforts, early warning of threats to food and agriculture, and incorporation of land-grant universities into preparedness, response, and mitigation of various possible events.
May 6, 2022
Virtual Program—Biological and chemical weapons security and the war in Ukraine
Watch the Bulletin virtual program “Biological and chemical weapons security and the war in Ukraine” featuring Asha George and Robert Pope in conversation with Matt Field. These experts discussed topics like the role of US-supported biological labs in Ukraine, what Russia’s alleged use of poisons and chemical weapons in the past says about its intentions for use in the future, and how disinformation about the use of biological weapons in Ukraine weakens global security. Watch a recording of the program above to learn more.
May 5, 2022
EU and US move to control risk of dangerous pathogens escaping from labs
But for now, it appears that these recommendations and discussions in the US have not translated into new lab safety initiatives at individual universities or by regulatory bodies, at least publicly. Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, said she was not aware of any such moves recently.
April 16, 2022
With ‘Far Worse’ Threats Lurking, Plan Rallies Agencies to End Pandemics Within Decade
The Apollo Program is based on multiple tracks of “groundbreaking solutions,” public-private partnerships, strong international relationships, “sustained bipartisan support and stalwart leadership,” the commission said in its new Athena Agenda report.
April 13, 2022
Recommendations for National Biodefense Preparedness
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has released The Athena Agenda: Advancing the Apollo Program for Biodefense, a report containing specific government recommendations on how to prepare for and mitigate future biological threats. An important aspect of the Apollo Program for Biodefense is to detect new pathogens and trace them to the source, while rapidly distributing point-of-use tests to generate test data as soon as possible.
April 12, 2022
They warned about pandemics before Covid-19. Now they have a $100 billion plan to stop the next one.
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released a new report this morning urging policymakers to fund, and the executive branch to implement, what it calls the Apollo Program for Biodefense, a $100 billion, 10-year effort that would prepare the nation to meet any future viral threat head-on. The new report, called The Athena Agenda (they like Greek gods), takes the framework the Apollo report outlined and provides more detail on how to fund and achieve it.
April 12, 2022
The U.S. Can End Pandemics Within A Decade
Today, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released a timely report containing specific recommendations to Congress and the Administration. If leaders act on these recommendations, the Nation could put an end to pandemics within a decade. The Athena Agenda: Advancing The Apollo Program for Biodefense, provides recommendations to implement the 15 technology priorities described by the Commission in its 2021 report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense also identifies the US government organizations responsible for leadership, accountability, and engagement in public-private partnerships necessary for success.
April 5, 2022
We know lab leaks are possible, and one could start a new pandemic
“Advances in synthetic biology and biotechnology make it easier than ever before to make pathogens more lethal and transmissible, and advances in the life sciences are occurring at a pace that governments have been unable to keep up with, which increases the risk of deliberate or accidental releases of dangerous pathogens,” Lieberman told the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense in March.
March 26, 2022
Health Data Security in Clinical R&D: An International Security Blindspot?
The USG must act on the recommendations put forward by the 2015 Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; a 2021 study titled “Biodefense in Crisis – Immediate Action Needed to Address National Vulnerabilities” found that little progress has been made in implementing the Commission’s recommendations. The community of interest is fragmented because fast-tracked scientific research – developing proposals, recruiting study subjects, collecting data, developing results, and reporting – is global and often outsourced. New standards are required to create accountability and transparency without restricting innovation across this unique landscape.
April 11, 2022
Tom Daschle and Susan Brooks: The dangerous thread connecting avian flu, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine
Avian influenza and COVID-19 painfully remind us of how disruptive and destructive biological events can be to our public health, economy and national security. And now the Russian invasion of Ukraine is yet another stark reminder of how our adversaries may use biological weapons to attack humanity. We are both privileged to serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense...
April 6, 2022
Opinion: Ukrainians should be on the lookout for a new battlefield enemy: Disease
Max Brooks is the author of “World War Z” and of “Germ Warfare: A Graphic History” for the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. Lionel Beehner is a former international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and is currently a director at ReD Associates. John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army major and chair of urban warfare studies at Madison Policy Forum and author of the forthcoming book “Connected Soldiers.”
Washington Post
April 1, 2022
TEN PRIORITIES IDENTIFIED IN COMMISSION’S APOLLO PROGRAM FOR BIODEFENSE ADDRESSED IN PRESIDENT’S BUDGET REQUEST
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 31, 2022) – The Biden Administration’s proposed FY 2023 budget, unveiled by The White House this week, includes $88.2 billion in funding to enable America to rapidly produce and deliver medical countermeasures against pandemics and other biological threats. The request significantly addresses ten priorities identified by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense in its 2021 Apollo Program for Biodefense.
April 1, 2022
A biological weapons threat to Ukraine is a biological weapons threat to the world
When the invasion of Ukraine began, many thought that Russia would use traditional military tactics and weapons to dominate and eventually take over the country. Instead, the Ukrainian people put up stiff resistance and...
March 30, 2022
New Bill Would Finally Let Tribes Access CDC Money For Public Health Emergencies
The reforms laid out in the bill were first recommended in 2018 by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense as a way to address major shortfalls in tribal public health emergency preparedness. It’s now up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to decide if and when to move forward with the legislation.
March 14, 2022
Ex-HHS officials warn U.S. isn’t prepared for germ warfare threat
"We are far short of looking at these challenges in the same way we look at many of the traditional national security issues we face," said Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader. "I think it's the future of the real threats we face in national security."
March 9, 2022
Bipartisan Commission Says Nation Unprepared for Biological Events
On 17 February 2022, Dr. Asha M. George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at a hearing on addressing the gaps in the nation’s biodefense and level of preparedness to respond to biological threats.
March 1, 2022
APOLLO TOOLKIT FOR STAKEHOLDERS
This new public awareness campaign includes a 30-second PSA, suggested social media content and other sharable materials, all housed at our website about the Apollo Program for Biodefense: TheNextApollo.org. We have created this ‘Friends of the Commission’ digital toolkit so that you might help us to share this message with stakeholders that are important to you. Please consider forwarding this message to your communications manager for their awareness. This content can be shared in any number of ways, such as through your social media platforms, email blasts to your colleagues and partners, in your newsletters and on your websites. All of the materials can easily be downloaded.
February 17, 2022
Biodefense experts to Congress: The United States is still unprepared for pandemic and bioweapons threats
Asha M. George, a member of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, testified at a Senate hearing Thursday, along with other biodefense experts, about shortcomings in federal preparedness for disease outbreaks and other biological threats. Those shortcomings involve the 2003 program designed to detect biothreats in dozens of US cities and the tangle of government programs and agencies that are supposed to protect the country from biological threats.
March 1, 2022
Commission Receives $1.35 Million Grant to Help Take Preemptive Action Against Biological Threats to the United States
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 1, 2022) – The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today announced receiving a $1.35 million grant from Open Philanthropy.
“We are very grateful to Open Philanthropy for their continuing support of our work to help reduce catastrophic biological risk from pandemics, bioterrorism, and biological warfare” said former Senator Joe Lieberman,
February 15, 2022
COMMISSION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DR. ASHA M. GEORGE TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEE EXAMINING U.S. BIODEFENSE POSTURE
Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, will testify as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs this Thursday, Feb. 17, at 10:15 a.m. The hearing, titled Addressing the Gaps in America’s Biosecurity Preparedness will be held in Room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building and via videoconference.
The purpose of the hearing is to examine the state of the Nation’s biodefense posture and level of preparedness to respond to biological threats. In 2015, the Commission released its foundational report, A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts, containing 33 recommendations and 87 associated action items for addressing what the Commission saw as serious capability gaps in national biodefense.
February 1, 2022
Commission Receives $1.35 Million Grant to Help Take Preemptive Action Against Biological Threats to the United States
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 1, 2022) – The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today announced receiving a $1.35 million grant from Open Philanthropy. With this sixth grant to the Commission, Open Philanthropy’s critical support of the Commission’s work now totals $8.66 million.
“We are very grateful to Open Philanthropy for their continuing support of our work to help reduce catastrophic biological risk from pandemics, bioterrorism, and biological warfare” said former Senator Joe Lieberman,
January 31, 2022
Gov. Tom Ridge to Receive 2022 William Oliver Baker Award
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) today announced that former Governor Tom Ridge will receive the organization’s 2022 William Oliver Baker Award. Established in 1984, the Baker Award recognizes extraordinary contributions to U.S. intelligence and national security affairs.
Having previously served as an Army Non-Commissioned Officer in Vietnam, as a congressman, and as a twice-elected governor of Pennsylvania, Mr. Ridge concluded decades of exemplary public service as the first Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2003 to 2005.
December 28, 2021
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge gives first on-camera interview since suffering stroke
In his first on-camera interview since he had a stroke in June, Ridge described what his life has been like. "A good day is when you wake up in the morning and see the sun shining. I say, 'Thank you, God, another day to hopefully do better than I did the day before,'" he said.
December 10, 2021
Public awareness campaign urges support for program to end pandemic threat
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense announced launched a public awareness campaign Wednesday to support the Apollo Program for Biodefense, a project that aims to eliminate pandemics in ten years and reduce other biological threats.
December 10, 2021
New Public Awareness Campaign Urges Support for Ambitious Biodefense Goal
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense unveiled a new public awareness campaign in support of their proposed Apollo Program for Biodefense, a grand project similar in scope and importance to the mission to land humans on the Moon. If authorized by the Administration and Congress, the Program can eliminate pandemics in ten years and dramatically reduce other biological threats.
December 8, 2021
New Public Awareness Campaign Urges Support For Ambitious Apollo Program For Biodefense To End Pandemic Threat In Ten Years
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today unveiled a new public awareness campaign in support of their proposed Apollo Program for Biodefense, a grand project similar in scope and importance to the mission to land humans on the Moon. If authorized by the Administration and Congress, the Program can eliminate pandemics in ten years and dramatically reduce other biological threats.
December 6, 2021
Biodefense Commission To Meet This Week To Advance Plans For The Next Apollo Program, Aimed At Eliminating Pandemic Threat In Ten Years
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is delighted to welcome two new Commissioners: former U.S. Representative Susan W. Brooks and former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Margaret A. (Peggy) Hamburg. Congresswoman Brooks, a Republican, represented the 5th District of Indiana from 2013-2021. Commissioner Hamburg, a Democrat, served as the twenty-first commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2009-2015.
December 2, 2021
Former congresswoman, former FDA commissioner join Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Former U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, a Republican who represented the 5th District of Indiana from 2013-2021, and former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Peggy Hamburg, who served as the agency’s 21st commissioner between 2009-2015, have joined the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
December 2, 2021
Former Congresswoman Susan Brooks and Former FDA Commissioner Peggy Hamburg Join the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is delighted to welcome two new Commissioners: former U.S. Representative Susan W. Brooks and former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Margaret A. (Peggy) Hamburg. Congresswoman Brooks, a Republican, represented the 5th District of Indiana from 2013-2021. Commissioner Hamburg, a Democrat, served as the twenty-first commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2009-2015.
December 1, 2021
Former Congresswoman Susan Brooks and Former FDA Commissioner Peggy Hamburg Join the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is delighted to welcome two new Commissioners: former U.S. Representative Susan W. Brooks and former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Margaret A. (Peggy) Hamburg. Congresswoman Brooks, a Republican, represented the 5th District of Indiana from 2013-2021. Commissioner Hamburg, a Democrat, served as the twenty-first commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2009-2015.
November 30, 2021
Omicron is a reminder of how little we’re doing on pandemic prevention
In January of 2021, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense issued a proposal for an ambitious Apollo Program for Biodefense. The Biden administration largely embraced this vision and released a call for a $65 billion pandemic prevention initiative, but that turned into a $30 billion budget request as part of the original White House version of the Build Back Better proposal, which dwindled to a mere $2.7 billion in funding as BBB made its way through Congress.
November 9, 2021
Democrats eye a scaled-back investment in pandemic preparedness
“I have mixed feelings about it. Frankly, I think it should have been a lot more,” said Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate majority leader. He’s now part of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which created a roadmap for the federal government to combat threats like a pandemic.
November 8, 2021
Kenneth Wainstein Nominated DHS Intelligence, Analysis Undersecretary
Kenneth Wainstein, a two-decade public service veteran and current litigation partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, has been nominated as undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, the White House said Friday. His government career includes time as director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, general counsel of the FBI, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice. He advised former President George W. Bush on homeland security matters and led interagency coordination of federal efforts related to counterterrorism, disaster response and infrastructure protection. Wainstein also taught national security law for 12 years and served as a commissioner at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
November 6, 2021
We need to try harder to prevent the next pandemic
Over the summer, the Biden administration unveiled a proposal for a $65 billion dollar pandemic preparedness program that they compared to the Apollo Program in its scope and ambition. Not coincidentally, back in January the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense (chaired by Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge, Tom Daschle, and other worthy graybeards) put out a PDF titled The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats. These two documents are not identical, but they are similar both in their specific recommendations and in the scope of their ambition.
November 5, 2021
President Biden Announces Additional Members of His Diplomatic and Homeland Security Teams
Kenneth L. Wainstein is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Davis Polk & Wardwell. During his time in private practice, Wainstein also served as a law school adjunct professor teaching national security law for twelve years, as a commissioner on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, as a member of the Public Interest Declassification Board, and in a number of other national security organizations.
November 5, 2021
Former Bush official who warned about Trump to be named Homeland Security intel chief
President Joe Biden plans to nominate attorney and former Bush administration appointee Kenneth Wainstein to lead the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence division, according to a department official, a step towards permanent leadership at an office plagued by Trump-era controversies.
November 4, 2021
Developing an Australian cyberbiosecurity mindset
Security issues arising from the ongoing convergence between the life sciences and the information sciences have become much more topical since the advent of Covid-19. Yet, even prior to the pandemic, the US Bipartisan Commission into Biodefense was investigating the issue. A 2019 hearing of the commission, titled ‘Cyberbio convergence: characterising the multiplicative threat’, raised issues such as the vulnerability of pathogen and biomanufacturing systems, biological risk mitigation, and the vulnerability of intellectual property in the national and global bioeconomy.
November 4, 2021
Smiths Detection calls for a more focused commitment to protect society from biothreats during The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Dr. Warren Mino, Managing Director of Biotechnology for Smiths Detection, has called for greater federal investment in biodetection programs to protect society from biothreats. Speaking at The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Mino outlined what was needed to improve and enhance the current Biodefense program in the U.S. Mino shared insights with the Commission about the obstacles to effectively tackle biological threats as well as providing actionable recommendations on how these obstacles can be overcome.
October 26, 2021
Congress has bipartisan support to try to deal with the next pandemic. But those talks are already falling behind
Lobbyists and stakeholders said passing a pandemic preparedness bill including lessons learned from Covid-19 will likely be a legacy issue for the senator. “This is something Senator Burr wants to do before he retires. I don’t think there is urgency to get it done right this millisecond, but there is a recognition that there are still things that need to be done,” said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
October 18, 2021
DHS BioWatch Can and Should Be Replaced Within Months, Report Urges
Warning that a failed detection system could cause tens of thousands of deaths if a biological agent is released at large events such as the 2026 World Cup, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense said collaborative action is needed now to replace an insufficient BioWatch system used by the Department of Homeland Security.
October 15, 2021
Former majority leader Tom Daschle’s urgent message for Congress: ‘We’ve got to see compromise’
The report was issued by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a privately-funded group of both Democrats and Republicans founded in 2014 with the intent of reviewing the nation’s biodefense systems and offering suggestions to enhance them. “Unfortunately, it's not proved out to be anywhere near what we had hoped it might be 18 years ago,” Daschle said of the BioWatch program. “It has many false alarms. It's very manual and you have to collect samples every day.”
October 15, 2021
20 years after anthrax attacks, report finds U.S. government still behind on biodetection
In Saving Sisyphus: Advanced Biodetection for the 21st Century, a report released this week by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, the authors write that President George W. Bush understood the need to respond quickly to detect and contain future biological attacks and in 2003 his administration established a national biodetection program called BioWatch. The Department of Homeland Security spends about $80 million a year on this program but the Commission says BioWatch has “questionable accuracy and produces results up to 36 hours after a pathogen may have been present near a detector, long after responders would need to act.”
October 15, 2021
Raise America’s biodefenses, finally | Opinion by Tom Daschle
Twenty years ago this week, letters laced with deadly anthrax spores arrived at the U.S. Capitol and other locations across the country. On the morning of Oct. 15, one of these letters was opened by my aide in the Hart Senate Office Building, beginning a harrowing few weeks.
October 15, 2021
Former Sen. Daschle warns that bio-weapon protections are insufficient
Twenty years after an anthrax attack on Members of Congress, a new report says the federal government still doesn’t have an effective bio detection system. Former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle says a similar attack could happen now
October 14, 2021
Talking biodefense with Tom Daschle
Twenty years after deadly anthrax spores were sent across the nation targeting top U.S. officials, South Dakota's former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle says the U.S. still does not have an adequate biodefense plan in place. Daschle joins us to discuss the report "Saving Sisyphus: Advanced Biodetection for the 21st Century."
October 14, 2021
Biodefense Headlines – 14 October 2021
Commission Warns Federal Biodetection System Still Does Not Work, 20 years After Deadly Anthrax Attacks. Saving Sisyphus: Advanced Biodetection for the 21st Century details critical failures with the DHS’ biodetection program and provides a roadmap to Congress for investing in next generation solutions. Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
October 14, 2021
20 years after anthrax attacks, report reveals U.S. not as prepared for a similar attack
"We don't have the technology, we don't have the defense mechanisms, we don't have a system in place. So we are vulnerable, it could happen over a football field, it could happen over an entire city. It could happen in a subway system, it could happen anywhere just as it happened 20 years ago.", said the former Senate majority leader.
October 13, 2021
BioWatch Fail – Senator Daschle on Michael Smerconish SiriusXM
Twenty years ago, America was victim of an anthrax attack that killed five people and sickened more than dozen. The office of Senator Tom Daschle, the the Senate Majority Leader, was the recipient of one of the letters with anthrax spores. Today, Daschle is a member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense which has just issued a warning that our BioWatch detection system still does not work. Watch this warning for Congress and America.
October 13, 2021
Commission Warns Federal Biodetection System Still Does Not Work, 20 years After Deadly Anthrax Attacks
Twenty years ago this week, letters laced with deadly anthrax spores arrived at the United States Capitol and other locations across the country. Yet according to a new report released today by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense called Saving Sisyphus: Advanced Biodetection for the 21st Century, our federal government still does not have a national biodetection system that works. The report details critical failures with the Department of Homeland Security’s biodetection program and provides a roadmap to Congress for investing in next generation solutions.
October 13, 2021
20 Years After Deadly Anthrax Attacks, Federal Biowatch Detection System Still Does Not Work – Leaving U.S. Cities Vulnerable
New Commission Report Details Critical Failures with Current Federal Biodetection Program; Provides Roadmap to Congress for Investing in Next Generation Solutions
October 10, 2021
Op-Ed: The 2001 anthrax attacks, a tough history lesson
Just this week, the Bipartisan Commission on biodefense has released a new report that finds 20 years after the deadly anthrax attacks, our federal government still does not have a national biodetection system that works. BioWatch technology — federally developed and supported detectors placed in 30 large cities across the nation that are supposed to quickly identify a biological agent in the air — still do not work reliably.
October 6, 2021
United States must prepare for three categories of biosecurity threats, says biodefense leader
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense urges policymakers to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic and address critical gaps in the nation’s biodefense. That needs to happen before we face the next infectious disease pandemic or biological attack. Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, said biosecurity risks consist of naturally occurring disease, organisms accidentally released from labs and biological weapons.
October 5, 2021
Commission Warns Critical Infrastructure At Biological Risk
As the Biden Administration and Congress continue to negotiate details of a federal infrastructure package, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released a new report today entitled, Insidious Scourge: Critical Infrastructure at Biological Risk. The report urges the Administration, Congress, and the private sector reduce biological risk by protecting infrastructure, sharing and securing information, maintaining public works and services, and ensuring public health and safety.
October 4, 2021
Commission Warns Critical Infrastructure at Biological Risk
As the Biden Administration and Congress continue to negotiate details of a federal infrastructure package, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released a new report today entitled, Insidious Scourge: Critical Infrastructure at Biological Risk. The report urges the Administration, Congress, and the private sector to reduce biological risk by protecting infrastructure, sharing and securing information, maintaining public works and services, and ensuring public health and safety.
September 23, 2021
Langevin Votes for Annual Defense Bill to Strengthen National Security, Support Servicemembers
Langevin also secured a number of amendments in the legislation during floor debate, including provisions to: ...Create a science and technology annex to the National Biodefense Strategy, a key recommendation of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
September 17, 2021
HERA isn’t the hero Parliament wants — or the game-changer Council fears
That’s only a “start,” Asha George, the executive director of the American Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, wrote in a statement. To be successful, entities like HERA and BARDA need “long-term commitment of funding and other governmental support, even in the absence of a pandemic.” The bipartisan commission recommended the U.S. spend $10 billion a year for 10 years to eliminate the threats of pandemics — "the same holds true for the EU,” George wrote.
September 16, 2021
The US government’s comic approach to information warfare
A British firm, Erly Stage Studios, designed and produced them. The firm publishes graphic novels and online games with a focus on global history and social issues, including a “very graphic history” of germ warfare authored by Max Brooks for the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
September 13, 2021
State of Biodefense: How America Has Not Addressed the Threat
Even before September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that began shortly thereafter, the public and private sectors anticipated bioterrorism and grew increasingly concerned about pandemic influenza. They had already started working to strengthen national biodefense. Despite the support of President Bill Clinton, only limited efforts began until the anthrax events of 2001 galvanized the government.
September 7, 2021
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense lauds Biden’s Pandemic Preparedness Plan, but urges more funding
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense last week applauded the Biden Administration’s work on a new $65.3 billion American Pandemic Preparedness Plan for investments to combat the next biological threat, though it argues that greater funding is necessary to make sufficient plans.
September 3, 2021
White House Seeks $65 Billion for ‘Apollo’ Plan to Prepare for Future Pandemics
Mr. Daschle said Friday that both $15 billion and $65 billion were “a fraction of what is needed now.” The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a private organization of which he is a member, has proposed $100 billion over 10 years, he said.
September 3, 2021
Biden Administration Proposes $65 Billion Pandemic Plan
Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which released its own report in January calling for an Apollo-like effort, said she welcomed Mr. Biden’s plan, and said the details it contains should ease lawmakers’ earlier skepticism about how such funds would be spent. But, she said, “In the end it’s going to come down to leadership and follow-through.”
September 3, 2021
Commission Commends White House for Pandemic Preparedness Plan
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today commended the Biden Administration for developing a new American Pandemic Preparedness Plan to invest boldly in a national effort that transforms U.S. capabilities to respond quickly and effectively to future biological threats. As detailed in the Commission’s January 2021 report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense – Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, doing so could effectively end the era of pandemic threats by 2030.
September 2, 2021
White House joins push to beef up pandemic prevention funding amid worries Congress will shortchange the effort
Among those pushing for even more is Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, whose office was targeted in a 2001 anthrax terrorist attack and later joined the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which created a road map for federal pandemic prevention investments. In an interview, Daschle said he was “fearful” that lawmakers would soon move past the covid crisis without taking the necessary steps to prepare for the next global threat.
August 19, 2021
A natural pandemic has been terrible. A synthetic one would be even worse
This fragmentation is problematic, as identified in 2015 by the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense (now the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense), a group of former high-ranking government officials who analyze U.S. biodefense capabilities. In its seminal report, “A National Blueprint for Biodefense,” the committee said that the “root cause of this continuing vulnerability is the lack of strong centralized leadership at the highest level of government.” The group laid out 33 specific recommendations to address the large gaps in the U.S.’s biodefense infrastructure.
August 13, 2021
Banking On Bio
Governments also need to consider how they can drive innovation to maximise the potential of new infrastructure and the capacity it brings. Prizes, advance market commitments, and regulatory awards present powerful ways in which governments can incentivise the private sector to bring to bear its resources and creativity. According to a recent report from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, there are a number of areas where new innovations could be of immediate and significant benefit:
August 7, 2021
America’s New Three-Body Problem
In 2006, the U.S. Congress passed a Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, in 2013 a reauthorization act of the same name, and in June 2019 a Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advanced Innovations Act. In October 2015, the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, cochaired by Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, published its first report, calling for better integration of the agencies responsible for biodefense. In 2019 it was renamed the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense “to more accurately reflect its work and the urgency of its mission.”
July 24, 2021
Does Congress know what it would take to stop the next pandemic?
Facing risks of that magnitude, $30 billion is a pittance. Some experts suggest nothing less than an Apollo program for pandemic prevention, with $20 billion a year in spending for 10 years. If such a project made the next pandemic even moderately less bad, it would abundantly pay for itself. If it prevented it, it’d be one of the best investments in history.
July 20, 2021
Failure to Upgrade Biosurveillance Tech Limits Ability to Detect Biological Attacks, House Panel Told
“BD21 is testing old Department of Defense technology for domestic use, rather than evaluating more current and advanced Department of Defense candidates. Some of the technology under evaluation may itself be flawed,” the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense stated at the time. “State, local, tribal, and territorial partners have been left almost entirely out of the loop. They are unsure if they can support the system, because no vision for it has been communicated to them, other federal partners, and Congress.
July 20, 2021
After 2020, pandemic preparedness budget cuts should be unthinkable
Opinion by Senator Tom Daschle and Dr. Tom Frieden. We’re still in the midst of the worst public health crisis in more than a century. We should be doing all we can to prevent anything like COVID-19 from ever happening again. Yet, despite the unspeakable toll COVID-19 has taken on our families and communities, sources are telling us that Congress may slash President Biden’s proposal in the American Jobs Plan for pandemic preparedness funding — from a $30 billion investment to just $5 billion, barely one-tenth of 1 percent of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure initiative Senate Democrats proposed.
July 13, 2021
Commission urges Congress to strengthen biodefense of infrastructure
“The Commission urged President Biden, when he first introduced his infrastructure proposal in March, to work with both sides of the aisle to find areas of agreement. He has done exactly that, and it seems that a workable deal is in sight,” said former U.S. Senator and Commission Co-Chair Joe Lieberman. “As COVID-19 continues to demonstrate, the Nation’s critical infrastructure remains at biological risk. Ten pandemics and major epidemics have affected America to date, and it is obvious that the current COVID-19 pandemic is not a once-in-century event. Congress should take this unique opportunity to address capability gaps now before the next pandemic, or biological attack occurs.”
July 9, 2021
Commission Urges Congress to Strengthen Biodefense of Critical Infrastructure and Reduce Risks to the Nation
As the Biden Administration and Congress negotiate details on a federal infrastructure package, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense urges Congress to reduce national biological risk by taking action to defend against, and eliminate vulnerabilities to, biological threats to critical infrastructure.
July 8, 2021
Hospitals may not be adequately prepared for the next pandemic, study finds
Ricardo Pietrobon, MD, PhD, MBA, Adjunct Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at UMSOM, Nicole Baehr, Manager of Operations at UMMC, and Brian J. Browne, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine, were co-authors on this study. Researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Miami, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs also participated in this research. The study was funded by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
June 21, 2021
Cyberbiosecurity Threats Headline Next Meeting of Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense will premiere a virtual meeting on Tuesday, June 22, to provide the Commission with a better understanding of cyberbiosecurity threats and vulnerabilities. The meeting, Biologia et Machina: Cyberbiosecurity for Today’s Hybrid Evolution, will build on the Commission’s earlier work to explore opportunities and solutions to address today’s threats, and the role of the federal government in securing the future. The Commission believes it is imperative to continually evaluate cyberbio threats and vulnerabilities to keep pace with these two domains as their convergence accelerates.
May 28, 2021
Tom Daschle, Tom Ridge: Pipeline hack reveals America’s vulnerability to biological attack
The effects of the ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline and disrupted East Coast gasoline supplies have eased. But as frustrating as that cyberattack was to consumers and business operators, consider this: Much worse things could damage critical infrastructure.
May 27, 2021
An enemy could do terrible damage to our cyber infrastructure in the future: Former U.S. senator
Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. senator and current co-chair of the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, joins BNN Bloomberg's Amanda Lang to talk about the vulnerabilities that he says the Colonial Pipeline has exposed about critical infrastructure. He also talks about the political climate around regulating banks, big tech and other parts of the U.S. economy and what he hopes to see from government.
April 22, 2021
Fixing the public health system for the next pandemic
Non-partisan organizations, such as APHA, the Bipartisan Commission Biodefense, Trust for America’s Health and the National Academies of Medicine are all pushing Congress to pass legislation like this bill introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) that would more provide $4.5 billion to build and maintain funding of the public health system.
April 19, 2021
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense launches interactive tracker of federal biodefense actions
To provide real-time updates on federal actions that could help defend against biological threats, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has created an interactive recommendations tracker of completed, in-progress, and items of inaction.
April 15, 2021
New Interactive Tracker to Provide Real-Time Updates on Federal Biodefense Actions
In an effort to better track action taken by the federal government to strengthen the Nation’s defense against biological threats, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today launched its new interactive recommendations tracker. Found on the Commission’s website, https://biodefensecommission.org/recommendation-status, the tracker comes on the heels of a new Commission analysis called Biodefense in Crisis, which found the United States remains at catastrophic biological risk.
April 9, 2021
20 years after anthrax panic, America is still at risk for biological threats
Current BioWatch technology — federally developed and supported detectors placed in Philadelphia and other large cities across the nation that are supposed to quickly identify a biological agent in the air — performs poorly and is far from the deterrence mechanism it was originally intended to be. BioWatch detectors, when they work, only provide useful data hours or days after an event.
April 2, 2021
COVID-19 Exposes Biodefense Vulnerabilities as Next Pandemic or Attack Looms
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only exposed weaknesses in America’s biodefense but stands as a reminder that “this pandemic will not be the last” as the country remains “dangerously vulnerable to biological threats” with lax implementation of longstanding recommendations to shore up prevention, detection, response, and mitigation, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense said.
April 1, 2021
Biodefense Commission warns U.S. still vulnerable to further biological threats
Even as the United States reels from a year under the thumb of COVID-19, a new analysis from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, released this week, warns that without action, the nation remains dangerously vulnerable to another pandemic or biological threat.
April 1, 2021
Tom Ridge: Federal government is neglecting needs of America’s first responders
It is outrageous that 20 years after September 11 and the anthrax attacks of 2001, we continue to hobble our ability to respond swiftly and effectively because we still deprive first responders of the tools and information they need.
March 31, 2021
Commission Applauds President Biden for Including Significant Funding for Biodefense in New Infrastructure Plan
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s American Jobs Plan – an infrastructure program that would invest $30 billion to prevent future pandemics and protect against a range of biological threats.
March 30, 2021
On Pandemic Anniversary, Commission Finds U.S. Remains at Catastrophic Biological Risk
Despite warnings from public health professionals and the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, the country was caught unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. A new analysis from the Commission finds that the United States remains at catastrophic biological risk. Called Biodefense in Crisis: Immediate Action Needed to Address National Vulnerabilities, the report closely examines the extent of progress that has been made since the Commission released its seminal National Blueprint for Biodefense in 2015. Biodefense in Crisis provides a fresh assessment of governmental efforts to implement the Commission’s recommendations to prevent, deter, prepare for, detect, respond to, attribute, recover from, and mitigate biological threats. It also includes eleven updated recommendations based in-part on real-time learning during the pandemic.
March 25, 2021
After U.S. failures on Covid, Congress is working to prepare America to fight the next pandemic
But there’s no reason for lawmakers to delay action until the Covid-19 pandemic entirely subsides, said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. “There’s a number of lessons learned that we already know. They don’t have to wait to go forward,” George said.
March 19, 2021
Are We Ready For The Next One? The Striking Pandemic Warnings That Were Ignored
Now, I know there is this bipartisan commission on biodefense, and they have released a report in which they have made some suggestions about kind of what to do and how to prepare. But one of the things they call for is a budget that is funded for several years. And it's always helpful to have money, but can you talk about the ways that we have not invested in this area of preparedness in this country?
March 18, 2021
The Plague Prophets
Max Brooks: Working with the [Bipartisan Commission for Biodefense, a privately funded organization devoted to assessing the health of the United States’ biodefense strategy and policy], I saw how we handled things like [our response to] measles. The writing was already on the wall for America. We’re selfish and lazy. We’re three generations away from the greatest generation at this point, and even the grandparents are selfish baby boomers. When even the grandparents have no living memory of a pre-polio vaccine America, why shouldn’t we all act like spoiled children?
March 5, 2021
Dr. Asha George on KNX In Depth
Dr. Asha George joins KNX In Depth to discuss COVID-19. While states are starting to reopen, vaccinations are picking up and optimism is growing, COVID infections are on the rise again. On those vaccines, we're still waiting for the CDC guidelines on the do's and don'ts once you've been fully vaccinated, what is taking so long. This is one of the major things people want answered.
March 4, 2021
Audit finds major gaps in US bio weapons detection system
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, co-chairs of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, have called for the replacement of BioWatch, which they say relies on winds blowing in the optimal direction and can take up to 36 hours to provide evidence of a biological agent.
February 17, 2021
Donna Shalala Returns to Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Dr. Donna E. Shalala, a founding member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, returned to the Commission after having represented Florida’s 27th Congressional District for the previous two years. She served as Secretary of Health and Human Services for eight years during the Clinton Administration.
February 10, 2021
Bold Action Can End Era of Pandemic Threats by 2030
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is calling on the federal government to urgently implement the recommendations specified in its new report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in the United States and all over the world.
February 9, 2021
A Bold Plan Says the U.S. Can End Pandemic Threats by 2030
In their new report, they say the country now needs an Apollo Program for biodefense. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed to landing astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade. The Apollo 11 mission accomplished that goal in 1969, making history. While ending the threat of pandemics seems like a tall task, the commissioners argue that it’s “more achievable today than landing on the moon was in 1961.”
February 8, 2021
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Urges Government to Prioritize Vaccination of First Responders
In a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense urges future prioritization of first responders in vaccination recommendations.
February 8, 2021
Donna Shalala Returns to Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Dr. Donna E. Shalala, a founding member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, returned to the Commission after having represented Florida’s 27th Congressional District for the previous two years. She served as Secretary of Health and Human Services for eight years during the Clinton Administration. In 2008, President Bush presented Sec. Shalala with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian award.
January 29, 2021
Pandora Report: 1.29.2021
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense released a report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense – Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, that outlines a path forward to tackling biological threats. According to the Commission, “the existential threat that the United States faces today from pandemics is one of the most pressing challenges of our time; and ending pandemics is more achievable today than landing on the moon was in 1961.”
January 29, 2021
Doomsday Clock stands at 100 seconds to midnight
"I hope we do more than just look at the clock and get on with our day," added BAS board member Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. "I hope we act to bring those hands back further and further, and make the world a safer place," George said.
January 29, 2021
New proposed ‘Apollo’ program for biodefense calls for pandemic elimination in a decade
Even with the rollout of mass vaccination worldwide, COVID-19’s spread is nowhere near an immediate end. So, it might seem perplexing when biosecurity researchers appear optimistic about a future without pandemics. That reality is exactly what a new report has outlined. Released this week by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, ‘The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats’ is a bold call to action for the United States to create and disseminate the necessary technologies to defend against pandemics—and within this decade.
January 29, 2021
Bold Action Can End Era of Pandemic Threats By 2030
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has called on the federal government to urgently implement the recommendations specified in its new report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in the United States and all over the world.
January 29, 2021
Pandemic shows U.S. needs to beef up biological defenses
Plans for dealing with pandemics go back a ways, yet the government seemed a little off guard when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit US shores. Now a bipartisan commission which warned of the need for strong biological defense plans back in 2015, recommends what it calls an “Apollo” plan for dealing with the next one.
January 29, 2021
Former Senator Joe Lieberman on “The Takeout”
Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman joins Major to talk about The Apollo Program for Biodefense (32:44), upcoming impeachment trial of former President Trump, the domestic terror threats across America, and his thoughts on the Democrats' hopes to eliminate the filibuster on this week's episode of "The Takeout with Major Garrett."
January 28, 2021
Former leaders call on President and Congress to create Apollo Program to eliminate future pandemics
“We need a big, bold national program. We’re calling it the Apollo Program, like the moon shot in the 1960’s to achieve some things that people would think are science fiction,” said Lieberman. Among the goals proposed by 125 experts… stopping infectious diseases from becoming pandemics by identifying them in their first human clusters, then developing stockpiles of vaccines and tests that can be easily modified and deployed.
January 28, 2021
How the Apollo Program for Biodefense plans to end the threat of future pandemics
COVID-19 is not the first pandemic the world has experienced, and it won’t be the last. But how the U.S. prepares for the next one is crucial, says former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.
January 27, 2021
2021’s ‘Doomsday Clock’ stuck at 100 seconds to midnight
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said it's 2021 "Doomsday Clock" remains at 100 seconds to midnight. This year, COVID-19 is to blame for humanity remaining scarily close to a global meltdown, according to the group, which is comprised of world leaders and Nobel Laureates. Dr. Asha George is the Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, she spoke with ABC NewsRadio's Thomas Oriti.
January 27, 2021
Ex-Homeland Security chief says pandemic exposes US vulnerabilities to bio threats
“We can't avoid the development of infectious diseases. Mother Nature's too clever for that,” Ridge adds. “But, we can avoid and prevent pandemics in the future.” He, along with the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, are urging Congress to approve their proposed program, the Apollo Program for Biodefense, to help get ahead of future viruses before they have a chance to overtake the country.
January 26, 2021
Fighting the next pandemic: Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman, and the Apollo Program for Biodefense
We've spend the better part of a year trying to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the United States, more than two million worldwide. It's been expensive, traumatic, and scary. And it's going to happen again. Are we ready for the next pandemic? What lessons have we learned? And what can we do better? The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has issued a report of recommendations – The Apollo Program for Biodefense - to make sure we are ready the next time.
January 26, 2021
Fmr. Sen. Joe Lieberman: We can eliminate future pandemic threats by 2030
MSNBC’s Craig Melvin is joined by Bipartisan Commission co-chairs, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman to discuss the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense’s Apollo Program for Biodefense
January 26, 2021
Biodefense Plan to End Pandemic Threats
In their report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has released critical recommendations for the U.S. to be better prepared to handle the challenges of future pandemics and essentially end the threats of potential biological warfare.
January 26, 2021
Bold Action can End Era of Pandemic Threats by 2030
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is calling on the federal government to urgently implement the recommendations specified in its new report, The Apollo Program for Biodefense: Winning the Race Against Biological Threats, as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in the United States and all over the world.
January 26, 2021
Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge: How America can end threat of future pandemics by 2030
With ambitious technological goals in mind, the commission’s recommended program could deploy medical countermeasures within days or even in advance of a biological event, detect a novel biological threat at the first human cluster, and enable the public to gather in spaces built to prevent pathogen transmission.
January 1, 2021
The Role of AI Technology in Pandemic Response and Preparedness
In more recent decades, protecting against natural and manmade biological threats has been included in U.S. National Security Strategies since 1995. For additional history, see A National Blueprint for biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense (Oct. 2015).
December 10, 2020
The Best Books of 2020: Politics
Internecine conflicts within the executive branch are nothing new, as Tevi Troy shows in “Fight House: Rivalries in the White House From Truman to Trump”. But administrations have often needed more conflict, not less. Dr. Tevi Troy is an Ex Officio member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
December 2, 2020
Former homeland security advisor plots response principles for crisis, emergency managers
Public trust must be maintained in preparing for and responding to another large-scale biological event like the ongoing novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a former Trump administration emergency management expert told the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense on Monday.
November 13, 2020
New report outlines diagnostic measures to control COVID-19
In a report released this week, “Diagnostics for Biodefense: Flying Blind with No Plan to Land,” the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense describes the ways in which these missteps by the U.S. government lead to a public health breakdown. The report also outlines the diagnostics steps that should be taken to combat further spread of the virus.
November 12, 2020
Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge: COVID-19 testing still isn’t adequate. We must invest more now.
So news that a vaccine has been shown to be 90% effective was really exciting. A safe, reliable vaccine is exactly what the world needs to turn the tide on this deadly virus. But vaccines are likely months away from large-scale manufacturing and wide distribution. In the meantime, it is crucial that the United States dramatically improves our ability to accurately diagnose COVID-19. We have a plan to do that.
November 10, 2020
New Commission Publication: Diagnostics For Biodefense – Flying Blind with No Plan to Land
In a new special focus report released today, Diagnostics for Biodefense – Flying Blind with No Plan to Land, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense provides an approach that would ensure the United States can rapidly develop innovative point-of-care and point-of-need diagnostic tests for COVID-19 and other novel, emerging, and reemerging infectious diseases when they occur.
October 9, 2020
The U.S. Spent Billions of Dollars on Biodefense. COVID-19 Was the Attack it Never Saw Coming
The warning signs that America was unprepared for a pandemic have been blinking red for more than a decade, as Congressional hearings, table-top exercises and think-tank studies showed that the U.S. healthcare system wasn’t ready.
September 25, 2020
The Biothreat After COVID-19: Engineered Pathogens, More Zoonotic Outbreaks
Biotech experts cautioned that the next pandemic could be worse than COVID-19 as emerging pathogens increasingly jump from animals to humans, the number of outbreaks grows as government preparedness lags, and nefarious actors can use the same advancements as researchers to “engineer pathogens with increasing sophistication” and “catastrophic” results.
September 25, 2020
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense prepares for next pandemic
Time is of the essence, said former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, co-chairman of the commission, because the next pandemic is coming and it may be worse than COVID-19 as the risk of natural and human-generated threats continue to increase in number and speed.
September 24, 2020
Commission Announces Apollo Program for Biodefense
During a public meeting today of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Commission Co-Chairs, former Senator Joe Lieberman and Governor Tom Ridge, announced an important new effort aimed at accomplishing what may seem like an impossible goal – to develop the capacity and capability to take biological threats off the table. Drawing inspiration from the legendary Apollo space program that put a man on the Moon in less than a decade, the Apollo Program for Biodefense will examine the Nation’s track record with other successfully executed grand projects, look at how the country is dealing with COVID-19 and other ongoing outbreaks such as Ebola, and develop a national roadmap to tackle these monumental biological challenges.
September 22, 2020
Focus of Next Commission Meeting: Innovative Science and Technology Solutions to Address Emerging Biological Threats
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense will premiere a virtual meeting this Thursday, September 24 entitled, The Biological Event Horizon: No Return or Total Resilience. The event horizon is clear – either disease continues to devastate American lives and livelihoods, or the country develops the capacity to fight and overcome every disease that comes its way.
September 18, 2020
Dr. Asha M. George: Ensuring public’s trust in COVID-19 vaccine is critical part of pandemic fight
I fought in Desert Storm, the massive military offensive in the Persian Gulf. Although it began nearly 30 years ago, I see parallels between decisions I made on the battlefield and decisions all Americans will have to make about a COVID-19 vaccine.
September 16, 2020
Virginia Tech hosting food and agricultural cyberbiosecurity workshop Oct. 6-7
Perspectives on the importance of bridging the digital, physical, and biological systems for protecting the agriculture and food industries, supported with workforce development and education, will be provided by industry and academic leaders including: Asha M. George, a world-renowned public health expert who is the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
September 12, 2020
There’s a frantic global race for a COVID vaccine, and Houston hopes to be an ultimate winner
A congressional group called the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense led the effort to improve the nation’s preparedness. It had some successes, but few involved spending more on vaccine research and development. Everybody said they supported the effort, one expert noted, but nobody wanted to spend real money on it.
August 26, 2020
We Need Another COVID-19 Economic Response Package Now
As co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, I know we were unprepared for this crisis. We must learn from this event and have a quicker response in the future. In a letter to House and Senate leadership, our Commission wrote, “This will not be the last biological crisis this Nation faces. In addition to the potential resurgence of COVID-19 cases this fall, other naturally occurring diseases continue to mutate and work their way around the world, and both state- and non-state actors continue to invest in biological weapons programs that may well come to fruition and threaten us. It is not too early to start examining and learning from the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, and determining what
August 6, 2020
To Prep Hospitals for Pandemics, Look to the Trauma System
Asha George is a public health security expert who spent four years a congressional staff member with the House Committee on Homeland Security before working as a government contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. As the current executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, she helped prepare a blueprint for how the nation should plan for and respond to an infectious disease outbreak, whether from a naturally occurring pathogen or a biological weapons attacks. She shared some of those recommendations with Mother Jones.
August 6, 2020
Episode 2: Science + The Law | Future Biological Threats
The Commission's Executive Director, Dr.Asha M. George, joined the RawScienceTV Podcast for their second episode. What does the future hold for dealing with bio threats? What can we do scientifically and legally? Topics include the opening of casinos versus churches, the speed and safety of vaccines, the role of simulations and preparedness, and the responsibility of scientists versus federal agencies and the courts.
July 21, 2020
Four Pandemic Preparedness Experts Call for 9/11-like Commission
Dr. Parker elaborated on the role of citizens and leaders at every level in this paradigm shift through grassroots movements and campaigning, stating that, "It's going to be up to us, you and I, as individual citizens to play more of a public advocacy role going forward so our politicians will have to make more political and resource commitments [to pandemic preparedness]. I'm hopeful that we will get beyond this boom-and-bust cycle that we've had over the last 15 years and have pandemic preparedness recognized as a national security issue."
July 20, 2020
Alexander Floor Remarks Preparing for the Next Pandemic Act
These are recommendations from public health experts and from bipartisan leaders who have convened experts to gather their advice. Some of those from whom we have heard on some of these issues include: former Governor
Tom Ridge, co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; former Senator Joe Lieberman, co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; Dr. Julie Gerberding, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and, Andy Slavitt, former Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
July 20, 2020
Senator Alexander Floor Remarks Preparing for the Next Pandemic Act
These are recommendations from public health experts and from bipartisan leaders who have convened experts to gather their advice. Some of those from whom we have heard on some of these issues include: former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D.; former Governor Mike Leavitt, former Secretary of Health and Human Services; former Governor
Tom Ridge, co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; former Senator Joe Lieberman, co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; Dr. Julie Gerberding, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and, Andy Slavitt, former Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
July 20, 2020
Assessing the US government response to the coronavirus
The decision to charge Vice President Mike Pence with leading the pandemic response seemed to have been a good one. It was also in keeping with the recommendations from the National Blueprint for Biodefense, which is a bipartisan commission that released its first report in October 2015 (Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense 2015). The report recommended the vice president should be in charge of biodefense at the federal level, in recognition of the cross-cutting nature of this area and the need to be able to allocate funds across numerous departments and agencies within the government. However, since the beginning of May, this task force and the vice president have played a much less visible role despite the growing national toll.
July 20, 2020
Governor Tom Ridge: First responders need us now
By the time the EMTs reached my hotel room in Austin, Tex., I was already unconscious on the floor. Moments earlier I had dragged myself to the phone and called for help as chest pains began to overwhelm me. I later learned those first responders resuscitated me more than once as they used their medical training to keep me alive until we arrived at the hospital. That’s where doctors and nurses and a lot of machines took over.
July 17, 2020
Two Republican former Pennsylvania governors and a Democrat back Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions
On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine put the clamps on bars, distilleries and wineries that don’t serve meals and reduced capacity in restaurant dining rooms from 50% to 25%, measures that sparked immediate backlash from business owners and many Republican leaders.
July 16, 2020
Little Is Known About How Coronavirus Impacts Kids
Dr. Gerald Parker, head of the Pandemic Policy Program at Texas A&M, says part of the reason we don’t know how the disease impacts kids is that schools were closed early on. He says there’s no other setting that can be used as a basis for comparison.
July 16, 2020
Former Pandemic Officials Call Trump’s COVID-19 Response a National Disaster
“The CDC’s expertise and job is to provide that source of expert guidance and information and data to the states. And not in, often, a prescriptive way, but you can just go and see in past epidemics and past outbreaks—whether it’s Ebola or Zika—what we did is we relied on the public health and science and epidemiological professionals,” Lisa Monaco, who served as the homeland security adviser to President Barack Obama told me
July 14, 2020
CDC has to get the messaging right with the COVID-19 vaccine
n 2001 when letters containing anthrax were mailed to Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), two vastly different populations were affected in Washington, DC - Brentwood Post office employees, who were predominately Black, and Hart Senate Office staff, who were mostly white.
July 14, 2020
With COVID-19 Cases Surging In Texas, What’s Next?
“I hope this is a signal to everybody that we cannot be complacent, we cannot afford to shut down our economy – I don’t think that’s the right answer – but we need to have everyone be compliant with the basics in infection controls so we don’t have to take more drastic measures,” said Dr. Gerald Parker, associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M University.
July 13, 2020
Amid pandemic, Pentagon would cut ‘chem-bio’ protections
Gerald Parker ran the Chemical and Biological Defense Program when he was deputy assistant secretary of Defense from 2010 to 2013, and he once commanded the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Parker said in an interview that it is important to maintain steady funding for the Pentagon’s chem-bio program, because Defense Department research labs help protect not just military personnel but also the wider world from diseases — whether naturally occurring, accidentally released or intentionally deployed, and including those that have not yet emerged.
July 10, 2020
Food defense—“Back to the basics”
In their October 2017 Blue Ribbon Study Panel Report titled Special Focus: Defense of Animal Agriculture, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense stated “Although the nation has made great strides, it still falls critically short in rapid biodetection, diagnosis, and integrated biosurveillance of outbreaks”
July 9, 2020
Tom Daschle and Tom Ridge: America is paying a horrific price for neglecting public health
Early in the 20th century, public health was part of America’s social contract and was broadly considered by leaders and citizens as a foundational tool to keep us safe. But as the 1918 flu and other epidemics became a distant memory, so, too, did our country’s funding for public health departments.
July 7, 2020
Pandemic Experts Host Virtual Roundtable On COVID-19 Preparedness
The virtual roundtable will feature a panel of experts including: Christine Crudo Blackburn, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Pandemic & Biosecurity Policy Program, Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs, Texas A&M University. Professor Gerald Parker, Associate Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University. Dr. Leslie E. Ruyle, Assistant Director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs, Texas A&M University. Richard Crespin, CEO of CollaborateUp and CSIS Senior Associate
June 30, 2020
DARPA’s Pandemic-Related Programs
While the plan also calls for the sustainment of a robust national science and technology base to support biodefense, it does not articulate a need for interagency R&D planning and coordination. In 2015, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, now the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, highlighted military-civilian collaboration in biological R&D as one of many issues that “deserve more congressional oversight.”
June 30, 2020
Whole Community: Threats & Solutions – June Issue
DomPrep has not been alone trying to drive awareness of the biothreat and its broad array of dangers. Others, especially the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, tried to advise and influence elected officials and policy makers of a certain biological incident, be it naturally occurring or by evil intent.
June 18, 2020
COVID-19: ‘We Need to Resist Pandemic Fatigue,’ Warns Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today called for a renewed commitment to combating COVID-19 and urged Americans to keep protecting one another. “Our Nation’s experts believe that COVID-19 waves could continue for months,” said former Homeland Security Secretary and Co-Chair Tom Ridge
June 22, 2020
Texas coronavirus experts call for national investigation of U.S. response to pandemic
“Pandemic preparation used to be a nonpartisan issue,” said Parker, who under President George W. Bush served on the large team that prepared the United States’ first pandemic security plan. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a COVID Commission came to a similar conclusion as the 9/11 Commission: that we suffered a failure of imagination.”
June 18, 2020
Commission on biodefense urges Americans to be vigilant in COVID-19 fight
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is calling for a renewed commitment to fighting COVID-19, urging Americans to protect each other. “We formed the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense six years ago because we suspected and subsequently confirmed that our Nation was vulnerable to biological threats,” Commission Co-Chair Joe Lieberman said.
June 18, 2020
Executive Director, Dr. Asha M. George, discusses COVID-19 on KNX1070 News Radio
COVID-19 is indeed on the march again, with some areas of the United States on the verge of losing control over the spread of the virus. But if you listened to President Trump or Vice President Pence, you'd think all is well and we've got coronavirus totally under control: have we been left on our own by the federal government? Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, joins KNX1070 News Radio to discuss.
June 18, 2020
Coronavirus ‘second wave’ debate ‘misses the whole point,’ experts say
"People are tired and worried about their lives and their livelihoods. But now is not the time to relax," said former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a founding member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. "The virus continues to spread," Lieberman said. "Until preventive measures or medical treatments arrive, we must continue to do what we can to protect one another. We need to wear masks, maintain social distancing and support science, public health and medicine."
June 16, 2020
First DHS chief Tom Ridge knocks Trump’s attacks on voting by mail
Ridge’s comments underscore how Trump’s assault on mail voting is out of the historical mainstream for a party that had few concerns about the process until the coronavirus pandemic made it the safest and most secure option for voters.
June 12, 2020
Pandemic Expert: “We Have to Figure Out How We Can Live With the Virus”
“We always have to be concerned when we see an uptick in cases, particularly hospitalizations. But it’s expected,” said Dr. Gerald Parker, director of the biosecurity and pandemic policy program at Texas A&M’s Bush School and associate dean for Global One Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “We really have to follow public health guidance so we don’t see a dangerous increase in cases and a dangerous increase in hospitalizations.”
June 12, 2020
Max Brooks Uses Storytelling to Prepare Us for Disaster
Another example is the comic book “Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History,” which Brooks wrote in partnership with the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. By choosing a comic book format, he helps make difficult history and essential information accessible to a wider audience.
June 12, 2020
Pandemic Preparation
“One of the weaknesses in many [pandemic] plans is this assumption there will simply be enough stuff—gloves, masks, vials, needles—and if we don’t have enough, we can get it someplace,” Asha M. George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission, told me. “COVID-19 shows the fallacy there.”
June 10, 2020
Americans with disabilities need more support during pandemic, say advocates
Nearly one in four Americans lives with a disability. For some, that means a compromised immune system and greater risk for the coronavirus. Advocates are sounding the alarm that Congress needs to do more to help this population of society’s most vulnerable. Judy Woodruff talks to Tom Ridge of the National Organization on Disability and Danny Woodburn, an actor and disability rights advocate.
June 9, 2020
Preparing for the Next Pandemic | White Paper by Sen. Lamar Alexander
In response to the Commission’s recommendation, in 2016, Congress required the Secretaries of Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Agriculture to jointly develop a national biodefense strategy and implementation plan as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (PL 114-328).
June 9, 2020
Commission on biodefense backs Congressional efforts to improve nation’s biodefense
“As Congress considers different mechanisms for reviewing and improving our Nation’s biodefense, we wish to make ourselves and our bipartisan work available to facilitate and expedite that effort. Each of us on the Commission and our staff would be honored to make such a contribution. We are confident that our involvement would significantly shorten the timeline by which our Nation develops the comprehensive readiness and response capacity needed to address the modern-day threat of infectious disease. We offer our Commission’s support in any way you think we can help.”
June 9, 2020
The State Department Is the Wrong Place to Coordinate the Pandemic Response
The Scowcroft Institute at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University published four white papers on the rising probability of a worldwide pandemic since 2017, including one that recommended that the vice president in every administration should lead a pandemic preparedness effort well in advance of a crisis using the White House’s convening authority to settle interagency disputes, assign tasks and propose supplemental funding to manage the crisis. The bipartisan, Blue Ribbon Commission on Biodefense run out of the Hudson Institute, co-chaired by former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, a Republican, and former Senator Tom Daschle, a Democrat, made a similar recommendation.
June 8, 2020
A national testing strategy to safely reopen America
As the country reopens, a plan for national testing, contact tracing, in addition to isolating those who are sick has never been more crucial. Without it, as people begin interacting again, the chance that the virus will spread undetected goes up exponentially.
June 8, 2020
Senator Joe Lieberman Discusses COVID-19 and How Commission Can Help with Michael Smerconish
On Monday, June 8th, Senator Joe Lieberman, co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, joined Michael Smerconish on the SiriusXM POTUS channel to discuss the Commission's letter to Congress about how we can help address COVID-19 and future biological threats.
June 8, 2020
Commission to Congress: “Our Country Needs Answers. We Can Help”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 8, 2020) – In a letter sent earlier today to the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate, the six members of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense pledged their support to Congress as the legislative branch considers different mechanisms for reviewing and improving our country’s biodefense in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 5, 2020
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations spiking in Houston
"I am afraid the public interprets lifting 'government-mandated shelter in place" and closure of non-essential business that the pandemic is over and community and individual mitigation measures are no longer necessary," said Gerald Parker, director of the pandemic and biosecurity policy program at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government Service. "But the virus is still in our communities and can hit the most vulnerable hard."
June 5, 2020
If We Get A Vaccine, What Then?
Researchers around the world, including at Texas A&M University, are working to create a COVID-19 vaccine as global deaths number at more than 390,000. We asked Gerald Parker, associate dean of Texas A&M’s Global One Health, and Timothy Callaghan, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health, to give us their assessments regarding vaccine development and rollout, as well as the possible effects if people refuse it.
June 4, 2020
Texas A&M University Press releases free e-book on pandemic preparedness and biosecurity
The book features insight from, among other experts, Texas State Health Commissioner John W. Hellerstedt, Gerald Parker, director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program, and from Andrew Natsios, a Bush School professor who is the director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs.
June 3, 2020
Texas A&M Expert: As Coronavirus Pandemic Enters New Phase, Expect Spikes In Cases
In Texas, where people have started to return to restaurants, retailers and salons under a phased reopening plan, expect to see an uptick in cases as people begin to resume close human-to-human activity, said Dr. Gerald Parker, director of the biosecurity and pandemic policy program at the Bush School of Government and Public Service.
June 3, 2020
Biodefense Experts Criticize Trump Administration Plan To Withdraw From WHO; Other Experts Warn Move Could Harm Efforts To Eradicate Polio, Control TB
In separate statements released this week, both the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and the nonpartisan, nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) expressed concern with the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO)
June 3, 2020
The Value of Home Health Care
Op-ed by Tom Daschle and Bill Frist: For the first time in our modern history, staying at home has become a “new” normal. And with more than 1.5 million Americans now infected with COVID-19, never before in our lifetime has accessing care in a person’s home been so important.
June 2, 2020
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, NTI criticize Trump administration decision to withdraw from WHO
In separate statements released this week, both the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and the nonpartisan, nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) expressed concern with the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).
June 2, 2020
Ex-Bush DHS Chief ‘Speechless’ Over President Trump’s ‘Counterintuitive’ Fight Against Mail-in Voting
Trump’s claims have drawn criticism from Democrats and even Republicans like former Homeland Security Secretary and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who said he was “speechless” as to why the president targeted absentee voting, calling it both “contradictory” and “counterintuitive.”
June 2, 2020
A step back: Could the pandemic help save democracy, not trash it?
The "structural reform" camp of the democracy movement continues to wage legal and policy battles on multiple fronts, but the mandate to protect mail-in balloting during the pandemic has taken center stage. Its latest alliance is a new cross-partisan coalition, dubbed VoteSafe, led by one prominent former governor from each party, Republican Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Democrat Jennifer Granholm of Michigan. VoteSafe is promoting both access to absentee ballots and public health at polling places, and has partnered with such leading groups as RepresentUs and the League of Women Voters.
June 1, 2020
Commission Statement on Decision by Trump Administration to Withdraw from World Health Organization
The co-chairs of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, former Senator Joe Lieberman and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, today issued the following statement on the decision by the Trump Administration to withdraw from the World Health Organization.
June 1, 2020
Clear Lines of Responsibility Would Facilitate Implementation of the National Biodefense Strategy
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, an organization of former government officials from both sides of the aisle and from the executive and legislative branches, when assessing the budget stated: “The Executive Branch and Congress do not comprehensively assess how the government currently spends its biodefense dollars.”
May 28, 2020
Commission Awarded Silver Telly for Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History
The Commission is proud to announce that we are a recipient of a Silver Telly Award for the audiovisual version of our graphic novel, Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History. The audiovisual won in the Non-Broadcast, Craft-Voiceover category of the 41st Annual Telly Awards.
May 28, 2020
Does a Crisis Spur Political Unity? Not This Pandemic
“Partisanship seems to continue to escalate in spite of the crisis,” said Tom Daschle, who as a Democratic senator from South Dakota was the Senate majority leader during the Sept. 11 attacks and their immediate aftermath. “It is the worst I have seen it in my lifetime. And there is no end in sight.”
May 28, 2020
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Moncef Slaoui and Top COVID-19 Thought Leaders Take Stage During BIO Digital Week
Anthony Fauci, M.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director and Moncef Slaoui, Ph.D., U.S. Operation Warp Speed Chief Advisor will speak on a special plenary session on Tuesday, June 9 during BIO Digital, a virtual conference hosted by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) running June 8-12. Newly appointed BIO President & Chief Executive Officer Michelle McMurry-Heath, M.D., Ph.D., joins BIO Chairman of the Board Jeremy Levin, and outgoing Chief Executive Officer and industry champion Jim Greenwood to kick-off four days of discussions on how the biotech sector is rising to meet the greatest public health challenge in a century.
May 27, 2020
Trump rants about fraud. But here’s the secret to keeping voting by mail secure.
Tom Ridge, the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and Homeland Security secretary under former President George W. Bush, told NBC News the legitimacy of mail-in voting has "been pretty well validated by history."
May 24, 2020
What’s next? When it comes to infectious disease, time is not on our side
The commission is bipartisan and small, with three Republicans and three Democrats as members. We are honored to serve as co-chairs. The other members are former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor Lisa Monaco, former Representative Jim Greenwood, and former Homeland Security Advisor Ken Wainstein.
May 22, 2020
Covid strengthens bonds between biotechs, regulators
But Jim Greenwood , president of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization trade group, said science is "galloping … and it is only bad policy that can stop all of that." In an industry where investors bet on getting a big drug win, price controls take away the incentive to invest.
May 22, 2020
All hands on deck: Biotechs find new ways to join battle against Covid
More than 70% of Covid research and development is being led by small companies, according to BIO. “It is the nature of small biotech companies to be nimble and innovative,” said BIO President Jim Greenwood. “I’m not all that surprised they can turn on a dime.”
May 21, 2020
Chronicle of a Pandemic Foretold
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense—jointly chaired by Tom Ridge, the first secretary of homeland security, under President George W. Bush, and a former Pennsylvania governor, and Joseph Lieberman, a former Democratic senator from Connecticut—has suggested that the operation could be located in the Office of the Vice President, with direct reporting to the president.
May 21, 2020
Ex-Homeland Security chief Ridge says coronavirus is ‘permanent risk,’ US must ‘learn how to manage it’
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told "Your World" Thursday that coronavirus has become a "permanent risk" for all Americans and state and federal officials will have to "learn how to manage it."
May 21, 2020
The mail voting debate gets more confounding
n Thursday, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a Republican, announced the formation of “VoteSafe,” a group that included both Michigan's Democratic current secretary of state (whom Trump had picked a fight with) and Georgia's Republican secretary of state (who Trump decidedly hadn't).
May 20, 2020
Health leaders: We stuck together to #StayHome, now we can start together to #OpenSafely
Americans want our country to open up safely. We have been at this for a number of difficult weeks since the global coronavirus pandemic began, and it has taken a toll. It has been a time of unprecedented challenge. To our health. To our jobs. To our social connections. To our health care communities. We have sacrificed with great unity to #StayHome in order to reduce the infection rate and save lives.
May 20, 2020
110 bipartisan leaders: Congress needs to reform itself in wake of coronavirus
As former public servants and concerned American citizens, we are deeply worried about the twin threats of a pandemic combined with severe economic peril, and we strongly encourage our government to work together for common purpose for the United States.
May 20, 2020
Innovation And Prosperity Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic: Universities And Our Economic Future
Activities surrounding the IEP designation already had connected experts in biosecurity, food security, and infectious disease prevention with the Manhattan, Kansas business community, dubbed “the Silicon Valley of Biodefense” by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
May 18, 2020
COVID-19 has shown U.S., U.K. are vulnerable to biological terrorism, experts say
Dr. Asha George, a public health specialist who heads up the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, said that the threat of a biological event continues to rise and that she remains worried about opponents who might wish to emulate the kind of damage currently felt by the U.S. and many of its allies.
May 15, 2020
Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm
“We absolutely did leave a plan. It was called a playbook,” said Lisa Monaco, former homeland security adviser to President Obama. The goal, she said, was to share the lessons learned during the Ebola and Zika outbreak
May 14, 2020
Biotechnology Innovation Organization taps new CEO
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a trade group that counts leading pharmaceutical companies among its members, has tapped Michelle McMurry-Heath as its next president and chief executive. She’ll start June 1. She was previously a vice president at Johnson & Johnson, one of the trade group’s members. She’ll replace former Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.), who’s led the trade group since 2005. POLITICO reported last year that Greenwood planned to step down.
May 12, 2020
Houston a bright spot amid spiking Texas COVID-19 numbers
. Gerald Parker, director of the pandemic and biosecurity policy program at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government Service, says the contrasting numbers in Dallas and Houston aren’t surprising. “The dynamics of a pandemic is that not every community is hit at the same time,” said Parker.
May 11, 2020
State of Texas: The promise and peril of reopening businesses across the state
“We have to have some straight talk with the population about the virus and its risk,” said Gerald Parker, director of Texas A&M’s Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Program. “This virus is not going to go away anytime soon.”
May 11, 2020
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle: Home Health Workforce Is Essential to Addressing COVID-19
The strain the COVID-19 virus has placed on U.S. hospitals is shining a light on the need for home- and community-based care. That’s according to former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who is also the founder and CEO of The Daschle Group.
May 11, 2020
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense delves into preparedness, response for next pandemic
The United States’ preparedness and response capabilities have buckled under the stress of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and proactive work is needed to meet the next infectious disease before it strikes, said experts during the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense May 8 virtual meeting. “America continues struggling to catch up with the disease and get ahead of it,” said former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, co-chairman of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
May 9, 2020
What is the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense?
During the discussion, Dr. Poste, shared his thoughts on the need for governments and our industry to prepare for global pandemics and what the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense had reported. Dr. Poste, an ex officio member of the commission, shared that is was not a matter of if a global pandemic would occur, but of when.
May 8, 2020
US ignored pandemic guidelines, former Health and Human Services secretary says
“Boy, we weren’t ready,” Shalala, a Democrat who is also former Health and Human Services secretary, said at a meeting of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. The commission, an independent group put together to advise on potential pandemic and bioterrorist dangers, has been warning for years about the lack of US preparedness. Shalala, a former member of the commission, said the White House did follow one recommendation made in a 2015 report offering guidance about handling a pandemic. That was the appointment of Vice President Mike Pence to head the response.
May 7, 2020
U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala Headlines Next Meeting of Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Focused on COVID-19 Response
Led by Commission Co-Chairs, former Senator Joe Lieberman and Gov. Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security, the Commission welcomes back one of its original members, Representative Donna Shalala (D-FL). Rep. Shalala will discuss the role of Congress in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to prepare the Nation for the next biological event.
May 7, 2020
G.O.P. Revolt in Ohio: Governor Faces Attacks From Within Over Shutdowns
Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania and a Republican, who has known Mr. DeWine since they were freshman members of Congress, sees virtue in these conservative principles. But he is baffled as to why lawmakers in Ohio and elsewhere are citing them as grounds to block public health orders in the middle of a pandemic.
May 6, 2020
The US should be a leader in the global fight against Covid-19
Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) served in the Senate from 1987 to 2005 and as Senate majority leader from 2001 to 2003. Dr. Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), a physician and host of the health care podcast A Second Opinion, served in the Senate from 1995 to 2007 and as Senate majority leader from 2003 to 2007. Both are members of the National Advisory Council of the US Global Leadership Coalition. The views expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion at CNN.
May 6, 2020
How Could COVID-19 Reshape Healthcare Policy?
Can this pandemic transform the US healthcare system for the better?
Join WAC for a quick chat followed by audience Q&A with Senator Tom Daschle and moderated by Clyde Tuggle, Partner at Pine Island Capital Partners and World Affairs Council Board Member.
May 6, 2020
If you want to fight, join the war against the coronavirus | Opinion
As former Gov. Tom Ridge wrote recently in USA Today and PennLive, “Your country has asked you to forgo your normal personal and professional routine for a couple of months in the war against COVID-19. No question, it is difficult and sometimes feels unbearable as economic and emotional stress mount each day. But the pandemic in less than three months has taken the lives of more Americans than the total number of U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.”
May 5, 2020
Coronavirus Report: The Hill’s Steve Clemons interviews BIO president Jim Greenwood
Greenwood: Well, if I were to editorialize, I would begin by saying that unfortunately, not enough members of Congress and not enough people in this administration and previous ones have taken seriously the inevitability of a global pandemic. You referenced that bipartisan commission on biodefense co-chaired by Tom Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security, and former Sen. Joe Lieberman. I serve on it, Tom Daschle, former senator, serves on it
May 4, 2020
Stay Tuned with Preet: The New Threat Matrix
This special national security focused episode of Stay Tuned, “The New Threat Matrix,” is co-hosted by Lisa Monaco and Ken Wainstein. In this episode, Lisa and Ken do a deep dive on the national security implications of the coronavirus pandemic and break down the issues the U.S. would confront in the event of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s death or incapacitation.
May 4, 2020
‘It just had to do with luck’: Inside Biden’s struggle to contain the H1N1 virus
Lisa Monaco, who served as Obama’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, remembered a notable exchange between Biden and then-Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan when the African leader visited the White House during the Ebola outbreak. “The vice president was quite forceful with him to accelerate [his] response,” Monaco said.
May 3, 2020
Federalism and fighting coronavirus
“The record on testing has been an embarrassment, a strategic disappointment,” says Gerald Parker, director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy program at Texas A&M. Parker, who worked in the George W. Bush administration, two years ago warned that the nation was ill-prepared for a likely pandemic.
May 3, 2020
As Washington stumbled, governors stepped to the forefront
Trump has complained that the federal stockpiles he inherited were inadequate to meet the pandemic’s demands. But Lisa Monaco, White House homeland security adviser under Obama, said those stockpiles were meant only to be a bridge. “It was always envisioned that [during a pandemic], the federal government would step in and activate the supply chain and manufacturing,” she said.
May 2, 2020
Ex-Bush official says lockdown protesters aren’t heroes
Former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge, who also served as the Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush, says armed protesters demonstrating against coronavirus lockdown orders are self-absorbed and not heroes.
May 2, 2020
Trump’s national security adviser out of sight in coronavirus response
John Brennan, who was then Obama's homeland security adviser and eventually became CIA director, led the government's interagency response to the swine flu. Lisa Monaco, Obama's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, reported directly to Obama and his then-national security adviser, Susan Rice, during the Ebola outbreak, according to a former Obama administration official who was involved in the response.
May 1, 2020
Texas A&M pandemic expert: We should expect a ‘dangerous new spike’ in coronavirus cases
Dr. Gerald Parker is the director of biosecurity and pandemic policy at Texas A&M’s Bush School, and associate director of Global One Health. When we talked with him last month, he outlined what he believed will be the five stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 30, 2020
Former Pa. Governor Tom Ridge Says Stay-At-Home Protests Dishonor Veterans
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Former Pennsylvania Governor and USA Today opinion contributor Tom Ridge wrote in an op-ed on Wednesday that those protesting the stay-at-home orders are dishonoring America’s veterans. “In recent days, we have seen images of Americans carrying weapons as part of their protests to immediately reopen society,” Ridge wrote. “What are they planning to do, shoot the virus with their AR-15s?”
April 30, 2020
Joe Biden picks vetting team as he searches for running mate
Former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Apple executive and longtime Biden aide Cynthia Hogan will serve as co-chairs on the committee. They’ll work with vetting teams led by former White House counsel Bob Bauer, campaign general counsel Dana Remus and former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco to evaluate Biden’s options and collect information on each candidate to help him make his decision.
April 30, 2020
Texas Coronavirus Deaths Hit Highest Since March, One Day Before State Reopening
An expert at the Texas A&M Bush School of Government said that the state would serve as a "model for the nation" when it comes to reopening the economy. Gerald Parker, the director of Public Policy Scowcroft Institute Pandemic & Biosecurity, said the second wave of infection might happen once the state reopens, but this should not be a deterrent.
April 30, 2020
Pandemic warnings existed long before coronavirus hit US, experts say | Nightline
Government reports over the past several years and a mock exercise warned of the likelihood that a pandemic could hit the U.S. and cautioned the U.S. may not be prepared for it. Former senator Joe Lieberman is co-chair of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. In 2015 they issued a report, stating that the nation is dangerously vulnerable to a biological event.
April 29, 2020
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense set to inform federally proposed COVID-19 commission
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is poised to assist a national COVID-19 commission that would be created under legislation introduced earlier this month. Specifically, recommendations and pandemic plans issued by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense would be reviewed and evaluated by a national commission established under the proposed COVID-19 Commission Act, H.R. 6455, a Democrat-led bill unveiled on April 3.
April 29, 2020
Tom Ridge: Selfish protests against stay-at-home orders dishonor America’s veterans
Apparently these protesters with their weapons and false bravado — many of whom risk spreading the virus further by refusing to wear masks and standing apart from one another — are smarter than the medical experts. They have decided to ignore the public discussions about incrementally turning our economy back on because it doesn’t fit their personal timetables.
April 29, 2020
To Confront China After Coronavirus, We Must See the Bigger Picture
Lewis Libby: In a popular movie two decades ago, hard-eyed criminals released into Sydney a woman infected with a virus, knowing that unsuspecting Australians would catch the highly contagious disease and, traveling on, unwittingly spread death across a hundred homelands.
April 28, 2020
U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Introduces Bill Directing Review of Commission Recommendations and Pandemic Plans
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 28, 2020) – The Committee on Homeland Security in the U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill to establish a National Commission regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill (H.R. 6455) would require the newly established commission to, “review and evaluate recommendations and pandemic plans issued by the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and other nonpartisan entities regarding health security, pandemic preparedness, response, or recovery.”
April 28, 2020
The Race is On to Find a COVID-19 Vaccine
Former Republican Congressman Jim Greenwood is the President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a trade association representing biotechnology companies experimenting with solutions. “In order to make a vaccine that you are now going to give to billions of people, you have to make sure it not only is it effective, but the potential side-effects are worse than the disease is,” Greenwood told KTRH.
April 24, 2020
What has Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisory group been doing?
Along with Katz, the group currently includes several former top Obama aides, including former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor Lisa Monaco, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler and bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. Clinical professor Dr. Irwin Redlener, who was initially part of the committee, stepped down after accepting an MSNBC contributor deal.
April 23, 2020
COVID-19 Crisis Exposed U.S. Weaknesses to Bioterrorists
"I think that people are certainly observing what is happening with COVID-19 and how it is spread, and thinking about how to use that [information] tactically," said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. "ISIS and al-Qaida, and presumably other terrorist organizations, they are pursuing biological agents, and they are pursuing chemical weapons for terrorist purposes."
April 22, 2020
Is now the time for Covid tattoos?
As Lisa Monaco, a former homeland security adviser to the Obama administration, said on CNN Tuesday:
"The disease is here. It doesn't know any borders. And the problem is, we don't know enough about where it is. And the only way to reopen the economy and get people back to work is by giving them confidence that they can do safely, confidence that employers can bring their employees back to work safely."
April 21, 2020
The Next Pandemic Might Not Be Natural
It needs to start pouring the kind of money and attention into systems like the global surveillance that it does for the F-35 jet fighter. Americans need to pay more attention to organizations like the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense that have worked tirelessly to try to warn of the threat of germ warfare.
April 20, 2020
COVID-19: We Were Warned
For years, leaders on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense told Congress and the White House that it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, a pandemic would happen. Exploring the panel’s unheeded recommendations can give the United States a blueprint for what to do going forward to protect us from the coronavirus and future threats.
April 17, 2020
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Co-Chairs Say Finger-Pointing on COVID-19 Testing Must Stop
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17, 2020) – Former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman and Gov. Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, who together co-chair the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, today urged President Trump and the Nation’s governors to end non-productive finger-pointing on COVID-19 testing. Instead, they must work together in common purpose to find ways to increase testing capacity.
April 17, 2020
The Chance for Sustained Bipartisanship for Emergency Preparedness and Response
We need to take the early lessons learned from this response and create or support more sustainable, better resourced bipartisan initiatives in this space. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is an excellent example of an organization that helps our crisis system navigate bipartisanship.
April 17, 2020
Tom Daschle and Stacey Abrams: Rural America needs coronavirus help
We saw a precipitous increase in coronavirus cases in rural America just in the last week of March. Between March 23 and April 1, the number of cases reported nearly tripled in nonmetropolitan counties. A major concern is that rural communities will be particularly disadvantaged by the pandemic because of what makes rural America unique.
April 16, 2020
Expert says he warned government about pandemic years ago
Dr. Gerald Parker calls himself a pandemic scholar. He's a part of the Texas A&M Pandemic and National Security Policy Program, and he was among those delivering a warning to policy makers in Washington, D.C. "We recommended to the Vice President that there should to be a permanent vesting authority for preparedness at the federal level. That's finally happening now," Parker said.
"We told them there had to be a framework within the bureaucracy," Parker said. "Coordination, collaboration, communication and innovation. Those were the five buckets we pointed out."
April 16, 2020
Who will win the corona wars?
In October 2015 the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, co-chaired by Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, published its first report, calling for better integration of the agencies responsible for biodefense. Last year, it was renamed the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense ‘to more accurately reflect its work and the urgency of its mission’. On paper, the US was the most pandemic-prepped country in the world.
April 15, 2020
Texas A&M scholars urged U.S. to prepare for a impending pandemic years ago
Christine Blackburn, Andrew Natsios and Gerald Parker wrote an article in 2018, emphasizing the country’s need to prepare and to unite fronts with other countries and organizations to fight off a looming pandemic.
April 15, 2020
Transcript: Lisa Monaco speaks with Michael Morell on “Intelligence Matters”
In this episode of "Intelligence Matters," host Michael Morell speaks with former White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser Lisa Monaco about pandemic preparedness and response by the federal government. Monaco, who helped oversee the Obama administration's response efforts during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks, explains which government agencies play key roles in managing public health crises and preparing for future outbreaks.
April 14, 2020
‘Mind-boggling’: How pandemic planning never accounted for a President like Trump
"It is hard," said Lisa Monaco, who served as Obama's homeland security adviser and is a CNN national security analyst. She led incoming Trump administration officials through a pandemic tabletop exercise during the presidential transition.
April 13, 2020
Focused on terrorism, the intelligence community ignored prior pandemic warnings
“It is preposterous to say that no one saw this coming,” says Lisa Monaco, who served as Obama’s homeland security adviser. “Not only did people see it coming, people warned about it.” Monaco also warned about a pandemic, 14 years after Monaghan had done the same.
April 13, 2020
Coronavirus Update: Expert Reveals Five Phases Of COVID-19, US Only At Phase Two
But the U.S. in only in phase two of this disease's newly identified five-phase cycle, warned Dr. Gerald Parker, Associate Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M, whose area of expertise is COVID-19. In phase two, cases and death counts double exponentially and is usually the most painful and horrific of the five phases.
April 12, 2020
The President and the Plague
All of Obama’s top advisers, including Susan Rice and Lisa Monaco, Obama’s Homeland Security adviser, were there. Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (who later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is now awaiting sentencing) was also present, as was Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert.
April 11, 2020
Chris Currie on Federal Government’s Response to Coronavirus Pandemic
Currie: Sure, I want to go back even further. One of the things we pointed out and other folks have pointed out after us, such as the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, we have always been concerned about a lack of leadership level. Back in 2011, we recommended there should be a focal point at the national level. At the time, it was given to the national security council. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense recommended five years ago that it be the Vice President.
April 11, 2020
Spanish Influenza Helped End WWI. Can COVID-19 Do the Same with Conflicts Today?
In “Shall We Wake the President,” a history of disaster responses by U.S. presidents, Tevi Troy cites how U.S. president Woodrow Wilson ignored the 1918 Spanish influenza, allowing World War I to trump public health.
April 11, 2020
Inside America’s 2-Decade Failure to Prepare for Coronavirus
“I would get asked, what keeps you up at night?” said Lisa Monaco, who served as Obama’s homeland security adviser between 2013 and 2017. “An emerging infectious disease like a new strain of flu was the thing I worried most about.”
April 10, 2020
Politics with Amy Walter: React or Prepare? How to Handle a Crisis
The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented but history is often a helpful guide. Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense Dr. Asha George chronicle the political challenges to preparedness.
April 10, 2020
Texas A&M pandemic expert: Coronavirus will have 5 stages. We’re in stage 2.
To discuss that, we called Gerald Parker at Texas A&M, where he directs the Bush School’s biosecurity and pandemic public policy program and is associate dean of Global One Health. He’s also served for decades in federal government. In the U.S. Department of Defense, he was deputy assistant for chemical and biological defense
April 10, 2020
Facts and Speculation: Experts in Biosecurity Discuss COVID-19
Tuesday evening, a handful of ambassadors logged onto Zoom yet again to hear the latest updates on COVID-19, and an overview of the anticipated strategy to combat the virus. The information was presented by the Institute’s Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy team, which was represented by Dr. Gerald Parker and Dr. Christina Crudo Blackburn, with the Institute’s director, Professor Andrew Natsios, moderating.
April 9, 2020
How the US Government Failed to Prepare for a Pandemic
Also in 2015, a Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense produced more than 30 recommendations for what the US government should do to become better prepared for biological threats. In 2016, the Commission received a grant of just $1.3 million from a non-governmental organization to continue its work and, in 2018, $2.5 million more from the same NGO.
April 9, 2020
Ignorance, Delusion, Denial, and Unpreparedness
Also in 2015, a Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense produced more than 30 recommendations for what the U.S. government should do to become better prepared for biological threats. In 2016, the Commission received a grant of just $1.3 million from a non-governmental organization (NGO) to continue its work, and in 2018, $2.5 million more from the same NGO.
April 9, 2020
‘COVID-19 in 60’ and ‘Coronavirus Chronicle’: The latest news and case counts
In today's "Cornonavirus Chronicle" podcast Lisa Gray talks with Dr. Gerald Parker, director of Biosecurity and Pandemic Public Policy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M. He has coordinated federal medical and public health responses to several hurricanes, the Haiti earthquake, and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
April 9, 2020
Tom Ridge | Coronavirus is America’s next test after 9/11. And a generation of heroes has responded.
As I watch Fauci’s briefings, however, I can’t help but compare our current situation with my time leading the Department of Homeland Security in the weeks, months and years following 9/11.
April 8, 2020
Want to Stop the Next Pandemic? Start Protecting Wildlife Habitats
A longer-term strategy can help nations see the benefits of rethinking resource use. “The revenue from clearing new forest is extremely high—briefly,” says William Karesh, executive vice president at EcoHealth Alliance, a research nonprofit.
April 8, 2020
Texas A&M experts offer virus insights during online forum
Gerald Parker, director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program within the Bush School of Government and Public Service, said that even an 18-month time frame on discovery and eventual distribution of a vaccine would be scientifically “remarkable.”
April 8, 2020
Greenwood on lack of Coronavirus preparations: “This is a scary time”
A year after it was convened in 2014, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense (originally called the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense) issued a report examining naturally occurring and human-made biological threats and recommended a comprehensive strategy to reduce the impact on the country. In addition to Greenwood, the panel included former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge...
April 7, 2020
Texas A&M System to launch TV series on COVID-19
Future guests will include Gerald Parker and Christine Blackburn, scholars from Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service, who, in 2018, predicted that the country would be ill-prepared for a pandemic. The show will also feature economic experts and Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management who also serves as the college system's vice chancellor for disaster and emergency services.
April 7, 2020
White House preparedness for pandemic threat has faltered across four presidencies
He eventually led its new Health and Security office on the NSC only to see it shuttered later by the Bush administration. But after the 2001 anthrax attacks, Bernard, a medical doctor by training, was called back by NSC homeland security director Tom Ridge to reopen the office.
April 7, 2020
Trump Broke the Agencies That Were Supposed To Stop the Covid-19 Epidemic
Another key post-9/11 reform was the creation of a White House homeland security adviser, a domestic equal to the national security adviser, a post created just days after 9/11 by President George W. Bush and filled at first by Tom Ridge, who would go on to be the first Homeland Security secretary. Presidents Bush and Obama for years had at their beck and call senior, sober homeland security advisers like Fran Townsend, Ken Wainstein, John Brennan and Lisa Monaco
April 6, 2020
Once again, government is caught unprepared
On Jan. 13, 2017, Lisa Monaco, who was White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser in the Obama administration, convened a meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The session brought together the members of the outgoing Obama Cabinet with the Cabinet designees in the incoming Trump administration.
April 6, 2020
This tiny federal agency was built to respond to a crisis like coronavirus. Now that it’s here, is BARDA ready?
“Everyone knows that the government wheels can turn slowly and bureaucracy can raise its ugly head, and this is a race against time,” BIO President Jim Greenwood said. “This is a matter of life and death.”
April 4, 2020
America was unprepared for a major crisis. Again.
“I’ve often wondered if democracy writ large is designed to be responsive rather than preemptive,” said Tom Ridge, the nation’s first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. “One of the lessons perhaps as a result of this is we’ll be a little more inclined to be preemptive. With election cycles every two years, there is not a lot of credence given to people who take a longer view.”
April 3, 2020
Max Brooks discusses The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense on Real Time with Bill Maher
Max Brooks discussed The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense on Real Time with Bill Maher: "The Commission is trying to get us ready for the next-gen of germ attacks because this one might have crawled out of the jungle, but the next one may crawl out of a lab"
April 1, 2020
FEMA braces for a multi-front war as hurricane season looms
On Monday, acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf held an off-the-record phone call with members of the Homeland Security Experts Group -- former DHS Secretaries Michael Chertoff and Jeh Johnson as well as other veteran national security officials, such as former Obama homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco and retired Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) -- to give them an update on how DHS and FEMA are handling the crisis.
April 1, 2020
Smart Thermometer Data Suggests Social Distancing Is Working
The weekend-long event, which opened Friday, March 27 at 4 p.m. with remarks from former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota and concluded Sunday at 9 p.m., brought together some 2,000 technologists and public health care experts to collaborate on 230 technology-based responses to the coronavirus pandemic.
March 30, 2020
How to Win the War on Coronavirus
During the past several decades, many of my colleagues in the biosecurity and public-health communities, plus a bipartisan group of political leaders including senators Bob Graham (D., Fla.), Jim Talent (R., Mo.), Gary Hart (D., Colo.), Richard Burr (R., N.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.), have argued to include public health as a key element in national security. Unfortunately, most national leaders failed to listen. I suspect that may be changing, albeit, a bit late.
March 30, 2020
As Washington privatized pandemic preparation, the national security state left Americans defenseless against coronavirus
George Poste, a former director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute with close ties to the US military-intelligence apparatus, warned in 2018 that even though the horror of the 1918 flu epidemic had not been repeated, it was “inevitable that a pandemic strain of equal virulence will emerge.”
March 30, 2020
Government leaders, biotech officials meet virtually to discuss eradicating COVID-19
White House Response Coordinator, Ambassador Deborah Birx was in attendance, as was Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood said the goal is to minimize redundancies and maximize cooperation and collaboration.
March 30, 2020
From distraction to disaster: How coronavirus crept up on Washington
“Congress now has to do emergency supplementals partly because there wasn’t money in place to respond earlier,” said Dr. Asha George, the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and a former senior staffer on the House Homeland Security Committee.
March 27, 2020
Trump’s COVID-19 testing czar spent decades in Texas preparing for a pandemic
Dr. Gerald Parker, director of the Texas A&M Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program, was originally recruited by Giroir to be the Health Science Center’s principal investigator and has known Giroir since his DARPA days, when Parker was at HHS.
March 27, 2020
COVID-19: Calls to close wildlife markets as harbours for spreading infections
William Karesh, is executive vice president for health and policy at the EcoHealth Alliance, a multi-national non-profit conducting research in emerging infectious disease. He is also quoted by the CBC suggesting that instead of immediately trying to stamp out all such trade and industry, the focus should be on first stopping trade in animals most likely to have infections more readily transmitted to humans, like bats, rodents, and primates.
March 27, 2020
Biotech Calls for More Collaboration and Communication During COVID-19 Pandemic
BIO, with more than 1,000 members, is connected to more biotech companies than perhaps any other organization in the world. To develop diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, “We are organizing our Coronavirus Collaborative Institute to maximize our ability to share information and minimize duplication and opaqueness,” said Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO.
March 27, 2020
‘Worse’ pandemic on horizon unless world deals with wildlife markets
William Karesh, executive vice president for health and policy at the EcoHealth Alliance, said the current coronavirus outbreak was likely spread in two possible ways. It could have been a wild animal being sold in the market that contaminated the market. It's also possible that a vendor in the market was infected somewhere else and then infected their customers.
March 27, 2020
Technologists and healthcare workers team up for coronavirus response hackathon
The Pandemic Response Hackathon is a virtual event to bring public health professionals alongside the technology community's talent to boost the world's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Major healthcare figures like former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin and former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle will also be heavily involved.
March 26, 2020
It Pays To Be Prepared
In April 2018, I gave testimony to the now Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense that underscored the critical importance of the first sentence in its 2015 national blueprint report, “The United States is unprepared for biological threats.” That assessment has now proven to be prescient.
March 26, 2020
BIO Summit Accelerates Collaboration Between Government & Industry Leaders in Fight Against COVID-19
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) this week hosted a productive virtual summit intended to foster collaboration among key government agencies and biopharmaceutical innovators with one goal: eradicating COVID-19. “Through the collaboration this virtual summit has helped foster,” said Greenwood, “I’m confident we will eradicate this deadly pandemic and be better prepared for the next one.”
March 26, 2020
Tom Ridge: In Support of the President Using the Stafford Act
But thinking back to the emotional and economic toll left behind on those communities in my congressional district, one can easily anticipate that cities such as Seattle and New York — which are already dealing with large numbers of COVID-19 cases — will need similar federal assistance, on a much larger scale.
March 26, 2020
“During the Pandemic Crisis Be Resilient and Plan for the Next Time” – says Presidential Historian and former White House Aide Tevi Troy
“I was raising this issue of coronavirus and I said, we have vaccines and countermeasures and antivirals for flu, but we do not have them for coronavirus, and we need to develop them. I don’t know why the US government hasn’t moved faster on that. I think that there are larger issues at play in terms of prioritizing development of countermeasures”.
March 24, 2020
Moving in record time, industry, government, investors focus on one mission: Beat COVID-19
But Greenwood expressed frustration with politicians, pointing out that five years ago the organization formed the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which is co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and former Sen. Joe Lieberman to heighten government awareness of weaknesses and to provide recommendations so the country would be prepared for things like COVID-19.
March 24, 2020
Tom Ridge: America’s Governors Getting Coronavirus Response Right
Tom Ridge, a former Pennsylvania governor and the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was answering his own office phones last week in Washington, D.C. — a sign of how quickly things have changed in America since the coronavirus hit.
March 24, 2020
We could have learned from past outbreaks. Why is the coronavirus response so messy?
In 2014, he founded a nonprofit organization, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, to attack the problem as a civilian. Kadlec persuaded Lieberman, an independent and former Democrat, and ex-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, a Republican, to co-chair the effort. That panel, later renamed the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, completed a scathing report in 2015 and sent it to then-president Barack Obama.
March 24, 2020
‘All Of This Panic Could Have Been Prevented’: Author Max Brooks On COVID-19
So your book "Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History" was a graphic novel for which you partnered with the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. And this depicts various diseases and epidemics and biowarfare through decades and centuries, and it also projects possibilities for the future. So I'm wondering, having looked at the past and looking now at the present, do you think that the present, that the pandemic that we're living through now is revealing certain flaws in our social structure?
March 23, 2020
To Protect the Future, Hold China to Account
As many, including Dr. Bill Karesh of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, have shown, readily affordable measures, including refrigeration and culturally sensitive regulation, could replace China’s lax and dangerous wet-market practices.
March 23, 2020
Why the US government was unprepared for COVID-19, according to a biodefense expert
“It’s time to grow up and face the fact that we’re going to have more biological events, whether they’re caused by nature, accidentally released by laboratories, or generated by biological weapons,” George said. “How many more of these events have to occur before the U.S. government is convinced that this is something we have to deal with?”
March 23, 2020
The US had a chance to learn from anthrax, SARS, H1N1 and Ebola. So why is the federal coronavirus response so messy?
Former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman says it was as if Paul Revere rode across the country and no one paid attention. For more than two decades, Robert Kadlec has warned leaders that the United States is not just vulnerable to a pandemic, but doomed by dysfunction if one were to strike.
March 23, 2020
‘Extraordinary change’: How coronavirus is rewiring the Republican and Democratic parties
Joe Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator, described the current landscape in Washington as an “extremely partisan time, ideologically divided time in our government — worse than 2008 and 2009 by far, I’m afraid.” Still, Republicans and Democrats are “coming together to get things done,” he said, adding that “if it works — which I hope and believe it will, if they do enough quickly enough — maybe there won’t be a dominant counter-reaction among Democrats or Republicans left or right.
March 21, 2020
Managing the coronavirus crisis: Former Pa. governors share thoughts, advice and reassurance
Unlike the 9/11 terrorist attacks that were unforeseen and so bruising to the national psyche, Ridge said there had been some forewarning about the coronavirus. But he said, “The level of intensity I’m not sure we appreciated.” In times of a crisis, Ridge said you have to rely on experts.
March 20, 2020
Military Matters Review: Coronavirus
Rod and Desmon talk with Dr. Asha M. George of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Connecting Vets reporter Elizabeth Howe, and Stars and Stripes reporter Kim Gamel, who shares what life is like in South Korea, one of the countries hit hardest amid the pandemic.
March 20, 2020
America’s Biopharmaceutical Companies Working Around the Clock to Beat Coronavirus
"Researchers at America's biopharmaceutical companies are working around the clock to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus and deliver treatments to those impacted by this deadly disease," said Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO.
March 19, 2020
We Were Warned
“The nightmare scenario for us, and frankly to any public-health expert that you would talk to, has always been a new strain of flu or a respiratory illness because of how much easier it is to spread” relative to other pandemic diseases that aren’t airborne, Monaco told me.
March 19, 2020
‘It is not science fiction anymore’: Coronavirus exposes U.S. vulnerability to biowarfare
Asha George, the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, echoed those concerns. “What we’re seeing are all the places where we are vulnerable,” she said. “You can see people not really having thought about what impact a biological event would have on the nation in any number of different sectors.”
March 19, 2020
How Are We Supposed to Vote During a Pandemic?
But some think postponing the primaries would be a grave misstep, in part because there is no knowing when the crisis will end. “It is the sacred right and duty of Americans to cast their ballots for our nation’s leaders,” Terry McAuliffe and Tom Ridge, the former governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, write in Politico
March 19, 2020
Ridge on Coronavirus: ‘We’re not quite as well-prepared for this as we could be’
n some ways, former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge knew the nation was not prepared for something like the novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19. “This country, with all of its capacities and all of its abilities, has yet to really focus on building an antidote to viruses at large,” Ridge said.
March 19, 2020
CDC, the top U.S. public health agency, is sidelined during coronavirus pandemic
Public health experts say it’s not necessary for the CDC’s voice to come from the director. “It must be someone who can communicate clearly and tell people what they need to do,” said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
March 19, 2020
The President vs. the Experts: How Trump Downplayed the Coronavirus
And the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Asha M. George, said travel restrictions came too late. “Travel restrictions are not going to remain the sole way to try and control all of this.”
March 18, 2020
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense receives $2.62M grant to continue biosecurity efforts
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense received its largest grant to date from Open Philanthropy, the commission announced today. “Open Philanthropy has been very generous in supporting our efforts to identify and work with the public and private sectors to strengthen our national biodefense,” said former Gov. Tom Ridge.
March 17, 2020
Don’t Stop the Primaries!
As two former governors from different sides of the aisle, we know how important it is to keep our communities safe. The COVID-19 pandemic is a once-in-a-generation public health crisis, and ensuring that we’re able to “flatten the curve” to minimize community transmission and avoid overwhelming hospitals is our collective focus
March 17, 2020
Obama officials walked Trump aides through global pandemic exercise in 2017
“We included a pandemic scenario because I believed then, and I have warned since, that emerging infectious disease was likely to pose one of the gravest risks for the new administration,” Lisa Monaco, Obama’s national security adviser, wrote in an essay for Foreign Affairs.
March 16, 2020
Commission Receives $2.62 Million Grant to Defend America Against Biological Threats
The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense today announced a $2.62 million grant from Open Philanthropy. This is their fifth grant from Open Philanthropy, whose critical support of the Commission’s work now totals $7.31 million.
March 10, 2020
In Depth coronavirus special: Has the CDC bungled the response and containment of the epidemic–Should big public events, like the LA Marathon, be canceled–The psychological toll from coronavirus anxiety
On Friday March 6, Commission Executive Director, Dr. Asha M. George, spoke with KNX News Radio for their in-depth coronavirus special.
March 3, 2020
Pandemic Disease Is a Threat to National Security
On January 13, 2017, national security officials assembled in the White House to chart a response to a global pandemic. A new virus was spreading with alarming speed, causing global transportation stoppages, supply-chain disruptions, and plunging stock prices. With a vaccine many months away, U.S. health-care infrastructure was severely strained. No, I didn’t get that date wrong. This happened:
February 28, 2020
Lieberman & Ridge: On coronavirus, Trump was right to put Pence in charge of response
We applaud President Trump for putting Vice President Pence in charge of the U.S. government’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense we co-chair made this very recommendation four years ago. Too bad it took a crisis to get it done, but that’s Washington.
February 28, 2020
Spreading coronavirus forces U.S. administration’s targeted response plans
Dr. Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, applauded the move, noting the assignment of the vice president was the commission’s number one recommendation in its 2015 National Blueprint for Biodefense, which addresses America’s preparedness and response to man-made or naturally occurring biothreats. “It should have happened sooner, but we know, it often takes a crisis to get things done in Washington,” George said.
February 28, 2020
Mike Pence’s crisis manager skills put to the test in new role leading coronavirus response
Asha George, who heads a bipartisan group of former government officials who analyze the U.S.'s capacity to defend against biological threats, applauded Trump’s decision to put Pence in charge of the coronavirus response. Multiple agencies are involved in such an effort, which can make a coordinated response difficult, said George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. "You need somebody with enough power and authority to direct everybody and make sure everybody is doing what they're supposed to be doing," she said.
February 26, 2020
Commission Applauds President Trump for Putting VP Pence in Charge of Government Response to Coronavirus
Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, tonight applauded President Trump for placing Vice President Pence atop the federal government’s response to the coronavirus. Dr. George notes that this was the Commission’s #1 recommendation in its 2015 National Blueprint for Biodefense.
February 26, 2020
Trump touts biodefense strategy but slashes funding to detect and combat outbreaks like coronavirus
“It’s our understanding that it sort of ground to a halt during the assessment phase,” Asha George, the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, said of the strategy. (George is also a member of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board.)
February 26, 2020
White House scrambles to tamp down fears of coronavirus
Tom Ridge, who served as the nation’s first Homeland Security secretary under President Bush and co-chairs a bipartisan commission on bio-defense, faulted Trump for his breezy response to the threat and Democrats for what he called their “sky is falling” complaints. “I just don’t recall when public health issues have ever been politicized like they are now,” Ridge said. “It is a real crisis.
February 25, 2020
As coronavirus fear grips Wall Street, the White House moves decisively to protect Trump from germs
That’s a start, but Asha George, director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, tells me that “a billion is not going to do it,” particularly because agencies need to replenish some $200 million they have already taken from other programs to fight coronavirus. George says a spending package of $3 billion is needed immediately to fund public and private research on vaccines and antidotes, stockpiling medical supplies, manufacturing...
February 21, 2020
Coronavirus: Is New York City prepared to deal with thousands of cases?
“We have to look and see what’s happening in these other countries and assume the same thing is going to happen here,” Dr. Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, said. “I think we have to plan for the possibility that we have thousands of cases. Or hundreds of thousands.”
February 17, 2020
Coronavirus Renamed, Redefined and Under Estimated?
George spoke at a US Senate hearing on Wednesday. CNN reports she remarked that in American public health schools, students are taught to assume they are partially in the dark and to account for such unknown cases. “We’re often taught to multiply by seven or eight times what you’ve been told”, she said. “For every one case you see, there are seven or eight out there that you don’t”, she explained.
February 17, 2020
7 Things the Senate Is Hearing About Covid19, for Agents
George said emergency response agencies should get out, update and start implementing their pandemic response plans, not waiting for the situation to get worse before they act, “even if that means that they have to stand back down” if the United States escapes from having serious Covid19 problems.
February 17, 2020
Coronavirus Threat as Serious as ‘Other Issues of National Defense,’ Says Former CDC Director
In addition to medical countermeasures, Lieberman said emergency planning and response has “got to remember the need for essential medical supplies, basic stuff — there’s no point, for example, in developing vaccines that need to be injected if we don’t have enough needles. There’s no point in telling hospitals and other healthcare deliverers to provide supportive care if we don’t have supplies like saline."
February 15, 2020
As demand spikes for medical equipment, this Texas manufacturer is caught in coronavirus’s supply chain panic
“We don’t have a plan in place for that scenario that allows for [the] quick decision-making that you’d like to see,” said Asha George, executive director of the nonprofit Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
February 14, 2020
Is the U.S. prepared for the coronavirus?
Asha George, a biosecurity expert says numbers in China and around the rest of the world have been significantly under-reported. George says, "For every one case you see, there’s seven or eight out there that you don’t. So, that means we’d be looking at hundreds of thousands of cases. I think that’s the scale we should be planning." Hundreds of thousands would swamp hospitals and health care workers. The next few weeks could very well decide whether the U.S. and other nations find themselves in the middle of a global pandemic.
February 14, 2020
US to Begin Testing Suspected Coronavirus Patients in 5 Cities
“I don’t think we should be planning for the onesie-twosie cases that we’ve been seeing thus far in the United States,” Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “We have to plan for the possibility that we have thousands of cases.”
February 14, 2020
Dow Tumbles as U.S. Warned of 100,000s of Coronavirus Cases
After a record-breaking day on the stock market on Wednesday, the Dow Jones took a brutal fall when trading resumed on Thursday. It comes as U.S. health experts urged Congress to take the coronavirus threat more seriously. According to one testimony, there are likely seven or eight unknown cases for every confirmed infection. Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, warned: "It may be hundreds of thousands of cases (in the U.S. eventually)."
February 13, 2020
Health experts warn Congress coronavirus may hit US hard in next two to four weeks
“I don't think we should be planning for the onesie-twosie cases that we've been seeing thus far in the United States,” said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. “We have to plan for the possibility that we have thousands of cases, you know.” Hundreds of thousands of coronavirus cases could break out globally, George said, adding federal, state, and local governments should start planning for an outbreak on a massive scale.
February 13, 2020
As health experts sound the alarm, Trump fights coronavirus with alternative facts
Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, said there are generally seven or eight unseen cases for every known case. “It may be hundreds of thousands of cases” here ultimately, she warned. Gottlieb warned that even if the fatality rate drops from the current 2 percent to 0.2 percent, that could still “be quite devastating.”
February 12, 2020
“We have to plan for the possibility that we have thousands of coronavirus cases in the U.S.,” – Dr. Asha M. George to Congress
The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today hosted a roundtable discussion called, Are We Prepared? Protecting the U.S. from Global Pandemics. Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense was among five experts invited to participate.
February 11, 2020
OPINION One mutation away from disaster: Coronavirus exposes a huge weakness in our national preparedness
Our inattentiveness as a nation to biodefense has resulted in this alarming truth: We are one mutation away from biological disaster. Just one genetic change and a virus like coronavirus or influenza can become far more contagious and lethal, or the antibiotics we depend on to kill bacteria can be rendered ineffective. When the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which we co-chair, was established five years ago, its goal was to assess America’s ability as a nation to defend against biological threats from terrorists, nation-states, accidents and nature that could affect our national security.
February 11, 2020
The coronavirus outbreak: 3 ways the United States was (and is) unprepared
In a wide-ranging discussion, Asha George, a biosecurity expert and executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense and a member of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board talked about where she thinks the government is falling short in its response to the coronavirus and other biological threats.
February 3, 2020
Wuhan Coronavirus Could Test the Trump Administration’s Ability to Respond to a Crisis. Experts are Worried
“Once you have multiple agencies and departments involved, you have to have somebody at the White House who is who is informed, who has had some experience, and understands what all of these departments and agencies are supposed to do and can bring them together, and do the staffing and represent the President,” said Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
January 30, 2020
Larsen, Langevin and Carson Introduce Legislation to Better Protect Americans From the Flu
“When we first released our National Blueprint for Biodefense in 2015, we noted that the root cause of our nation’s continuing vulnerability to influenza and other biological threats was the lack of strong centralized leadership at the highest level of government,” said Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
January 30, 2020
The Coronavirus Is Now Officially a Global Emergency
Despite these numbers, overall funding for public health in general has fallen during both the Obama and Trump administrations, and the current appropriations aren’t enough to handle a serious epidemic, says Asha George, executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, a think tank that advises Congress on public health and security
January 30, 2020
Let Us Count the Ways the Trump Administration Is Underprepared to Tackle the Coronavirus
That no one in the White House is coordinating a multi-agency response to the coronavirus is “worrisome,” says Asha George, executive director of the global public health advocacy group Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. “Is it the CDC director?” she says. “Where is the surgeon general? He could be issuing messages. But I’m not seeing any of that.”
January 28, 2020
Super Bowl a reminder first responders still don’t have life-saving equipment | Opinion
This Sunday, tens of thousands of football fans will converge on Miami for the Super Bowl. Local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as their private-sector partners, are hard at work securing the venue and surrounding areas to make sure fans, teams and vendors are safe.
January 28, 2020
The coronavirus gives Trump his biggest outbreak emergency yet — and experts are worried
“The administration is facing a number of challenges,” George said. “You have those kinds of national security issues going on at the same time that we have this novel coronavirus moving around the world, and we are still in the middle of flu season,” she added. “It’s a lot to be trying to address at once, and the question of whether the administration can handle it is a good one.”
January 24, 2020
KCBS Interviews Dr. Asha M. George Regarding Novel Coronavirus
On January 20, the Executive Director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Dr. Asha M. George, was interviewed by KCBS regarding the CDC screening of airplane passengers arriving into the US from China for novel coronavirus.
November 27, 2019
America’s Land Grant Universities Poised to Support Nation’s Agro-Defense Efforts
“Land grant universities have become a staple of their communities. Now a resource, the government should make more of an effort to work with them to improve agro-defense,” says Commission Member Senator Tom Daschle.
Shutterstock
November 6, 2019
CSU ground zero this week for biodefense meeting on threats to livestock, crops and human life
"It’s not difficult to contemplate a situation where instead of airplanes into buildings — it's pathogens against humans, pathogens against livestock or crops,” says former homeland security advisor and Commission member Ken Wainstein.
November 5, 2019
Group urging beefed up protection against biological threats meets at CSU to look at risks to agriculture
“This is a field that covers threats to essentially human health, animal health, environmental health” and the economy says Colorado State University vice president for research Alan Rudolph.
October 18, 2019
Experts Testify United States Is Underprepared for Bioterrorism Threats
“I think it’s important to remember that the nation is not adequately prepared and has not been adequately prepared for more than a decade now,” says Commission Executive Director Dr. Asha M. George before the U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee.
Shutterstock
October 16, 2019
You’re Swabbing a Dead Gorilla for Ebola. Then It Gets Worse.
"The worst part of sampling a dead gorilla for Ebola...is the flies" says Panel Ex Officio Dr. William Karesh in this New York Times Article that covers the relentless efforts made to predict an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Wildlife Conservation Society
September 18, 2019
Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense is now the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Now in its 5th year, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense is taking on a new name to more accurately reflect its work and the urgency of its mission. Effective immediately, the organization now will be known as the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
September 17, 2019
“We believe the bipartisan nature of our work is more important than ever”
The new Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense name and accompanying logo were officially released this morning during the commission’s event, Cyberbio Convergence: Characterizing the Multiplicative Threat, a day-long meeting being held at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
September 17, 2019
Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense is now the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Now in its 5th year, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense is taking on a new name to more accurately reflect its work and the urgency of its mission. Effective immediately, the organization now will be known as the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
August 22, 2019
“America, please look beyond your self interest and do your duty”
"As former homeland security and counterterrorism advisers...we saw the operational, organizational and legal changes that are needed to meet terrorist threats," say Panel Members Lisa Monaco and Ken Wainstein in this Washington Post opinion piece.
August 5, 2019
Contest to win signed copy of graphic novel, “Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History”
WIN a limited edition signed hard-copy of "GERM WARFARE: A Very Graphic History"! Written by Best-Selling Author Max Brooks of World War Z, The Harlem Hellfighters, and Minecraft: The Island
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense partnered with Max Brooks to produce this boldly illustrated and engaging graphic novel about the earliest attempts to use biological weapons for warfare. We've only got three signed copies, so enter the contest here and follow us on Instagram for more chances to win!
July 24, 2019
Guest Column: Fighting the enemy of all mankind
Last week the World Health Organization took the rare step of classifying the Ebola outbreak in Congo as a “public health emergency of international concern.” Max Brooks, best selling author of "World War Z" talks about his latest project with The Blue Ribbon Study on Biodefense, to produce Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History, a graphic novel depicting previous biological warfare and the continued need for public health security.
July 10, 2019
Sen. Lieberman talks biodefense with John Catsimatidis on Cats at Night
Panel Co-Chair Senator Lieberman joins host John Catsamatidis for a live radio interview on Cats at Night, with other guests, including former New York Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey. Discussion on biodefense starts about 4 minutes into the recorded program.
July 8, 2019
Panel to Discuss ‘A Manhattan Project for Biodefense’ at NYC Public Meeting on July 11, 2019
"It's Time to Take Biological Threats Off the Table" - July 11 Meeting to focus on a national public-private research and development effort to defend the United States against biological threats.
June 28, 2019
Max Brooks, Author of Panel’s Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History on Real Time with Bill Maher
Study Panel graphic novel, Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History, author Max Brooks
will join other guests and newsmakers on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight, Friday, June 28, 2019 on HBO (10 pm ET).
June 27, 2019
Biodefense Takes Center Stage at House Oversight Hearing
Is the nation ready to defend against antibiotic-resistant diseases or bioterrorism? During the House Oversight Hearing, Dr. Asha George, Executive Director, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, talked about her experiences with drug-resistant diseases during her time in Operation Desert Storm.
June 24, 2019
National Security Subcommittee to Examine U.S. Preparedness for Biological Attacks and Infectious Disease Pandemics
Asha George, Study Panel Executive Director, will be a witness for Subcommittee on National Security hearing on “U.S. Biodefense, Preparedness, and Implications of Antimicrobial Resistance for National Security,” Wednesday, June 26, 2019, 2 pm at 2247 Rayburn House Office Building.
June 5, 2019
Congress Passes Legislation Authorizing Critical Biodefense Programs
The House yesterday passed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act. “The Panel is pleased to see that Congress addressed 15 of our recommendations in this legislation," says Panel Co-Chair Governor Tom Ridge.
June 3, 2019
Three decades later, have we learned the lessons of ‘The Hot Zone’?
See Letter to the Editor by Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Executive Director, Dr. Asha George in the Washington Post on Hank Stuever's May 27 Style review "Nat Geo's 'Hot Zone': Cold action, hot paranoia."
(Photo: Ricky Camilleri interviews 'The Hot Zone' star Julianna Margulies in New York on May 23.)
May 16, 2019
LIMITED AVAILABILITY FREE Hard Copies – Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History
FREE COPIES of the Panel's graphic novel, GERM WARFARE: A Very Graphic History, by Max Brooks, will be available on Sat, May 18th at FANTOM COMICS, 2010 P St NW, 2nd Floor, Washington DC from 11 am to 8 pm. https://www.fantomcomics.com/
Twitter: @FantomComics. Facebook: @https://www.facebook.com/FantomComics.
April 23, 2019
New Panel Publication – “GERM WARFARE: A Very Graphic History”
Best Selling Author Max Brooks and the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense provide a 'Very Graphic History' of Germ Warfare in a highly stylized and engaging graphic novel, depicting previous biological warfare events, the possibilities for the future, and the continued need for public health security, available for free download on the Panel's website on Saturday, April 27.
April 16, 2019
Measles outbreak drains resources we may need for a future epidemic or bioterrorist attack
"We cannot afford to ignore the lessons that measles, Ebola, pandemic influenza and other diseases have been teaching us about our vulnerabilities," Panel Co-Chairs Senator Joe Lieberman and Governor Tom Ridge Op-Ed in USA Today.
March 22, 2019
The National Security Implications of Cyberbiosecurity
"The cyber- and biological sciences are converging rapidly, creating benefits, new and advantageous applications, and increasing risks to all nations." See article by Study Panel Executive Director, Dr. Asha George, as part of the research topic, Mapping the Cyberbiosecurity Enterprise, in "Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology."
February 15, 2019
Homeland Security Replacing Troubled Biodefense System With Another Flawed Approach
Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Co-Chairs, Senator Joe Lieberman and Governor Tom Ridge along with Senator Tom Daschle provide their thoughts on the need for a more effective biodetection system as the Department of Homeland Security is looking to replace the current biodefense detection system, BioWatch.
February 13, 2019
National Health Security Strategy includes all-of-government approach to combat threats
Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Co-Chair Senator Joe Lieberman responds to the recently-released National Health Security Strategy and its inclusion of several of the Panel's recommendations.
February 6, 2019
Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense focuses on DOD role in protecting U.S. against bio attacks
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense held its Fighting the Next War: Defense Against Biological Weapons meeting to gain a better understanding about DOD’s responsibilities and requirements for biodefense, as well as the department’s role in implementing the 2018 National Biodefense Strategy.
January 2, 2019
Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Gains New Expertise With Exit of Shalala
The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense recently bid farewell to one of its founding members, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, the newly elected U.S. Representative for Florida, and welcomed former White House Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco.
January 2, 2019
Former White House Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco Joins Panel
Former White House Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco joins the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense. She advised the President from 2013 to 2017 on all aspects of counterterrorism policy including pandemics and natural disasters.
December 20, 2018
Farm Bill Includes Study Panel Recommendations
The Farm Bill (H.R. 2, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018) includes several Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense recommendations to better protect the nation’s food and agriculture sector from biological attacks and naturally occurring outbreaks.
November 15, 2018
Study Panel Co-Chair Tom Ridge Guest on CNN New Day
Study Panel Co-Chair Tom Ridge was a guest on CNN New Day on Nov. 14 to discuss the release of the White House's National Biodefense Strategy. The first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security talked about the next steps needed to ensure that strategy can be effective in defending America against a biological incident.
October 29, 2018
Upcoming Episode of ‘The West Wing Weekly’ Podcast to Feature Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
Panel Member Senator Tom Daschle on the 'West Wing Weekly Podcast': "Many of the efforts to better our response over the past 17 years have come up short, and our nation is still largely unprepared for a large biological incident. We need to shore up our national biodefense – otherwise, the price we pay will be in American lives."
September 21, 2018
White House authorizes National Biodefense Strategy
"The biological threat is real," says Dr. Asha George, Study Panel Executive Director in Homeland Preparedness News. "I am glad to see that the Trump Administration recognized this fact and released the National Biodefense Strategy." Panel Co-Chair Governor Tom Ridge looks forward to the White House assigning responsibilities of this plan and establishing timelines for their completion, adding, "This is the sort of proactive planning and preparation the American people are looking for in their federal government."
September 20, 2018
White House sets “new direction” in biodefense strategy
"The White House made a great start with the implementation plan they included with the strategy," says Study Panel Co-Chair Governor Ridge in the Washington Post. "We look forward to the White House assigning responsibilities for each element of this plan to specific federal departments and agencies, and establishing timelines for their completion."
September 18, 2018
Bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Applauds Release of National Biodefense Strategy as a Crucial Step in Protecting the U.S. From Biological Attacks
"We're happy to see the new strategy. It's been a while," says Panel Executive Director, Dr. Asha George speaking about the release of the White House National Biodefense Strategy in Nature.
July 31, 2018
Satellite Media Tour: Former Senators Shining Light on Looming Biological Threats
Panel Member Senator Daschle says the threat of large-scale biological incidents is looming large. "This is real. This is going to happen." Panel Co-Chair Senator Lieberman: "Let's spend some money up front, invest in better defenses, prevention."
July 31, 2018
Satellite Media Tour: Former Senator Tom Daschle Fears Another Pandemic
Study Panel Member Senator Daschle speaking about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which killed millions, including 1,800 victims in South Dakota, "That very possibility exists today and we are not ready for it. We don't have a plan; we don't have the kind of leadership and resources necessary to address it."
July 31, 2018
Satellite Media Tour: Senator Lieberman Shares about the Work of the Panel
Co-Chair, Senator Lieberman says of the work of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, "The basic point is to take a look and see whether America is ready to protect our people from a biological terrorist attack and an infectious disease epidemic."
July 26, 2018
Meeting of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense to Address Devastating Economic, Corporate, and Financial Consequences of a Biological Attack Against the U.S.
Public Panel Special Focus Meeting with webcast to go live at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 31, 2018. Live webcast link to be provided the morning of the event.
June 27, 2018
These DNA Cops Make Sure Deadly Viruses Don’t Get Rebuilt
Genetic engineering could help produce more resilient crops and more effective vaccines. Some fear that it could also be used to make a biological weapon. Security experts, including Panel Executive Director Asha George, discuss the biological threat and efforts to combat it in this Forbes article.
May 30, 2018
This mock pandemic killed 150 million people. Next time it might not be a drill.
A recent day-long exercise hosted by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, which counted Panel Member Senator Tom Daschle among its participants, mixed details of past disasters with fictional elements to force government officials and experts to make the kinds of key decisions they could face in a real pandemic.
May 4, 2018
Blue Ribbon Study Panel Presses Congress to Transform Medical Countermeasure Development
In letters to Congress, federal agencies and the White House, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense urges substantial changes to medical countermeasure development, partnerships and incentives. Congressional recipients of the letter included: the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; the Senate and House Committees on Armed Services; the Senate and House Committees on Agriculture; and the Senate and House Committees on Homeland Security.
May 4, 2018
Prioritize Transnational Biothreats Now, Experts Warn
America’s response to potential worldwide biological threats — either naturally occurring or imposed by terrorists — must evolve, experts told the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense during its April 25 public meeting addressing current transnational biothreats and the global security efforts to combat them.
May 1, 2018
Plant Pathology Director Shares Wheat Blast Expertise With Blue Ribbon Study Panel
James Stack, Kansas State University professor of plant pathology and director of the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, discussed wheat blast and improving global food security at a panel with the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense.
April 27, 2018
U.S. ‘A Lot More Fragile Than We Realize’ on Biothreats, Experts Warn
The nation is critically underprepared to confront transnational biological threats ranging from DIY bioterror agents to natural pathogens that outpace current pharmaceuticals and overwhelm medical facilities, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense heard at a Wednesday event at the Hudson Institute.
March 2, 2018
‘It’s all about preparedness,’ U.S. Congresswoman Brooks says
Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) and U.S. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) will serve as co-chairs of the new bipartisan Congressional Biodefense Caucus, at a time when the country remains vulnerable to naturally occurring epidemics and pandemics that pose risks to both national security and public health. Read this interview with Rep. Brooks for details on the new caucus and her support for one of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel's recommendations.
March 1, 2018
Blue Ribbon Study Panel On Biodefense Warns Congress Against Delaying Federal Funds Tied To Comprehensive Strategy
With biological threats to America and its interests overseas increasing, waiting any longer to commit federal funds to national biodefense would not be in the best interests of the health and well-being of United States’ citizens, nor the country’s security, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense warned members of Congress.
February 15, 2018
Blue Ribbon Study Panel Receives $2.5 Million Grant to Advance Leadership and Reduce Catastrophic Risk
The grant allows the Panel to continue its leadership role in assessing our nation’s biodefense, issuing recommendations and advocating for their implementation, and identifying viable avenues for needed change to policy.
February 6, 2018
U.S. Cutting Global Disease Outbreak Prevention Efforts
Bill Gates thinks an infectious disease outbreak could kill 30 million people in the next decade - but the US is cutting efforts to prevent global pandemics. Read more in this article from the Business Insider with quotes from Panel Ex Officio Member George Poste.
January 16, 2018
Study Panel to Explore Challenges and Solutions for State & Local Response to Large-Scale Biological Events
Panel Members Secretary Donna Shalala and Representative Jim Greenwood convene a meeting in Miami on Jan 17, focused on the ability of state, local, territorial and tribal governments to respond to large-scale biological events.
January 3, 2018
PNNL Releases Biodefense Policy Landscape Analysis Tool
Outbreaks of new and reemerging infectious diseases, coupled with an increasing biological threat from non-state actors, highlight the continued need for the U.S. to prioritize biodefense efforts. The Blue Ribbon Panel on Biodefense has noted that the U.S. remains underprepared for a catastrophic biological attack or global pandemic, and has highlighted the need for increased government coordination in biodefense.
July 12, 2017
We must do more to protect our farms from terror threats
See article quoting the Study Panel, that the country is still “dangerously vulnerable to a biological event." We must do a better job of protecting
American agriculture from natural and man-made attacks. There can’t be national security without a secure food supply.
June 8, 2017
Animal Nutrition Sector Vulnerable to Agro-Terrorism – Interview with Ken Wainstein
The relentless escalation of terrorist attacks worldwide is omnipresent in our minds. The potential threat of agro-terrorism also remains real as the agriculture sector is seen as vulnerable, especially from an infectious disease standpoint. Read more in this interview with Panel Member and Former Homeland Security Advisor, Ken Wainstein.
June 6, 2017
Congress, learn from Zika and Ebola — Update US emergency fund
The public health community has been closely watching proposals for a badly needed public health emergency response fund. Read this article from
Jeff Schlegelmilch with important contributions to the conversation, especially as Congress considers the President’s FY18 request which includes such
a fund.
June 5, 2017
Pandemic Threat: Is the world prepared for the next outbreak?
"Public health officials say the world is overdue for a pandemic that could kill 30 million people within a year." Read Bara Vaida's extensive and
well-researched article. Panel Co-Chairs Lieberman and Ridge are quoted several times.
June 2, 2017
Fighting an Unseen Enemy: Reducing the Pandemic Threat to Global Security
In the 21st century we are all connected, increasing the risk that familiar diseases will spread and mutate and new ones will emerge. Please join the Bipartisan Policy Center, Johnson & Johnson, and the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense for an evening discussing Unseen Enemy — a documentary about the increased threat of epidemics — and the important policy challenges facing our country and our global allies.
May 15, 2017
Global Health and the Future Role of the United States
This just-published National Academies of Science publication makes the case that global health security is national security and, it uses the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense reports in support of its arguments.
Photo: The National Academies Press
May 11, 2017
Co-Director Carlin discusses biodefense and Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense.
Listen to Disaster Politics interview of Dr. Ellen Carlin as she discusses the broad continuum of biodefense and the work of groups like the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense (@BiodefenseStudy) and EcoHealth Alliance (@EcoHealthNYC).
May 10, 2017
Senator Johnson urges development of comprehensive and robust strategy for defending nation from biological threats
Read the letter Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ron Johnson sent to the Secretaries of Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture.
Photo: ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography
May 5, 2017
The Growing Threat of Pandemics: Enhancing Domestic and International Biosecurity.
The threat posed by pandemics grows alongside increased globalization and technological innovation. Distant cultures can now be connected in a day’s time, and international trade links global health and economic prosperity. In this report, the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University details nine priority areas and accompanying action items that will help to address current pandemic response problems.
May 1, 2017
Public Meeting on Biodefense Budget Reform
During the May 1st Budget Reform for Biodefense: Leadership and Coordination meeting, speakers provided the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense Panel members with an understanding of and recommendations regarding leadership, interagency coordination, and risk challenges to biodefense budgeting.
January 12, 2017
Daschle: Potential new role in biodefense for Mike Pence
There is a rule in Washington: Proximity to the Oval Office is power. That rule has become the fixed reality over many administrations through many decades. For this level of leadership to succeed, the Study Panel concluded that there is only one person with the stature and the necessary access to the president, his Cabinet and Congress. That is the vice president.
Photo: Courtesy of Baker Donelson
December 19, 2016
4 ways Congress can hit the reset button on disaster preparedness
Columbia University's Natonal Center for Disaster Preparedness: Recently, Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through April of next year. The final bill also included $170 million to address some of the infrastructure issues causing the lead exposure in drinking water in Flint, Mich. In addition, disaster-affected areas such as those hit by Hurricane Matthew, the floods in Baton Rouge, and others were given $4.1 billion in disaster assistance.
December 15, 2016
Emergency trainees mistakenly exposed to deadly ricin
Because of yet another mix-up with bioterror pathogens, a federal terrorism response training center in Alabama says it mistakenly exposed more than 9,600 firefighters, paramedics and other students to a deadly toxin over the past five years.
December 15, 2016
Ridge & Lieberman: How Donald Trump Can Protect America from Bioterrorism
Leaders from more than 120 nations just concluded the Eighth Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference in Switzerland,
which focused on the threat posed by biological terrorism. During the conference, the U.S. delegation urged countries to reduce that threat by implementing strategies for detecting and responding to bioweapons. The United States needs to heed its own advice.
The country has been and continues to be ill prepared for a biological attack.
September 29, 2016
Blue Ribbon Study Panel applauds approval of Zika funding; Calls for shift in how U.S. budgets for infectious disease crises
The co-chairs of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense today applauded action by the United States Congress to reach a compromise on Zika funding, but also reasserted its desire to seek a total shift in how the U.S. budgets for infectious disease crises moving forward.
September 21, 2016
Panel received $1.3 million grant to advance leadership role on critical issues of national security
As the nation recalls the 15th anniversary of the deadly anthrax attacks that targeted the U.S. Senate and various media outlets, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense announced today it has received a $1.3 million grant from the Open Philanthropy Project.
September 1, 2016
Terrorism: An Electronic Journal and Knowledge Base
I am Asha George, the co-director of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel for Biodefense. I want to tell you just a little bit about the Study Panel because I think
it is worthwhile understanding it in a non-academic context.
Photo: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
August 26, 2016
Wall Street Journal: How Presidents Can Blow It During a National Disaster
This summer’s bad news—floods in Louisiana, the spread of the Zika virus, police shootings, the threat of domestic terrorism—reminds us of
a central challenge for any president: what to do when disaster strikes. Rush to the site and roll up his (or her) sleeves? Trust state and local leaders
to handle the mess? Pick up the putter and finish that round of golf?
Photo: National Institutes of Health
August 10, 2016
NY Daily News: Lieberman & Karesh: Raising our biodefenses now
With the news from government officials that the Zika virus has now established itself in Florida and mosquitoes are transmitting it among people, we are
reminded that yet another infectious disease is moving faster than our response to it.
Photo: NYDailyNews.com
May 27, 2016
NY Daily News: Max Brooks: Imagine the Zika virus as a terror weapon
What if Zika, instead of originating in a Ugandan jungle, had been cooked up in a lab? What if, instead of traveling by mosquito, it had arrived in envelopes of white powder? What if, instead of simply being a public health emergency, it was the first shot in a biological attack? Of course it’s not, but the next time it might very well be.
Photo: NYDailyNews.com
April 28, 2016
Letter to Congress: Upton, Brooks, Alexander and Burr letter to Burwell on respecting BioShield Special Reserve Fund
We have closely followed the developments surrounding the emergence of the Zika virus and we are committed to making sure that Americans are protected
from the full range of threats we may face, whether naturally-occurring or man-made.