Proposed Congressional Hearings on the Recommendations of the 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense

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Commissioners

Joseph I. Lieberman, Chair
Senator (1989–2013)

Thomas J. Ridge, Chair
Governor of Pennsylvania (1995-2001),
Secretary of Homeland Security (2001-2003), Congressman (1983-1995)

Donna E. Shalala
Congresswoman (2019-2021), Secretary of Health and Human Services (1993-2001)

Thomas A. Daschle
Senate Majority Leader (2001-2003), Senate Minority Leader (2003-2005),
Senator (1987-2005), Congressman (1979-1987)

Frederick S. Upton
Congressman (1987-2023)

Susan L. Brooks
Congresswoman (2013-2021)

James C. Greenwood
Congressman (1993-2005)

Margaret A. Hamburg
Commissioner of Food and Drugs (2009-2015)

Ex Officio Members

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

Staff

Asha M. George, DrPH, Executive Director
Robert H. Bradley, Policy Principal
Ambika Bumb, PhD, Deputy Executive Director
John T. O’Brien, MS, Research Principal
Patricia de la Sota, Operations Manager

INTRODUCTION

The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has released The National Blueprint for Biodefense: Immediate Action Needed to Defend Against Biological Threats. This updated Blueprint contained 36 specific legislative, programmatic, and policy recommendations to strengthen national defense against biological threats (see Appendix). After a comprehensive examination of US biodefense efforts by the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch of government, we called for major reforms to bolster America’s ability to confront intentionally introduced, accidentally released, and naturally occurring biological threats. Biodefense touches many aspects of government and, as such, requires a complex enterprise approach that pragmatically addresses (1) leadership; (2) intelligence, attribution, and deterrence; (3) science and technology; (4) preparedness; (5) detection and surveillance; and (6) response, recovery, and mitigation (see Figure 1).

Congressional oversight to ensure that federal departments and agencies are meeting congressional and other mandates, and are doing so in a coordinated fashion, is imperative. The following proposed hearings address all 36 of the recommendations that comprise the 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense.

Note that while not listed in the following text, the House Committee on Appropriations and Senate Committee on Appropriations share responsibility for addressing the elements of the national biodefense enterprise mentioned in this document.

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Suggested Citation
Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. (2024). Proposed Congressional Hearings on the Recommendations of the 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense: We Are Still Dangerously Unprepared. Washington, DC: Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.