COUNTERING BIOTERRORISM
THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Support for this project was provided by institutional funds.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. Wm. A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
PANEL ON BIOLOGICAL ISSUES
BARRY R. BLOOM, Co-chair,
Harvard School of Public Health
JOSHUA LEDERBERG, Co-chair,
Sackler Foundation at the Rockefeller University
RONALD ATLAS,
University of Louisville
RUTH BERKELMAN,
Emory University
GAIL CASSELL,
Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company
THOMAS R. CECH,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
DAVID FRANZ,
Southern Research Institute
CLAIRE FRASER,
Institute for Genomic Research
DAVID GALAS,
Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences
CDR SHAUN JONES,
U.S. Navy
ROBERT A. LAMB,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Northwestern University
SIMON LEVIN,
Princeton University
JOHN MEKALANOS,
Harvard Medical School
TOM MONATH,
Acambis, Inc.
RANDALL MURCH,
Federal Bureau of Investigation
EDWARD D. PENHOET,
University of California, Berkeley
DAVID RELMAN,
Stanford University
PETER ROSEN,
University of California, San Diego
LUIS SEQUEIRA,
University of Wisconsin
JEFFERY TAUBENBERGER,
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
DEAN WILKENING,
Stanford University
CATHERINE WOTEKI,
Iowa State University
Liaisons from the Parent Committee to the Panel
MARGARET A. HAMBURG,
Nuclear Threat Initiative
P. ROY VAGELOS,
Merck & Co., Inc. (retired)
Staff
ANDREW M. POPE, Director,
Board on Health Sciences Policy
CATHY T. LIVERMAN, Senior Program Officer,
Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
JENNIFER KUZMA, Senior Program Officer,
Board on Life Sciences
ALDEN B. CHANG, Administrative Assistant,
Board on Health Sciences Policy
JUDY ESTEP, Senior Program Assistant,
Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Consultant
KATHI E. HANNA, Writer
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR COUNTERING TERRORISM
LEWIS M. BRANSCOMB,
Harvard University,
Co-chair
RICHARD D. KLAUSNER,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
Co-chair
JOHN D. BALDESCHWIELER,
California Institute of Technology
BARRY R. BLOOM,
Harvard School of Public Health
L. PAUL BREMER III,
Marsh Crisis Consulting
WILLIAM F. BRINKMAN,
Lucent Technologies (retired)
ASHTON B. CARTER,
Harvard University
CHARLES B. CURTIS,
Nuclear Threat Initiative
MORTIMER L. DOWNEY III,
PB-Consult
RICHARD L. GARWIN,
Council on Foreign Relations
PAUL H. GILBERT,
Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc.
M.R.C. GREENWOOD,
University of California, Santa Cruz
MARGARET A. HAMBURG,
Nuclear Threat Initiative
WILLIAM HAPPER,
Princeton University
JOHN L. HENNESSY,
Stanford University
JOSHUA LEDERBERG,
Sackler Foundation at the Rockefeller University
THOMAS C. SCHELLING,
University of Maryland
MAXINE F. SINGER,
Carnegie Institution of Washington
NEIL J. SMELSER,
University of California, Berkeley (retired)
PHILIP M SMITH,
McGeary & Smith
P. ROY VAGELOS,
Merck & Co., Inc. (retired)
VINCENT VITTO,
Charles S. Draper Laboratory, Inc.
GEORGE M. WHITESIDES,
Harvard University
R. JAMES WOOLSEY,
Shea & Gardner
Staff
RONALD D. TAYLOR, Study Director
ELIZABETH L. GROSSMAN, Program Officer
MARY G. GORDON, Information Officer
SUSAN G. CAMPBELL, Administrative Assistant
IAN M. CAMERON, Project Assistant
Preface
The September 11, 2001, attacks galvanized the nation to strengthen its counterterrorism defenses. Immediately following the attacks, the presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine wrote to President Bush offering the advice of the National Academies on how best to harness the country’s science and technology capacity to meet critical security and antiterrorism needs.
In December 2001, the National Academies appointed a committee of 24 of the country’s leading scientific, engineering, medical, and public policy experts to offer counsel on an integrated science and technology plan for combating terrorism. To supplement the knowledge of its members, the committee convened eight panels with expertise in specific topic areas, from the chemical and biological disciplines to the domains of energy, information technology, and transportation. Barry Bloom and Joshua Lederberg, both members of the main committee, co-chaired the Panel on Biological Issues, which comprised 22 experts in medicine, public health, microbiology, cellular biology, virology, drug and vaccine development, health policy, laboratory analysis, plant pathology, zoonotic disease, food-borne disease, molecular biology, genomics, emergency medical response systems, infectious disease, bioterrorism, bioforensics, statistics, and epidemiological modeling.
The main committee’s report, Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism, was released on June 25, 2002. The committee recommends a strategy whereby the nation’s scientific and engineering capacity can be strengthened and brought to bear in the fight against terrorism. Making the Nation Safer synthesizes the contributions of the eight expert
panels into chapters, each containing specific research and policy recommendations. The contribution of the Panel on Biological Issues (Chapter 3 of Making the Nation Safer) is reprinted in this report to provide a focused report on the scientific and technological measures needed to counter bioterrorism. The executive summary of the main committee’s report is reprinted in Appendix A of this report.
The Panel on Biological Issues met three times over a 5-month period with extensive interactions by email and conference calls. The panel wishes to thank the following individuals who provided briefings to the panel: William Winkenwerder, Department of Defense; Kevin Tonat, Department of Health and Human Services; D.A. Henderson, Department of Health and Human Services; Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Kathryn Zoon, Food and Drug Administration; David Lipman, National Center for Biotechnology Information; Chuck Ludlum, Office of Senator Joseph Lieberman; and William Dallas Jones, California Office of Emergency Services.
The panel’s contribution was reviewed as part of the main committee’s report by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
The full listing of the reviewers of the main committee’s report is provided in that report. Several of those reviewers were selected because of their expertise relevant to the biological sciences and bioterrorism. Special appreciation is expressed to the following reviewers: Steven M. Block, Stanford University; Floyd E. Bloom, The Scripps Research Institute; Stanley Falkow, Stanford University; Thomas J. Kelly, Sloan-Kettering Institute; Harley W. Moon, Iowa State University; Lucy Shapiro, Stanford University; Harold E. Varmus, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Although these individuals provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse findings and conclusions, nor did they see the final document before its release.
The review was overseen by R. Stephen Berry, James Franck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago, and Gerald P. Dinneen, Retired Vice President of Science and Technology, Honeywell Inc. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of the report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for content rests entirely with the authors and the institution.
Andrew Pope, Jennifer Kuzma, and Cathy Liverman managed the panel’s work. Kathi Hanna, a consultant to the committee, summarized the panel’s deliberations into a draft of the report. Judy Estep worked on the details of this publication. Special thanks go to Alden Chang for his work in support of the main report.