National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats

Just released from the White House today

National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats

press release info

From the press release:
"This strategy outlines the President's vision for addressing the challenges from proliferation of biological weapons or their use by terrorists. It highlights the beneficial nature of advances in the life sciences and their importance in combating infectious diseases of natural, accidental, and deliberate origin. It also outlines how the risks associated with misuse and potential consequences of a biological attack require tailored actions to prevent biological threats….

• Promote global health security: Increase the availability of and access to knowledge and products of the life sciences that can help reduce the impact from outbreaks of infectious disease whether of natural, accidental, or deliberate origin.
• Reinforce norms of safe and responsible conduct: Reinforce a culture of responsibility, awareness, and vigilance among all who utilize and benefit from the life sciences to ensure that they are not diverted to harmful purpose.
• Obtain timely and accurate insight on current and emerging risks: Improve threat identification, notification, and assessment capabilities as well as our understanding as to the global progress and distribution of the life sciences to help identify and understand new and emerging challenges and inform appropriate actions to manage the evolving risk.
• Take reasonable steps to reduce the potential for exploitation: Identify, sensitize, support, and otherwise safeguard knowledge and capabilities in the life sciences and related communities that could be vulnerable to misuse.
• Expand our capability to prevent, attribute, and apprehend: Further hone our abilities to identify and stop those with ill intent to reduce the risk of single, multiple, or sequential attacks.
• Communicate effectively with all stakeholders: Ensure the United States Government is advancing cogent, coherent, and coordinated messages.
• Transform the international dialogue on biological threats: Promote a robust and sustained discussion among all nations as to the evolving biological threat and identify mutually agreed steps to counter it.