Progress of "Biodefense for the 21st Century" – A Five Year Evaluation

The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) is pleased to invite you to a Roundtable on Interagency Reform discussing a case study on "Progress of "Biodefense for the 21st Century" – A Five Year Evaluation" by Al Mauroni, author and defense analyst with Northrop Grumman.

Please RSVP (affirmative replies only) by sending your name and current institutional affiliation to Richard Weitz at Weitz@hudson.org.

Location: Hudson Institute, Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center, 1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005

This case study reviews the progress made toward a strategy for "Biodefense for the 21st Century," a federal government effort announced in April 2004 to identify specific goals for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services relative to planning for, and responding to, the threat of bioterrorism in the United States. After five years, the US government has developed a limited capability in the areas of biological detection and surveillance, biological threat risk assessments, medical countermeasures research and stockpiling, and standards for remediation. Nonetheless, the lack of a strategic plan identifying specific goals and actions toward an end state, as well as the absence of top-down leadership to guide interagency actions, assess national-level readiness, and allocate resources accordingly, leaves unclear how well the US government is doing or what it will require to reach an optimal end state.

The Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) is a non-partisan initiative that seeks to improve the U.S. Government's ability to integrate all elements of national power and more effectively respond to the strategic challenges of the 21st century. The PNSR case studies inform the other analytic work of PNSR by highlighting recurring trends in how the U.S. national security system addresses complex national security problems.

Attendees at PNSR workshops may use the information as background, but may not identify the speaker, the other attendees, or PNSR itself or quote anything said at the event.

Contact:

Richard Weitz, Ph.D., Head
Case Studies Working Group
Project on National Security Reform