Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
According to the Commission's mission statement, the organization was formed to "provide for a comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts, and to issue recommendations that will foster change.
[3] The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is co-chaired by former Senator Joe Lieberman and former Secretary of Homeland Security and Governor Tom Ridge.
[9] In October 2015, the Commission released its recommendations to publicly and submitted them to Congress in the form of a report, A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts.
[10] They concluded that the United States was not prepared to respond to a large scale biological event - naturally occurring, accidentally released, or intentionally introduced.
For example, there is a system within the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration that would fast-track the approval of medical countermeasures in the event of a biological attack.
However, during a hearing with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Governor Tom Ridge stated that the fast-track process is obsolete.
"[11] One of the Commission's major recommendations was to place responsibility for biodefense leadership into the hands of the Office of the Vice President of the United States.
[11] By making the Vice President responsible for biodefense, it would "transcend the bureaucratic and budgetary rivalries of various agencies in order to create an effective platform for dealing with biological attacks.
A dedicated higher-level leader in the White House without responsibilities for multiple weapons of mass destruction, terrorist avenues, and national disasters is crucial.
Dr. George told Homeland Preparedness News that in order for the government's defense against a biological attack to be sufficient, a new comprehensive program needs to be developed.
Together, they sought to improve the federal government's readiness and capability to respond to human-generated, naturally-occurring, and accidentally-released biological threats to the Nation.
[15] The Commission held a public meeting on October 3, 2017 about the biological attribution of crime, terrorism, and warfare, and continues to pursue this important topic.
Referring to their activities as a federal biodefense enterprise suggests a coordinated interagency endeavor unified in achieving common goals, but this is not the reality that exists currently.
[20] The report recommends that the OMB each year submit "an integrated budget request to Congress that outlines federal-wide biodefense spending, and how it is tied to mission objectives."
In an op-ed in the Miami Herald on January 15, 2018, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala said that during a large biological event, "I know that the federal government would move resources to affected areas throughout the United States.
Similarly, the Commission called for ten percent of funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the same purpose.
The report closely examines the extent of progress that has been made since the Commission released its seminal National Blueprint for Biodefense[27] in 2015.
This global crisis resulted from a foreseeable combination of mutations, lack of immunity, poor preparedness, limited surveillance, and failure to learn from past pandemics.
When our Commission released its National Blueprint for Biodefense in 2015, we concluded that our recommendations could and should be implemented by the Executive and Legislative Branches within five years.
“Nation-states such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia continue to invest heavily in advancing biotechnology and could produce biological agents and weapons.
The efforts of all federal departments and agencies with responsibilities for biodefense need to be coordinated, and they must be held accountable, by the White House.”[29] Among the eleven new recommendations in the report, the Commission advises the President to establish a dedicated Deputy National Security Advisor for Biodefense, overseen by the Vice President and supported by NSC staff.
A dedicated higher-level leader in the White House without responsibilities for multiple weapons of mass destruction, terrorist avenues, and national disasters is crucial.
Congressional appropriators should deny further funding to BioWatch activities until proven replacement technology is identified and confirmed to meet the needs of the Biodetection 2021 acquisition program.
[42] In September 2016, the Open Philanthropy Project gave the Commission a $1.3 million grant in support of the panel's influential leadership role in the evaluation of the nation's biodefense systems.
"[43] In February 2018, the Open Philanthropy Project gave the Commission a grant for $2.5 million to advance biodefense leadership and reduce catastrophic biological risk.
With this in mind, the support we receive today from Open Philanthropy will allow us to further advance the recommendations the Panel identified in our National Blueprint for Biodefense and subsequent reports.
About the timing of the grant, Governor Ridge noted that it, "...comes in the midst of our national response to novel coronavirus and other highly pathogenic diseases, the development of biological weapons by other nation-states, and the ongoing threat of bioterrorism."
