The NBACC was created as a federal response to the anthrax letter attacks in 2001 as the first national laboratory operating under the Department of Homeland Security.
[1] The Department of Homeland Security said the mission of the NBACC is "to provide the scientific basis for the characterization of biological threats and bioforensic analysis to support attribution of their planned or actual use.
[citation needed] Its work is necessary in the preparation and response to biological threats, which can be handled as they emerge through the NBACC national security biocontainment laboratory.
[citation needed] The NBACC coordinates closely with the many departments and agencies in the U.S. government, including the U.S. intelligence community which has assigned advisers to the Center.
[4] NBACC has already proven capable of responding to these types of threats, as an important actor in the United States response to the Ebola Outbreak of 2014.
[1] Under President Trump's budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, the NBACC stands to lose funding that allows it to continue scientific studies.
[1] Congressman John Delaney (D-MD), who represents the Maryland congressional district in which the NBACC resides, said in a statement from May 2017:[5] I am 100 percent opposed to the closing of the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center in Frederick and will fight this deeply misguided move by the Trump Administration ...
[3] The NBTCC has unique national biosafety level 3 and 4 aerobiology capabilities, which are necessary to collect crucial data that is used to develop biodefense plans and responses.
The data allowed for significant growth in the credibility of hazard and risk assessment modeling of bioterrorism scenarios for a variety of toxin threat agents, including both bacteria and viruses.
[2] In January 2018, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity selected Battelle to create a software platform able to fight the development of synthetic biological threats.
"[9] Questions have been raised by some arms-control and international law experts as to the necessity and advisability of the very high level of security surrounding the NBACC and as to whether it does (or will) place the United States in violation of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).
)[10] NBACC's opponents contended that the facility would operate in a "legal gray zone" and skirt the edges of the BWC, which outlaws production of even small amounts of biological weapons.
In their view, the U.S. government may find it hard in the future to object to other countries testing genetically engineered pathogens and novel delivery systems when they invoke their own national biodefense requirements.
[14] The Final Environmental Impact Statement, or FEIS, for NBACC facilities states that all research is performed for defense purposes and is conducted in a legal manner, including under the BWC.