Biological Warfare: Federal Agency Responsibilities

United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is assigned the task to protect and react to Biological attacks on the United States, but other local, state and federal agencies are not preparing through training based on the unlikely threats of attacks and lack of funds andresources. On February 11, 2004, President George W. Bush stated Armed with a single vial of a biological agentsmall groups of fanatics, or failing states, could gain the power to threaten great nations, threaten the world peace. America, and the entire civilized world, will face thisthreat for decades to come. We must confront the danger with open eyes, and unbending purpose. (Biodefense for the 21st Century). Preventing and controlling future biological weapons threats is challenging and will become even more challenging with advances in biotechnology and life sciences. The stakes could not be higher for our nation. Attacks with biological weapons could cause catastrophic numbers of casualties, long term disease and disability, psychological trauma, mass panic, disrupt critical sectors of our economy, create cascading international effects by disrupting and damaging international trade relationships. Fortunately, the United States is well prepared bymounting credible biodefenses. We have aggressively pursued a broad range of programs and capabilities to confront the biological weapons threat. We have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of our biological defense capabilities to identify future priorities and actions to support them. Specific direction to departments and agencies to carry out this biodefense program is contained in a classified version of the directive, Biodefense for the 21st Century).