For Immediate Release
Office of Press Secretary
April 28, 2004
BioDefense Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet: President Bush Signs Biodefense for the 21st Century
"Bioterrorism is a real threat to our country. It's a threat to
every nation that loves freedom. Terrorist groups seek biological
weapons; we know some rogue states already have them.... It's important that we confront these real threats to our country and prepare for future emergencies."
President George W. Bush
June 12, 2002
PRESIDENTIAL ACTION
President Bush has made strengthening the nation's defenses against
biological weapons a critical national priority from the outset of the
administration -- investing over $10 billion since 2001. While
significant progress has been made to protect America, President Bush
instructed Federal departments and agencies to review their efforts and
find new and better ways to secure America from bioattacks.
The result of this review is Biodefense for the 21st Century, a presidential directive that provides a comprehensive framework for our nation's biodefense. Biodefense for the 21st Century builds on past accomplishments, specifies roles and responsibilities, and integrates the programs and efforts of various communities -- national security, medical, public health, intelligence, diplomatic, agricultural and law
enforcement -- into a sustained and focused national effort against
biological weapons threats.
BIODEFENSE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Biodefense for the 21st Century outlines the essential pillars of our biodefense program and provides specific directives to further
strengthen the significant gains put in place during the past three
years.
Threat Awareness, which includes biological weapons-related intelligence, vulnerability assessments, and anticipation of future
threats. New initiatives will improve our ability to collect, analyze,
and disseminate intelligence on biological weapons and their potential
users.
Prevention and Protection, which includes interdiction and
critical infrastructure protection. New initiatives will improve
our ability to detect, interdict, and seize weapons technologies and
materials to disrupt the proliferation trade, and to pursue
proliferators through strengthened law enforcement cooperation,
including through such mechanisms as Interpol.
Surveillance and Detection, which includes attack warning and attribution. New initiatives will further strengthen the
biosurveillance capabilities being put in place in fiscal year 2005.
Response and Recovery, which includes response planning, mass casualty care, risk communication, medical countermeasures, and decontamination. New initiatives will strengthen our ability to provide mass casualty care and to decontaminate the site of an attack.
BACKGROUND
Among the many efforts and programs already launched to confront
the biological weapons danger, the administration has:
mobilized our unrivaled biomedical research infrastructure to
develop vastly improved medical countermeasures, including a new
anthrax vaccine and a promising new vaccine against Ebola virus;
strengthened our ability to detect and manage a bioterrorist event
through vastly improved environmental detection, human health
surveillance, and laboratory capabilities;
adapted our public health infrastructure at all levels to detect
and respond rapidly and effectively to bioterrorism, not just
naturally-occurring disease;
improved the capacity of food, agriculture, and water sectors to
prevent and mitigate bioterror attacks, and requested over $500 million
in the fiscal year 2005 budget (an increase of $370 million) to defend
our agriculture and food system;
built capabilities to strengthen intelligence and law enforcement
efforts to reduce the risk of bioterror attacks;
strengthened military capabilities through such means as improved
biodetection capabilities and immunized over 600,000 soldiers and
support personnel against smallpox;
expanded international relationships to prepare, prevent, and
respond to possible bioterrorism;
established BioWatch, a program that monitors the air over major
cities for biological releases and requested $118 million in fiscal
year 2005 to support and expand BioWatch, including developing improved
monitors;
secured $5.6 billion over ten years under the proposed BioShield
program, a comprehensive effort to develop and make available modern,
effective drugs and vaccines to protect against attack by biological,
chemical, radiological or nuclear weapons;
provided over $4.4 billion since 2001 to state and local health
systems to bolster their ability to respond to bioterrorism and major
public health crises, with an additional $1.33 billion requested in the
President's fiscal year 2005 budget;
assured there is sufficient smallpox vaccine in the Strategic
National Stockpile for all citizens and significantly increased stocks
of antibiotics for use against anthrax exposure;
increased funding for the Strategic National Stockpile, a medical
countermeasure stockpile, from $51 million in fiscal year 2001 to $400
million in the fiscal year 2005 request; and
launched the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in May 2003
to stem the trafficking of WMD, including biological weapons and
related materials.
Many new programs have been launched to assure the development of vastly improved capabilities over the mid- and long-term. For
example:
Biodefense medical research and development at the National
Institutes of Health has been funded at over $1.5 billion per year
since fiscal year 2003, 30 times the investment in fiscal year 2001;
and
The new National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasure Center at the Department of Homeland Security is applying cutting-edge
science to the study of biological agents and providing a world-class
forensics center.
The across-the-board improvements to the nation's biodefense
capabilities have vastly increased day-to-day security for all
Americans, not only against threats posed by terrorists, but for
medical response in the wake of natural catastrophes and in response to
naturally-occurring biological hazards such as SARS.