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Biosecurity: Bridging the Gap Between the Life Sciences and National Security
Following the catastrophic terrorist attacks on September 11 and the anthrax letter attacks during the fall of 2001, the domain of biosecurity began receiving an unprecedented level of attention. Biosecurity can be defined as measures to prevent, deter, and protect against the misuse of biotechnology and biological agents for hostile purposes. To be successful, biosecurity requires close cooperation between biologists and national security experts. Unlike the physics community which has been included in national security planning since the dawn of the nuclear age, the life sciences community does not have a tradition of working with the national security establishment. As the United States embarks on a range of ambitious efforts to enhance biosecurity there is a greater need than ever for a dialogue between the life sciences and national security communities. For example, these communities must work together to address complex and contentious issues such as the construction of biosafety level-four laboratories, regulating scientific research activities and publications, assessing the risks posed by genetically engineered pathogens, and ensuring that biodefense research remains consistent with international treaties. Together, these communities can determine new and effective ways to research and deploy defenses against biological weapons and emerging infectious diseases, strengthen public health preparedness, reduce the risk of biological research being misused for hostile purposes, increase the security of biological materials around the world, and improve intelligence on biological warfare and bioterrorist threats.
In order to bridge the gap between the life sciences and national security communities, the Security Studies Program, in partnership with Alice Gast, Vice President for Research at MIT and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, hosts a faculty seminar series, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, on biosecurity issues that lie at the intersection of the life sciences and national security.
This research project is managed by Dr. Gregory Koblentz, MIT SSP Research Fellow, and Sanford Weiner, a Research Associate at the MIT Security Studies Program.
