The National Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016 is a bill introduced in the United States Senate by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). The bill would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 by requiring the government to change its current policy and programs to coordinate and improve biodefense preparedness. Johnson is the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The bill was placed on the Senate legislative calendar and is currently awaiting further action.
Johnson wrote the bill in response to the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense's findings on the state of US preparedness for biological disaster, either as a result of terrorist activity, inadvertent release of hazardous pathogens or a disease pandemic. In October 2015 the panel found the government's preparation for biodefense lacking in that it was fragmented across a multiplicity of federal agencies, among other problems. The bipartisan panel, with members such as former senators Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Tom Daschle (D–South Dakota) was organized by the first Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge.
Lieberman and Ridge concluded that biological threats are "…among the most sinister – and potentially catastrophic – our nation faces." They emphasized the need for Congress and the Executive to pay attention to these potential disasters and formulate a plan to defend all Americans.
Johnson's bill currently lingers in the Senate, after being reported favorably by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Background
There are many threats from biological weapons including biological terror attacks against the population. The threat is not limited only to terrorism. Dangerous pathogens can be released accidentally from research laboratories and outbreaks of certain infectious diseases can wreak biological havoc.
Cases of pathogen releases included the breakout of burkholderia pseudomallei bacterium at Tulane University's National Primate Research Center where many of the lab's primates were infected, as well as a visiting scientist from the US Department of Agriculture. Teams of investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Agriculture, along with National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health investigated the matter.
The US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah sent live anthrax spores to laboratories in nine states and an army facility in South Korea. Anthrax are very infectious bacteria that infect people by moving through the air. The CDC conducted a thorough investigation and, although no one developed the disease, more than 40 workers at the labs were treated.
Examples of disease outbreaks include major international recent events including the Ebola virus, avian influenza and now the Zika virus.
The National Biodefense Strategy Act had its origins in a panel called the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense. The bipartisan panel was led by former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, appointed by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. In 2015 the panel released a national blueprint for biodefense which included a long list of recommendations on improving the defense against and preparation for responding to a biological incident.
According to panel member and former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) the most important flaw in biodefense was the need for a permanent leadership organization in the White House. During the 2014 Ebola epidemic, the aggregate of government agencies involved demonstrated a coordinated response mechanism is essential. Daschle agreed with the Panel's recommendation that the responsibility for biodefense coordination should be that of the Vice President.
The panel concluded that the US biodefense has become too fragmented with authority spread among too many government agencies. They said Congress could repair these flaws by focusing the command and control of biodefense at the White House and empowering one individual with the responsibility and budgetary authority to coordinate the diverse and numerous communities that manage the nation's biodefense.