The National Bio And Agro Defense Facility Issues For Congress

To safeguard the U.S. against animal disease, research has been conducted at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), off the coast of N.Y., on animal diseases not native to the U.S. PIADC is outdated and too limited to continue as the primary facility for this research. A plan to provide safe, secure, and state-of-the-art agriculture bio-containment labs for R&D of diagnostic capabilities and medical counter-measures for foreign animal and zoonotic diseases has been approved. A new facility will be constructed which would house high-containment labs able to handle the pathogens currently under investigation at PIADC, as well as others. Community concerns about safety and security are being voiced about NBAF. This is a print on demand report.

The agricultural and food infrastructure of the United States is potentially susceptible to terrorist attack using biological pathogens. In addition to the impacts of such an attack on the economy, some animal diseases could potentially be transmitted to humans. (These diseases are known as zoonotic diseases.) Scientific and medical research on plant and animal diseases may lead to the discovery and development of new diagnostics and countermeasures, reducing the risk and impact of a successful terrorist attack. To safeguard the United States against animal disease, Congress has appropriated funds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to engage in research at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), off the coast of New York, on animal diseases not native to the United States. When creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, Congress transferred the PIADC facility from USDA to DHS. Both USDA and DHS, in cooperation with USDA, conduct foreign animal disease research at PIADC, but PIADC has been identified as outdated and too limited to continue as the primary facility for this research. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9 tasks the Secretaries of Agriculture and Homeland Security to develop a plan to provide safe, secure, and state-of-the-art agriculture biocontainment laboratories for research and development of diagnostic capabilities and medical countermeasures for foreign animal and zoonotic diseases. To partially meet these obligations, DHS has requested Congress to appropriate funds to construct a new facility, the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). This facility would house high-containment laboratories able to handle the pathogens currently under investigation at PIADC, as well as other pathogens of interest. Six candidate sites have been identified, one of which is Plum Island. The DHS plans to select the site in 2008 and open NBAF in 2014.

The fed. gov¿t. responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax attacks with increased focus on and funding for biodefense. High-containment labs. (HCL) play a critical role in the biodefense effort, offering the hope of better responses to an attack and a better understanding of the threat posed by bioterrorism. However, they also could increase the risk of a biological attack by serving as a potential source of materials or training. Policymakers have become increasingly interested in the oversight of these facilities following reports of accidents, regulatory noncompliance, and community resistance. A key task for policymakers is to define their goals for enhancing oversight of HCL. Illustrations

With the publication of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents, Index IV, Oxford University Press continues to provide periodic stand-alone volumes containing cumulative indexes for the individual volumes in the series. Index IV (covering Terrorism Vols. 101-120) adds to the previous index volumes in order to ensure comprehensive searchability within the series. The availability of the cumulative index as well as the volume-specific indexes makes the series more convenient for the reader and provides the researcher with multiple ways to search for information. Index IV also features improved double-columned index formatting, for ease of use in a more compact volume. Although each volume in Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents contains its own volume-specific index, this comprehensive index fully indexes the last twenty volumes in the Terrorism series. Only subject indexes are included in the individual volumes, whereas this comprehensive index includes five different types of indexes including a subject index, an index organized according to the title of the document, an index based on the name of the document's author, an index correlated to the year of the document, and a subject-by-year index. This cumulative index volume therefore provides readers with multiple ways to conduct research within Volumes 101-120 of Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents.

The Directorate of Science and Technology (DST) is the primary organization for R&D in the Dept. of Homeland Security. With an budget of $932.6 million in FY 2009, it conducts R&D in several labs. of its own and funds R&D conducted by other gov¿t. agencies, the Dept. of Energy nat. labs., industry, and univ. The directorate consists of six divisions: Chemical and Biological; Explosives; Command, Control, and Interoperability; Borders and Maritime Security; Infrastructure and Geophysical; and Human Factors. Additional offices have responsibilities, such as lab. facilities and univ. programs, that cut across the divisions. In the past, there has been criticism of the DST¿s performance. Although management changes have somewhat muted this criticism in recent years, fundamental issues remain, which this paper discusses. Charts and tables.

Contents: (1) Overview; (2) Federal R&D Funding Perspectives: Agency Perspective; Character of Work, Facilities, and Equipment Perspective; Combined Perspective; (3) Multiagency R&D Initiatives Perspective: Multiagency R&D Initiatives; National Nanotechnology Initiative; Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program; U.S. Global Change Research Program; (4) DoD; (5) DHS; (6) NIH; (7) DoE; (8) NSF; (9) Dept. of Commerce: NIST, NOAA; (10) NASA; (11) USDA; (12) Dept. of the Interior; (13) EPA; and (14) DoT. Charts and tables.

Describes the FY 2010 appropriations for the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS). The Admin. requested an appropriation of $44.1 billion in budget authority for FY 2010. This amounts to a $2.8 billion, or a 6.7% increase over the $41.2 billion enacted for FY 2009. Net requested appropriations for major agencies within DHS were: Customs and Border Protection, $10,049 million; Immig. and Customs Enforce., $5,458 million; Transport. Security Admin., $5,267 million; Coast Guard, $9,734 million; Secret Service, $1,490 million; Nat. Protection and Programs Direct., $1,319 million; FEMA, $7,235 million; S&T, $968 million; and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, $366 million. This report contains a detailed discussion of the budget request for DHS.