GAO Issues Report on Biodefense
The report was sent to Sen.
What GAO Found: "Key biodefense agencies - the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Defense (DOD), Agriculture (USDA), and
* Intelligence gathering: Agencies use a combination of intelligence gathering on adversaries' capabilities to cause harm with a biological weapon and global disease surveillance to monitor threats from naturally occurring health threats that might impact humans, animals, or plants.
* Scientific research: Agencies use traditional laboratory research to help understand the characteristics of various threat agents, including their virulence, stability, and ability to be dispersed through various methods. Scientific research is also performed on emerging pathogens to understand their means of transmission, host susceptibility, and effects of infection.
* Analysis activities: Agencies use modeling studies and other analytical work to help determine the scope and impact of possible biological threats.
These three activities help agencies identify and prioritize the most dangerous biological threats, which can then be used to guide biodefense investments. For example,
Federal agencies with key roles in biodefense share biological threat information through many different mechanisms designed to facilitate collaboration among government partners, including working groups and interagency agreements. For example, agency officials reported using collaborative mechanisms to coordinate activities and avoid duplication and overlap. However, as GAO and others have noted, opportunities exist to better leverage shared resources and inform budgetary tradeoffs. Recent legislation requires key biodefense agencies to create a national biodefense strategy that has the potential to help address these issues, by, among other things, supporting shared threat awareness. Until the strategy is developed, the extent to which it will meet this need is unknown.
The threat characterization research agenda at
Why GAO Did This Study: "Biological threats come from a variety of sources and can pose a catastrophic danger to public health, animal and plant health, and national security. Threat awareness, which consists of activities such as collecting and analyzing intelligence, developing risk assessments, and anticipating future threats, is vital to help federal agencies identify necessary biodefense capabilities and ensure investments are prioritized to make effective use of federal funds.
GAO was asked to review how key federal agencies develop and share threat awareness information, and how that information informs further investments in biodefense. This report describes: (1) the types of actions that key federal agencies have taken to develop biological threat awareness, and how that information is used to support investment decisions; (2) the extent to which these agencies have developed shared threat awareness; and (3) how
GAO analyzed federal policies, directives, and strategies related to biodefense, as well as agency documents such as threat assessments and modeling studies. We identified five key biodefense agencies based on review of the roles designated in these documents. GAO interviewed officials from these agencies about threat awareness activities, and reviewed prior GAO work and related biodefense studies. Each of the key agencies reviewed a draft of this report and provided technical comments that GAO incorporated as appropriate."
The text of the GAO report is available at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-155?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
TRANSMIT:
House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Issues Report on TSP Modernization Act
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News