Location:
The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium

Biotechnology is among the fastest-growing industries on the planet, rapidly proliferating knowledge that can both save and take lives. Turned against us in bioterrorist attacks, it could well be the greatest national security threat America will face in the 21st century. With the spread of biotechnology, any determined terrorist group can bring the great powers to their knees.

The affects of a bio-attack will unfold silently and quickly. Traditional disaster recovery strategies for preparedness and response will fail. America must develop a national bioterrorism strategy that incorporates near-immediate detection with a response infrastructure that is equally robust and flexible and that can scale up to handle many casualties.



Building an effective national bio-defense will require addressing the tough issues. How can we provide adequate surge capacity? How can centralized surveillance and detection capability be established? How will the Department of Homeland Security coordinate the federal response with state and local emergency authorities? How can an effective strategy be developed? Please join us for a serious discussion on these and other pertinent issues by our distinguished panel of public officials and experts.