Biosecurity: Confronting Existent and Emerging Unknowns

http://web.2.c2.audiovideoweb.com/va92web25028/Global_Challenges_Discussion_Series/2012/10-1_Biosecurity.flv

October 1, 2012, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
AAAS Auditorium; AAAS Event Page

The risk of lethal disease outbreak and the prospect of biological weapon terrorism have many concerned with biosecurity. The technology needed to monitor and respond to biothreats is highly sophisticated and still evolving both in capability and reliability. Differentiating between deliberate and natural outbreaks is a complex problem, and attribution requires scientific and legal proof. Policy makers must work within these limitations and balance public health with state security priorities. This panel will discuss, with no notes or slides, the grand and global challenges to forming biosecurity policies that ensure individual and national safety.

Sponsors

• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• ACS Science & the Congress Project
• Georgetown University Program on Science in the Public Interest

Moderator

David Kestenbaum, NPR

Panel

• CDR Chris Bidwell, U.S. Navy, currently assigned to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Chair of the Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament Interest Group Section of the American Society for International Law
• Randall “Randy” Murch, Associate Director, Research Program Development, Center for Technology, Security, and Policy, Virginia Tech
• Kristin Omberg, Deputy Division Leader, Decisions Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory