Biological Weapons Defense

In 2003, the President’s budget for bioterrorism defense totalled more than $5 billion. Today, the nation’s top academic scientists are scrambling to begin work to understand Bacillus anthracis and develop new vaccines and drugs. However, just five years ago, only the US Department of Defense (DOD) seemed concerned about these “exotic” agents. In 1997, the DOD spent approximately $137 million on biodefense to protect the deployed force, while academe, industry, local governments, and most of our