Hudson Institute Co-Releases Report on US Biodefense Readiness

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Hudson Institute is co-releasing A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts, a bipartisan report produced by the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense. The report outlines national vulnerabilities to growing biological threats and provides recommendations on improving U.S. defense against biological weapons and naturally-occurring infectious diseases.

The report was unveiled this morning at the Reserve Officers Club in Washington, D.C., during an event featuring former Governor Tom Ridge, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and Hudson Institute President Kenneth Weinstein. Hudson Institute served as one of the institutional sponsors of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense.

"The idea of a national commission on bioterrorism," said Hudson President Dr. Weinstein, "came out of Hudson's firm belief that the federal government was giving insufficient attention to a looming homeland security problem, especially at a time when radical Islam is a growing force around the globe."

Hudson Institute hosted the Blue Ribbon Study Panel series, convening executive stakeholders throughout government, academia, and the private sector, for targeted and extensive discussion on the state of U.S. biodefense. The panels featured former administration and congressional officials, including Joseph Lieberman, Thomas Ridge, Donna Shalala, Thomas Daschle, James Greenwood and Kenneth Wainstein.

Hudson Distinguished Fellow Mike Rogers, a former Congressman and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, contributed a congressional perspective to the study's panel on biodefense response and recovery. Hudson Senior Vice President Lewis Libby, who led Pentagon efforts in the first Gulf War to mitigate biological and chemical weapons, served as an ex officio member of the panel, in addition to Hudson Adjunct Fellow Tevi Troy, former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A National Blueprint for Biodefense provides a clear schedule of short-, medium- and long-term action items and programmatic, legislative and policy recommendations to bring about a coordinated biodefense platform under the leadership of the Vice President. Conclusions in the report are the result of a year-long program of high-level panels, public meetings, targeted interviews and extensive research.

The full report, A National Blueprint for Biodefense: Leadership and Major Reform Needed to Optimize Efforts, can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/blueribbonbiodefense. To arrange an interview, please contact Carolyn Stewart at [email protected].

Hudson Institute is an independent research organization promoting new ideas for the advancement of global security, prosperity and freedom. http://www.hudson.org

CONTACT: Carolyn Stewart, Press Secretary, P: 202-974-6456 [email protected]

SOURCE Hudson Institute

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