National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center
Encyclopedia
The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) is a government biodefense research laboratory created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and located at the sprawling biodefense campus at Fort Detrick
Fort Detrick
Fort Detrick is a U.S. Army Medical Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland, USA. Historically, Fort Detrick was the center for the United States' biological weapons program ....

 in Frederick, MD, USA. Created quietly a few months after the 2001 anthrax attacks
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...

, the NBACC is intended to be the principal U.S. biodefense research institution engaged in laboratory-based threat assessment and bioforensics. NBACC will be an important part of the National Integrated Biodefense Campus (NIBC) also being built at Fort Detrick for the US Army, National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 and the US Department of Agriculture.

Mission and operations

The core of the NBACC facility (currently under construction) is a cluster of laboratories ranging from BSL-2 to BSL-4 built to hold and assess the threat of small amounts of bacteria and viruses to the people of the United States. Part of the NBACC’s mission is to conduct realistic tests of the pathogens and tactics that might be used in a bioterrorism
Bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form. For the use of this method in warfare, see biological warfare.-Definition:According to the...

 attack. It seeks to quantitatively answer questions pertaining to what might happen in a biological attack.

The NBACC will be equipped to develop and investigate genetically engineered viruses and bacteria. New and emerging technologies will be evaluated along with delivery devices that U.S. adversaries might use to disseminate the pathogens.

The NBACC coordinates closely with the many Departments and Agencies in the U.S. government, including the U.S. intelligence community which has assigned advisers to the Center.

In June 2006, construction began on a new $128 million, 160000 sq ft (14,864.5 m²) facility inside the Ft. Detrick installation. Space inside the 8-story, glass-and-brick structure, scheduled to open in 2008, will be divided between NBACC's two centers:
  • The Biological Threat Characterization Center (BTCC), which seeks to identify and prioritize biological threats and our vulnerabilities to those threats through its laboratory threat assessments.
  • The National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC), a forensic testing center equipped to identify and characterize the possible culprit pathogens after an attack has already occurred


The BTCC will include biocontainment suites, including BSL- 2, 3, and 4
Biosafety level
A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 to the highest at level 4 . In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and...

 laboratory space, air-handling equipment, security controls, and other supporting features as well as large aerosol-test chambers where experimental animals will be exposed to deadly pathogens. The new building will be classified as a SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility
Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility
In United States security and intelligence parlance, a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process Sensitive Compartmented Information level classified information...

; access will be severely limited and all of the activity and conversation inside will be presumed restricted from public disclosure.

Until its new building is completed, the NBFAC (in collaboration with the FBI) is borrowing floorspace from the US Army's biodefense facility (see USAMRIID) at Ft Detrick.

The NBACC expects to eventually employ about 120 researchers and support staff.

A business entity spun off from Battelle Memorial Institute will manage NBACC for DHS as an FFRDC. Battelle is well suited for this job as it has experience successfully running other US National Laboratories.

Controversy

Questions have been raised by some arms-control and international law experts as to the necessity and advisability of the very high level of security surrounding the NBACC and as to whether it does (or will) place the United States in violation of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). (The BWC outlawed developing, stockpiling, acquiring or retaining pathogens "of types and in quantities that have no justification" for peaceful purposes.) Experts at the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

’s Center for Biosecurity
Center for Biosecurity
The Center for Biosecurity is an independent, nonprofit organization of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that is dedicated to improving the country’s resilience to major biological threats.-Mission statement:...

 have been particularly vocal in their criticism.

NBACC’s opponents contend that the facility will operate in a “legal gray zone” and skirt the edges of the BWC which outlaws production of even small amounts of biological weapons. They contend that a high degree of transparency is needed to reassure Americans (and the rest of the world) of the U.S. government's good intentions. In their view, the U.S. government may find it hard in the future to object to other countries testing genetically engineered pathogens and novel delivery systems when they invoke their own national biodefense requirements.

The Bush administration contends that the NBACC is purely defensive and thus its operations are fully legal and in accord with the BWC. A principle is that assessing the technical threat of biological pathogens is essential to inform and help develop biodefense policy. Administration officials say that making small amounts of biowarfare pathogens for study is permitted under a broad interpretation of the treaty. (Some legal experts counter that the treaty does not actually make any distinction between “defensive” and “offensive” activities or intent.)

Officials say that NBACC's work will be carefully monitored and in compliance with the bioweapons convention guidelines as well as normal scientific oversight. The latter will consist, in addition to DHS internal review boards, of a conventional peer-review process involving small groups of scientists who are independent of the research in question (albeit all with government security clearances). However, some activists and bioweapons experts have called for unusual forms of oversight for the NBACC, including panels of well-respected, internationally-known scientists and outside observers from other countries.

On the security "overkill" issue, officials say that much of the lab's less-sensitive work is to be made public eventually.

See also

  • Center for Biosecurity
    Center for Biosecurity
    The Center for Biosecurity is an independent, nonprofit organization of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that is dedicated to improving the country’s resilience to major biological threats.-Mission statement:...

    , University of Pittsburgh
    University of Pittsburgh
    The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

    , PA; directed by Tara O'Toole
    Tara O'Toole
    Tara O’Toole is the Under Secretary of the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security.-Background:Prior to her confirmation as Under Secretary , O’Toole founded, and served as chief executive officer and director of, the Center for Biosecurity at the University of...

    , founded by D.A. Henderson.

External links

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