Full Report
Congress and the executive branch have a responsibility to defend the United States against a growing range of biological risks from natural, accidental, and deliberate origins. These threats can affect humans as well as U.S. agricultural industries. In the fall of 2025, the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security (CSIS Bipartisan Alliance) launched a…
Analysis Summary
# Main Topic
Report concerning the responsibilities of Congress and the executive branch in defending the United States against biological risks originating from natural, accidental, or deliberate sources, affecting both human health and U.S. agricultural industries. This effort was spurred by a working group launched in Fall 2025 by the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security (CSIS Bipartisan Alliance).
## Key Points
- The primary focus is on addressing gaps in U.S. biodefense capabilities through critical, near-term policy solutions.
- The CSIS Bipartisan Alliance working group worked to identify strategic risks that require swift mitigation.
- The resulting recommendations aim to modernize biosurveillance, ensure biosafety and biosecurity, revitalize the biodefense enterprise, and strengthen response/recovery frameworks.
- The proposed path forward is characterized as feasible, affordable, and bipartisan.
## Threat Actors
- **Not explicitly mentioned:** The context focuses on the *sources* of threats (natural, accidental, deliberate origins) rather than specific threat actors (e.g., nation-states or APT groups).
## TTPs
- **Threat Vectors:** Natural occurrences, accidental releases, and deliberate introduction of biological hazards.
- **Policy Gap Areas:** Identified risks point toward deficiencies in current U.S. capabilities related to biosurveillance, biosafety/biosecurity protocols, and enterprise weaknesses.
- **MITRE ATT&CK:** Not applicable; this is a policy and biodefense capability summary, not an attack analysis.
## Affected Systems
- **Humans:** Direct health risks.
- **U.S. Agricultural Industries:** Economic and biological risks affecting agriculture.
- **U.S. Biodefense Enterprise:** Systems and structures related to detection, preparedness, and response capabilities.
## Mitigations
The prioritized policy solutions focus on the following actionable areas:
1. Modernizing biosurveillance systems.
2. Ensuring robust biosafety and biosecurity standards.
3. Reversing the decline of the existing biodefense enterprise structure.
4. Strengthening national response and recovery mechanisms.
## Conclusion
A high-level coordinated political and executive strategy is being formulated to urgently address known vulnerabilities in U.S. biopreparedness against biological risks. The immediate focus is on implementing practical, bipartisan policy reforms across surveillance, security, and response capabilities.