New Age of Bioterror | Biosecurity in an Age of Open Science | China’s Biomedical Data Hacking Threat, and more
The Justice Department alleges Manafort failed to file federal tax documents detailing the accounts and failed to disclose the money on his income tax returns. The lawsuit charges the money was related to consulting work in Ukraine with his deputy Rick Gates and an associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who were both key figures in Mueller’s investigation.
Threat of Russian Chemical Weapons is ‘Wake-up Call’ on WMDs (Greg Hadley, Air Force Magazine)
Concerns over weapons of mass destruction have surged in recent weeks, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned increasingly brutal and officials warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin may use chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons.
For the Defense Department’s counter-WMD leaders, it’s a pivotal moment—and potentially a “wake-up call” for the U.S. to realize the importance of the mission, they told a House Armed Services subcommittee on April 1.
The Urgent Need for an Overhaul of Global Biorisk Management (Filippa Lentzos, Gregory D. Koblentz, and Joseph Rodgers, CTC Sentinel)
The biological risk landscape is rapidly evolving and presents significant new challenges to preventing the accidental, reckless, or malicious misuse of biology. At the same time, oversight systems to ensure that life sciences research is conducted safely, securely, and responsibly are falling behind. An urgent overhaul to realign biorisk management with contemporary risks is needed. This must include not only an international framework to establish values and principles for biorisk management and guidelines to develop and implement governance tools and mechanisms, but also an authoritative international institution with a mandate to systematically register and track maximum containment facilities and to oversee extremely high-risk research.
Biosecurity in an Age of Open Science (James Andrew Smith and Jonas B. Sandbrink, PLOS Biology)
The risk of accidental or deliberate misuse of biological research is increasing as biotechnology advances. As open science becomes widespread, we must consider its impact on those risks and develop solutions that ensure security while facilitating scientific progress. Here, we examine the interaction between open science practices and biosecurity and biosafety to identify risks and opportunities for risk mitigation. Increasing the availability of computational tools, datasets, and protocols could increase risks from research with misuse potential. For instance, in the context of viral engineering, open code, data, and materials may increase the risk of release of enhanced pathogens. For this dangerous subset of research, both open science and biosecurity goals may be achieved by using access-controlled repositories or application programming interfaces. While preprints accelerate dissemination of findings, their increased use could challenge strategies for risk mitigation at the publication stage. This highlights the importance of oversight earlier in the research lifecycle. Preregistration of research, a practice promoted by the open science community, provides an opportunity for achieving biosecurity risk assessment at the conception of research. Open science and biosecurity experts have an important role to play in enabling responsible research with maximal societal benefit.
China’s Biomedical Data Hacking Threat: Applying Big Data Isn’t as Easy as It Seems (Kathleen M. Vogel and Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley, Texas National Security Review)
Concerns have developed in recent years about the acquisition of U.S. biomedical information by Chinese individuals and the Chinese government and how this creates security and economic threats to the United States. And yet, China’s illicit acquisition of data is only one aspect of what is required to produce an enhanced science and technology capability that would pose a security threat. Current assessments fail to account for the heterogeneity of big data and the challenges that any actor (state or nonstate) faces in making sense of this data and using it. In this context, current law enforcement and policies that focus on the Chinese acquisition of biomedical big data should expand to other important aspects of China’s science and technology capabilities, including the country’s ability to interpret, integrate, and use the acquired data for its economic or military benefit. This article provides new socio-technical frameworks that can be used to provide greater insights into Chinese threats involving biomedical big data.
War amid a Pandemic: The Public Health Consequences of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (Michaela Simoneau and Humzah Khan, CSIS)
Russia’s invasion has inflicted extreme physical and psychological trauma inside Ukraine. As a renewed Russian assault against Ukraine’s southeast begins, Ukrainians are likely to face persistent and intensifying public health challenges as a direct result of the conflict, compounding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The security and safety of healthcare facilities, workers, and supply lines remain paramount concerns. Disruptions to surveillance and treatment programs risk an eruption of infectious disease outbreaks. Interruptions to chronic care and routine health services threaten to increase mortality and decrease life expectancy. The long-term mental health consequences of war-related trauma will be considerable. Over 5 million people have fled the country, while an estimated 7 million or more are internally displaced out of a pre-war population of 44 million. Fleeing populations have been met with a surge of support, but receiving health systems, both within and outside Ukraine, are under stress.
