• BIODEFENSEPhysical Approaches to Civilian Biodefense

    Progress in biological sciences and technologies will offer more opportunities to improve human well-being in the coming decades, but this progress may also lower barriers that are blocking bad actors from engineering pathogens to cause destruction. We need to identify potential preparedness measures for challenging biological threats.

  • AI-ENABLED BIOWEAPONSGlobal Risk Index for AI-enabled Biological Tools

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the life sciences, accelerating breakthroughs in research, drug discovery and biotechnology. However, some of the AI tools that drive innovation can also be misused, posing significant dual-use risks.

  • RISKY BIOLOGICAL RESEARCHDefining Risk in Biological Research: Why Researchers Need Clearer Oversight Frameworks

    By Barbara Del Castello, Adeline Williams and John Tarangelo

    Policymakers and researchers need a consistent and transparent way to weigh the risks and benefits of risky biological research to facilitate review processes and oversight.

  • BIOSECURITYCritical Action Needed to Address Growing Biosecurity Risks

    A new report warns that biosecurity risks are increasing. Emerging technologies and other trends are making biological threats more numerous, frequent, and consequential. The report outlines how emerging biotechnology must itself be used to secure biology, akin to how software is required to secure software.

  • BIOSECURITYA View from the CT Foxhole: James Stack, Director, Great Plains Diagnostic Network

    By Don Rassler and Kristina Hummel

    There are multiple definitions of biosecurity, and oftentimes it intersects with definitions of biosafety. But if we look at biosecurity in the sense of the unintentional or intentional introduction of an organism, we have a long history on the plant side in terms of protecting food systems and natural plant systems. But 9/11 did bring a focus on the intentional side.

  • AIFiltered Data Stops Openly Available AI Models from Performing Dangerous Tasks

    Researchers have reported a major advance in safeguarding open-weight language models. By filtering out potentially harmful knowledge during training, the researchers were able to build models that resist subsequent malicious updates – especially valuable in sensitive domains such as biothreat research.

  • ARGUMENT: AI-DESIGNED BIOWEAPONS LOOMAre We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?

    Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”

  • GAIN OF FUNCTION RESEARCHTrump Administration Issues Restrictive Executive Order to Govern Gain-of-Function Research

    Last week President Trump signed an executive order which imposes new restrictions on gain-of-function (GoF) research. Scientists and biosecurity experts say it is not unreasonable to review the security measures governing GoF research, but that the administration has used a definition of GoF which is too broad, vague, and inaccurate, raising the concern that the United States will become less safe, and less prepared for unforeseen biothreats, as essential research and important studies would be hobbled because of the wide net cast by the executive order.

  • SENSORSLow-Power Sensors Could Last 10 Years, Providing Surveillance, Security

    By Mollie Rappe

    Researchers at Sandia have spent the last three years developing an ultra-low-power chemical sensor to detect sarin and other chemical warfare agents or gaseous industrial toxins, aiming to protect the public and warfighters.

  • BIOSECURITYAI Tools Can Enhance U.S. Biosecurity; Monitoring and Mitigation Will Be Needed to Protect Against Misuse

    A new report recommends ways for the U.S. to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence in biotechnology while minimizing risks that AI may be misused to develop harmful biological agents.

  • BIOLOGICAL WEAPONSForging the Biological Weapon Convention: A Brief History of the Creation of the BWC

    The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) stands as a monument to international ambition: the first multilateral treaty to comprehensively ban an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The treaty’s origins are deeply rooted in the horrors of 20th-century warfare, advancements in biotechnology, and the geopolitical tensions of the Cold War.

  • BIORISKSThe Far-Reaching Impacts of Agricultural Biorisk Research

    By Jay Bickell

    There is a deep interconnection between agricultural biorisks and human health. It is critical that this perspective is brought to the forefront of policy and research discussions so that agricultural biorisks are prioritized as a threat to national security and receive the necessary research funding: .A summary of the USDA ARS 8th International Biosafety & Biocontainment Symposium.

  • ARGUMENT: TULSI GABBRD AS DNI“Tulsi Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief Would Undermine Efforts Against the Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons”: Expert

    The Senate, along party lines, last week confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National intelligence. One expert on biological and chemical weapons says that Gabbard’s “longstanding history of parroting Russian propaganda talking points, unfounded claims about Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and conspiracy theories all in efforts to undermine the quality of the community she now leads” make her confirmation a “national security malpractice.”

  • BIOTERRORISMAI, Bioterrorism and the Urgent Need for Australian Action

    By Greg Sadler

    Experts worry that, within a few years, AI will put that capability into the hands of tens of thousands of people. Without a new approach to regulation, the risk of bioterrorism and lab leaks will soar.

  • FOOD SECURITYBiosecurity for Food Security

    By Saba Sinai and Andrew Henderson

    Biosecurity is a fundamental enabler for a country’s’ food security, a critical but often overlooked element of national security, and it is time for it to be treated accordingly.