Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics
The world witnessed the severe humanitarian and economic repercussions of pandemic pathogens during COVID-19 crisis, and we remain dangerously unprepared for future pandemics.
With the rate of zoonotic pathogen spread increasing and rapid technological advances in synthetic biology and AI, there exists the possibility of far deadlier pandemics, but also new opportunities to defend against them.
This podcast is from the Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics course, which covers technical and policy efforts to prevent, detect and respond to catastrophic pandemics.
Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics
Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments
The US State Department report is released each April and provides an assessment of states' adherence to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament agreements and commitments. We see this as a useful resource giving some evidence of modern BW activity and for you to consider the role of intelligence agencies in assessing BWC compliance. However, we would also encourage reflection regarding the specific language used and how/what information is presented. The US has written this with the intention of publishing it openly, so it is worth considering their broader geopolitical motivations when reading.
Original text: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Arms-Control-Treaty-Compliance-Report.pdf
Author(s): US Department of State