Defense Department reshuffle in the works?

Is Defense Department reshuffle in the works?

WEB EXTRA!

WEB EXTRA! Groups question nation's preparedness for public health crises

On Jan. 22, the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies called on Congress to authorize creation of a new agency within the Department of Defense. Such an agency is essential, they said, to ensure successful development of vaccines, drugs and other medical interventions effective against biowarfare agents.

In a joint report by the two groups, Giving Full Measure to Countermeasures: Addressing Problems in the DoD Program to Develop Medical Countermeasures Against Biological Warfare Agents, the authors asserted the department's current biodefense efforts were "characterized by fragmentation of responsibility and authority, changing strategies that have resulted in lost time and expertise, and a lack of financial commitment commensurate with the requirements of program goals." What's needed, the report said, is a new entity, the Medical Biodefense Agency, to take over the functions and resources of existing medical biodefense programs.

Among the programs that should be consolidated under the umbrella of the Medical Biodefense Agency are the medical biodefense components of the Chemical and Biological Defense Program, including some activities of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, as well as some biodefense activities of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Furthermore, because efforts to develop drugs and vaccines against naturally occurring pathogens and biowarfare agents overlap, programs focused on countermeasures against infectious diseases also should be transferred into the new agency.

Go to http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=17946 to access a press release on the report and to link to a free, fully searchable online version of it.

FP Report | Headlines | AAFP Home | Search