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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter March 23, 2023

Infectious Disease as a Security Threat: A Mental Framework for Future Emergency Preparedness

  • Ryan Scott Houser ORCID logo EMAIL logo

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on human lives as well as economic and social stability. The United States has a complicated history with biosecurity. The September 11th terror attacks uncovered various weaknesses in the national biosecurity infrastructure that have persisted into the current pandemic. This study explores the implications of framing the infectious disease biothreat as a security threat to improve our capabilities while protecting against the potential accelerated threat of bioterrorism in the post-COVID-19 era. To counter the increasing biothreats, the United States must invest in revamping the biodefense infrastructure to increase our resilience to various biothreats.


Corresponding author: Ryan Scott Houser, George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government, Biodefense Program, 3351 Fairfax Drive Van Metre Hall, Arlington, VA, 22201, USA; and Center for Global Health Science and Security, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3900 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC, 20007-2145, USA, E-mail:

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Received: 2023-01-29
Accepted: 2023-02-09
Published Online: 2023-03-23

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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