Presentations
Assessing the risks of biological weapons use: the dual-use dilemma and challenges for arms control

19th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Assessing the risks of biological weapons use: the dual-use dilemma and challenges for arms control

Steve Bennett

Ph.D., Director Global Public Sector at SAS; former Director of the National Bio surveillance Integration Center, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (United States)

September 6, 2021

Budapest, Hungary

Dr. Steve Bennett made remarks regarding how to mitigate the risks of biological weapons arising from terrorism, nation-states, and naturally-occurring sources.

Take-aways:

Key policy actions:

  • Mitigating biological weapons risks from terrorism o Continue to monitor scientific publications around the world
    • Withhold sensitive methodological details from open scientific publication o Place a premium on countering radicalization for highly skilled / highly trained scientists.
    • International collaboration and information sharing
    • Collaborate globally to deny terrorist organizations safe haven for biological weapons planning and training
    • Mitigating biological weapons risks from nation-states
      • Continued international participation and support for the Biological Weapons and

Toxins Convention (BWTC) o Strengthen and modernize the BWTC to cover new technologies like CRISPR and gene editing

  • Strengthen the BWTC Implementation/compliance functions with the BWTC
    • Mitigating biological risks from naturally-occurring sources o Focus on Prevention, Prediction, and Early Warning o Apply Data, Analytics, AI, and Investigative analytics to help

Summary:  Biological weapons use presents unique challenges distinct from conventional weapons, or other forms of WMD like nuclear or radiological weapons.  Unlike these other weapons, it can be difficult to understand the true risks posed by biological weapons because of the dual-use nature of biological and medical research – telling the difference between legitimate and nefarious research can be difficult or impossible.  In this talk, Dr. Bennett discussed methods for assessing the risks from biological weapons deployed by terrorist organizations and nation-states, as well as the risks from naturally-occurring threats like COVID-19.  In addition to highlighting the key factors that contribute to the risk, Dr. Bennett outlined key policy actions for each, presenting a roadmap for improving security and reducing proliferation of these threats.

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