Biological terrorism is now a greater menace than ever, yet the world remains woefully unprepared to protect itself. Public health systems must stockpile vaccines and develop response strategies -- but they risk losing legitimacy if governments continue to rely on the military and the police for defense against bioterrorism. It is time to seriously rethink the U.S. approach to this deadly threat.
Laurie Garrett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning science and medical writer for Newsday. This article is adapted from her new book, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. Copyright (c) 2000 by Laurie Garrett. Published by Hyperion.
We're sorry, but Foreign Affairs does not have the copyright to display this article online.
Related
The United States may be an uncontested military superpower, but it remains defenseless against a new mode of attack: information warfare. As the military, the private sector, and Washington grow increasingly dependent on computers and information networks, they also grow more vulnerable to cyber-attack. Cyberspace is becoming the new front line of warfare, and private citizens are the new prime target. U.S. policymakers and technology entrepreneurs must wake up to this threat and build a wall of defense -- now.
The Next Attack's authors argue that Washington's mistakes in Iraq and at home have weakened U.S. security; Falkenrath responds.
The global economy opens national borders to goods and people, legal and illegal. Narcotics, disease, illegal immigrants, and terrorists and their weapons: all enjoy easier passage than ever before. Fortifying the frontiers is no solution -- it would slow down trade and globalization. International companies and government regulators need to invest in new technologies to help border control keep pace with booming commerce. Then they must learn to cooperate with one another.
