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The 2001 anthrax envelopes affair was a formative event, as in its wake the United States and the West escalated their response to the threat of biological terrorism, including new legislation and extensive resources. Yet while nearly a decade has passed, only recently did President Obama issue a document called “National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats.” In this document, the term “biological threat” refers to severe diseases and pandemics liable to bring about tens or hundreds of thousands of stricken or even dead, whose cause may be natural or man-made (whether by accident or by hostile design). A few factors prompted the president to release this document now. The H1N1 pandemic spreading around the world in recent months set off alarm bells in the administration and demonstrated the tremendous potential of damage inherent in a biological threat. In addition, there is growing concern in the United States about the possibility of terrorist organizations making use of this weapon. Already in December 2008 the congressional committee headed by Bob Graham noted that unless extreme preventive measures are taken by the administration, a significant biological terrorism event can be expected to occur by 2013.

The policies of President Bush regarding prevention of biological terrorism and the proliferation of biological weapons, in the context of the biological treaty, rejected outright the inclusion of a legal, binding verification apparatus. This position aroused harsh criticism from most of the member nations, including in the West, who had high hopes that President Obama would overturn this policy. The strategy now made public reveals that the president vehemently opposes a verification apparatus and recommends that the issue be removed from the table altogether. According to this position, such an apparatus would be ineffective given the enormous strides made in the field of biotechnology. The United States will continue to provide vigorous support for the biological treaty, including the principle of universalism, but is of the opinion that adopting the new strategy and implementing it is the way to strengthen the treaty and its goals.

Although the H1N1 pandemic involves a new strain of the flu that has proved not to be particularly lethal, its appearance aroused serious concern and spurred the investment of extensive resources in national and international preparation. This clearly would have been compounded multifold had the case involved a more lethal and contagious flu strain. The pandemic also demonstrated the relative ease with which terrorist organizations could deliberately spread disease and infect a large population. Given that any kind of biological threat is liable to affect tens or even hundreds of thousands, leading to major difficulties in coping with the situation, it is necessary to labor to prevent any such outbreak of disease, whether naturally or intentional.

The rapid development of biology in the 21^st century, including gene research and synthetic biology, makes cures of serious diseases possible. On the other hand, modern biological methods are becoming more accessible and affordable and are thus liable to fall into the hands of terrorists who could use them to develop and manufacture new, unfamiliar hazardous biological agents. Therefore, the new strategy published by President Obama stresses the need to take the following actions:

1. Improve global availability and accessibility to life sciences in order to enable nations around the world to tackle infectious diseases, whatever their cause.
2. Produce, strengthen, and promote global norms against the misuse of the life sciences.
3. Initiate and produce coordinated efforts and activities that would allow for the identification, influencing, apprehension, and arrest of anyone seeking to misuse the life sciences.

Using this strategy, the American administration will work jointly with elements at home and abroad to attain seven main objectives in order to defend against the uncontrolled distribution and misuse of the life sciences in favor of development, manufacture, and use of biological weapons by terrorists.

· Promote global health security: increasing the availability of and accessibility to information, knowledge, and products of scientific research in the life sciences in order to allow nations to tackle diseases and plagues, whether natural or manmade.

· Increase the personal responsibility and safety standards of anyone working or connected with the life sciences in order to create a culture of increased awareness and responsibility so as to ensure that research will not be taken in harmful directions.

· Continually improve diagnostic capabilities to locate, understand, assess, and identify emerging biological threats while using scientific advances in the life sciences.

· Take steps to reduce the potential for misuse by safeguarding and securing sensitive biological technologies and sensitive information.

· Promote communication and cooperation between all involved at the relevant national levels in order to ensure uniformity of action.

· Maintain a national dialogue on the subject of terrorist threats and identify joint ways of coping with them.

President Obama’s document is directed at all personnel in the administration who have any connection to the issue and directs each one to prepare, coordinate, and implement all programs as derivatives of the objectives formulated by the strategy. At the same time, because what is at stake involves threats that know no borders, much emphasis has also been placed on cooperation between the US and other nations.

Following the example of the US and other Western states, Israel is also to some extent engaging in efforts to prevent the occurrence of biological events and cope with their outcomes. Israel has adopted international proliferation rules and United Nations resolutions on this issue (e.g., Security Council Resolution 1540 of 2004) and conducts itself according to the norms determined therein. To prevent the leak of hazardous biological materials and sensitive information into the hands of terrorists, a steering committee has been working within the framework of the National Security Staff and the National Academy of the Sciences, and has recommended preventive steps to be taken in life sciences research in Israel as well as raising awareness and appropriate legislation. The Knesset passed a law, the Regulating Research of Biological Pathogens 2008, intended to reduce these risks by establishing control and supervision mechanisms at all institutions in Israel holding or engaging in research with pathogens or dual-use biological technologies. At the same time, the Ministry of Health has prepared extensively for a possible flu pandemic, including with the H1N1 virus. Without a doubt, the ministry has generated some lessons applicable also to epidemics deliberately introduced by terrorists.

The American approach is to formulate a uniform, global strategy of preventing pandemics seen as risks to national security, whether natural or manmade. By contrast, the State of Israel has no institution consolidating and integrating the issue at the national level, despite the fact that what is at stake has clear cut ramifications for Israel’s national security. Therefore, it would be wise to consider integrating the issue at the national level by the National Security Staff, which would publish an integrated policy and guide the plan of action at the national level through principles derived from the American global strategy to prepare for biological threats with the participation of the relevant ministries, including the Ministries of Health, Defense, Agriculture, and Industry, Trade and Labor.