Working with local health authorities not only helps prevent the next epidemic, but also ensures that these virological samples remain safe – “So, it won’t leak out of these public health agencies accidentally, or be stolen by terrorists,” DTRA’s collaboration threat director Robert Pope In an interview in 2022.
They said DTRA staff were “early warning systems” before any deployment by the U.S. military. They added that while this may not be a traditional military force, it should still fit into the government’s priorities. “It keeps our boundaries safe from pathogens.”
Independent analysis The Pentagon conducted in 2022, finding these threat reduction plans “have a full attitude to respond quickly to emerging ones [weapons of mass destruction] threat; its authorities are unique and fill existing gaps. ”
Gigi Gronvall, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said programs like DTRA should be expanded rather than cut. These are mainly national security programs, she said, aiming to “put your eyes and ears to put out these fires around the world, or to stop them from happening in the first place.”
Gronvall added that if you don’t put out the fire – whether it’s a new type of infectious disease or a chemical weapon program in a rogue state, it keeps growing. “We have areas in the world where there is no fire department,” she said. “By helping them help themselves, we are helping them strengthen.”
“Fire Sales with Expertise”
The Pentagon’s threat reduction efforts and the DTRA itself stemmed from the work of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, Republican Richard Lugar secured weapons of mass destruction After the fall of the Soviet Union. Through its work, the United States destroyed thousands of ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, processed tens of thousands of pounds of chemical weapons, and dismantled the Soviet Bioweapons Laboratory. In 1998, DTRA was officially created and gave more expensive tasks to track and destroy chemical and biological threats, while also helping other countries do so.
For its work, DTRA has always been Targeting false information from RussiaMoscow accused the United States of producing biological weapons in these DTRA-funded laboratories. After the full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Conspiracy theorist In the United States, the thread picked up the thread, suggesting that the invasion was covered up to destroy these biological weapons laboratories.
Concerns about the work of DTRA have since been raised by the Minister of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tulsi Gabbardand Russia itself. Republican Senator Rand Paul has Subpoena has been issued repeatedly For DTRA, it is looking for evidence that it has been engaged in dangerous virological research and suggesting that it may have been creating Covid-19.
“When Russia attacked the program, it did this because it wanted to erode our national security,” Glenval said. She added that Russia may not believe these lies, but “they have had a huge success in making people with power believe these things.”
