Guest
Biological weapons nonproliferation and global health security are inextricably linked. From 2003-2006, I worked in Moscow, Russia, as part of a US-Russia cooperative program charged with dismantling remnants of the former Soviet offensive biological warfare (BW) program and redirecting dual-use capabilities to improve global health. In 2006, concerns that H5N1 influenza might become the next global pandemic brought the world’s attention to the neighboring country of Azerbaijan, where a cluster of human H5N1 influenza cases initially appeared to signify sustained human-to-human transmission. I moved to Baku, Azerbaijan in 2007, and spent the next four and a half years working on the same US cooperative program, this time with the government of Azerbaijan, and this time focused primarily on addressing natural threats like pandemic influenza. The implication was that reducing the risk of natural disease also reduced the risk of biological weapons, and which one was more likely? As some in my field are apt to say, Mother Nature is the world’s best bioweaponeer. To that end, we at CNS are introducing this forum to share our perspective on COVID-19, based on decades of experience at the biosecurity/global health nexus. It in no way suggests that the ongoing pandemic is the result of a biological weapon; to the contrary, we have seen no evidence to suggest any such connection. However, we will draw lessons that can be applied to a comparable weapons context where appropriate. If nothing else, from a nonproliferation standpoint, COVID-19 has unequivocally demonstrated that we must take biological weapons and bioterrorism threats very seriously. A word about the forum’s name: we selected World War “V” because we believe it accurately reflects our current global situation. We are, together, at war against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. In a global society, no one country is safe until we all are; persisting virus in any corner of the world may spark another wave of the pandemic and prolong our shared timeline to recovery. This challenge comes with opportunity—the opportunity to build bridges of cooperation and trust that persist long after COVID-19. We can come out of this a stronger global community—one that is united against the global health security threats of the future—or a shattered one. But rest assured, we will come out of this.
