The Candidates on Nonproliferation – Part II

by spopescu, posted in Commentary, Uncategorized

The Candidates on Nonproliferation – Part 2
By Greg Mercer

I initially set out to write this as a candidate-by-candidate look at what the 2016 crop had to say about an issue near and dear to Biodefense students’ hearts: nonproliferation.  As it turns out, though, not many candidates have well-developed stances on highly specific policy issues (or any issues, depending on how serious a candidate we’re talking about) more than a year from the general election.  Lucky for us though, there’s been a major nonproliferation news event to drive the foreign policy debate: the Iran nuclear deal.  So this is a rundown of what’s been said and being said about nonproliferation and WMD policy in the 2016 election.

 See part 1 here.

So I’m continuing to take a look at what the 2016 election looks like for nonproliferation.

As with the previous post, Republicans in general tend to oppose the Iran deal, but let’s take a closer look at some more candidates, and move a little more toward the fringes.

Rand Paul:
Rand Paul opposes the Iran deal (surprise), and the section of his website devoted to Iran echoes Bibi Netanyahu’s “bad deal” language.  Let me tell you though, as far as issues pages go, it doesn’t get much better than this.  Not only does he have the most extensive set of issues pages I’ve seen so far, Rand’s camp has helpfully noted specific quotes, sources, and bill numbers for his voting record.  I don’t even have to go on THOMAS.  Thanks, Rand site devs!  For example, the site notes that he was a co-sponsor of The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which attempted to challenge the administration’s negotiations.  Rand didn’t always used to be this way, though.  Having gradually (and recently, not-so-gradually) drifted from a libertarian stance into one more in line with mainstream conservative thinking, he’s changed his tune a bit on Iran.  Bloomberg chronicles his shift from cautioning against military action and arguing that Iran didn’t pose a threat, in 2007, to his current position.  Rand doesn’t have much else to say about nonproliferation.   He does say that Republican hawkishness contributed to the rise of ISIS, though, which caused him to get into a fight with Sean Hannity.

Carly Fiorina:
If Rand Paul has a great website, then Carly Fiorina has the worst one yet. Her issues page isn’t accessible from the home page, and when you do find it, it’s all videos.  Carly uses some of these videos to underscore just how anti-Iran deal she is.  During the September debate, she said that if elected president, “I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system.”  So far, she hasn’t had much to say about nonproliferation or biological weapons beyond the Iran deal.  Like Donald Trump, she’s compared the negotiating diplomatic deals to business deals, citing her experience as CEO of computer giant Hewlett-Packard.  There’s a catch there, though, and it’s one worth reading about in full other than my snarky at-a-glance version:  according to Bloomberg View, while she was CEO, “Hewlett-Packard used a European subsidiary and a Middle East distributor to sell hundreds of millions of dollars of printers and other computer equipment to Iran,” circumventing the sanctions regime.  While likely not illegal, it’s certainly been controversial.

Ben Carson:
Ben Carson’s security platform is centered on countering “Russian transgressions” and supporting Israel.  The Russia issues page features pictures of scary missiles but doesn’t explicitly mention nuclear policies.  Carson argues that Russian aggression has a destabilizing effect on Ukraine and the Middle East, ultimately threatening Europe.  He calls on the US to lead NATO and non-NATO allies “from a position of strength” and that “all options should remain on the table” when dealing with Putin.  No specific mention of nuclear weapons, but “all” is pretty broad.  On Israel, he promises unwavering support, but offers no details to this end.  To most conservative voters though, this can be read as anti-Iran deal, at least.  Carson offered another interesting claim about nonproliferation, though.  In the August debate, Carson said, “You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won’t even give them offensive weapons.”  The excellent Politifact evaluated this claim, and concluded that it isn’t really accurate for two reasons: first, Ukraine wasn’t “nuclear-armed” because while Soviet warheads briefly resided there following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine would never have been able to launch them (according to Harvard nuclear specialist Matthew Bunn), and that while the US agreed to respect the sovereignty of- and not attack- Ukraine, it didn’t formally offer a guarantee of protection.  Implicit in Carson’s statement is the argument that Ukraine, if it had retained (and, hypothetically controlled) the nuclear weapons left after the collapse, wouldn’t have been subject to Russian aggression.  This paints Carson as a strong believer in nuclear deterrence.

Week In DC: Events 10.12-10.16.2015

by spopescu, posted in Uncategorized

Monday 10.12.2015

Lebanon’s Deepening Domestic Crisis – Brookings Institution
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Brookings Institution1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036(map)
Over the past month thousands of Lebanese protesters have taken to the streets chanting ‘revolution,’ starting an unprecedented and long overdue mobilization against the country’s sectarian political system and dysfunctional government. What became known as the ‘You Stink’ protest campaign, ignited by a garbage crisis, has widened to reflect anger at the entrenched political elites and the state’s failure to provide basic services. Furthermore, Lebanon has been without a president ever since the term of former President Michel Suleiman ended on May 25, 2014, despite U.N. officials and allied governments repeatedly urging the Lebanese parliament to elect a new leader. Meanwhile, regional turmoil has put Lebanon under enormous stress with the influx of over a million Syrian refugees, who now account for more than 20 percent of the population. The involvement of a number of Lebanese parties in the Syrian conflict and the deeply divided attitudes toward the Syrian regime make it extremely difficult to reach any agreement, even on domestic issues. The Brookings Doha Center cordially invites you to attend a public policy discussion entitled ‘Lebanon’s Deepening Domestic Crisis.’ In light of the political gridlock in Beirut, this event will focus on the prospects for peace and security in Lebanon amid the internal conflicts. Will the protest campaign pave the way for revamping Lebanon’s political system? Can Lebanon continue to avoid getting engulfed by Syria’s conflict? IMPORTANT: Due to limited available space, this event requires pre-registration. To reserve a place for yourself and/or a guest, please RSVP with the names of those who wish to attend to dohacenter@brookings.edu. Please arrive fifteen minutes before the event’s start time.

Will the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Live Up to Its Promise? – Cato Institute
Time: 8:30am-5:20pm
Location: Cato Institute1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001 (map)
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were launched to great fanfare in mid-2013 with the pronouncement that a comprehensive deal would be reached by the end of 2014 on a “single tank of gas.” But after more than two years and 10 rounds of negotiations, an agreement is nowhere in sight and substantive differences remain between the parties. Despite a retreat from the original level of ambition, skepticism is mounting on both sides of the Atlantic that a deal will be reached anytime soon. What are the prospects for fulfilling the promise of a comprehensive trade and investment deal between the United States and the European Union? What exactly is under negotiation, and what is the strategy for advancing those negotiations? Would it make sense to exclude sacred-cow issues that will only bog down the negotiations? Is it wise to continue pursuing a single comprehensive deal for all issues on the table, or is it better to aim for a sequence of smaller agreements? Should a deal include other closely integrated countries, such as Canada, Mexico, and Turkey? How will TTIP affect the multilateral trading system, relations with the BRICS countries, and prospects for developing countries?

Tuesday 10.13.2015

Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum -Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies 
Time: 9:30am
Location: Johns Hopkins SAIS – Nitze Building1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036(map)
With more than half the world’s population living in cities for the first time, urban violence has become an increasingly significant problem. From Karachi to San Pedro Sula, urban centers grapple with security threats from within their own populations. In the face of challenges that can include rapid population growth, increased pressure on fragile infrastructure, limited resources such as energy and water, and high levels of  unemployment, city governments are facing substantial challenges maintaining security. This has enabled insurgencies, terrorist organizations, criminal gangs and syndicates to operate more freely. This forum will explore work being to confront urban violence holistically, looking at both urban development programming and youth-centered violence reduction initiatives in cities around the world.

U.S. Launch of the 2015 World Nuclear Industry Status Report – Heinrich Boell Foundation
Time: noon-1:30pm
Location: National Resources Defense Council 1152 15th Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC (map)
The Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) are delighted to invite you to a luncheon discussion with Mycle Schneider, the lead author of the new World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2015. The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2015 provides a comprehensive overview of nuclear power plant data, including information on operation, production and construction. The report assesses the status of new build programs in current nuclear countries as well as in potential newcomer countries. This year’s edition of the report provides an analysis of nuclear plant construction starts over time, describes delays in Generation III+ reactor projects (including the EPR, AP1000, AES 2006), looks at the history and development status of advanced reactors, and gives an update of ongoing issues from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.

Mycle Schneider, convening lead author of the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report, is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), based at Princeton University, and is a laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” Mycle is the Coordinator of the Seoul International Energy Advisory Council (SIEAC) and has served as advisor on nuclear energy issues to the French Environment Minister, the Belgian Minister for Energy and Sustainable Development, the German Environment Ministry, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Wednesday 10.14.2015

George Mason University PhD Information Session
Time: 7pm
Location: Fairfax Campus, Merten Hall, Room 1201, see directions
Drawing on world-class original research and high-level practical experience, our faculty prepare students to be creative and effective participants in policy-making and political discourse.  By working closely with these faculty to conduct research that influences decisions at the local, national and international levels, our PhD graduates emerge prepared for high-powered careers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Beyond the Numbers: Inside the Syrian Refugee Crisis  –Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Time: 4-6pm
Location: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW (Use 15th St., NW Entrance) (map)
Join The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s LINK program for young professionals, in cooperation with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, as we explore the Syrian refugee crisis: What caused this humanitarian disaster? How has the world responded? What can the international community do to address it? Our distinguished panelists will present the perspectives of diplomats, journalists, non-governmental representatives, and analysts from Syria, the United States, and Europe who have struggled with this tragic situation.

Thursday 10.15.2015

ISIS, the Syrian Refugee Crisis and International Response –Virginia International University
Time: 2:30-5:30pm
Location: Virginia International University 4401 Village Drive (rt. 29 opposite Wegman’s) Faifax, VA 22030 (map)
Room: Conference Hall
The Center for Democracy and International Affairs -VIU is hosting a Forum and Discussion on the Syrian Refugee Crisis and the Global Humanitarian Response. The event will take place on October 15, Thursday, from 2:30pm till 5:30pm and will feature: political analysts discussing the causes of the conflict and the current configuration of international players, including the newest role to be played by Russia; a representative from the UN Refugee Agency; and representatives of both Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services involved in the process of resettlement. The forum will provide for an open discussion, networking, and working group formations. It is free and open to the public: http://www.viu.edu/cdia/blog.html?image=true&feedid=0   Please RSPV to CDIA@VIU.edu

Since 2011, almost 12 million people, equivalent to half of the Syrian population, have been displaced by the conflict, including 7.6 million displaced inside Syria. The forum  will discuss the causes of the conflict in Syria and the larger Middle East, the evolution of the refugee Crisis, and the response of key international and US humanitarian organizations.

State Department Career Info Session- Thursday Luncheon Group
Time: 6-7:30pm
Location: The U.S. Capitol Visitor CenterFirst St NE, Washington, DC 20515 (map)
Room: HVC-201AB
The panel will discuss job opportunities in a wide array of substantive areas, including

  • Civil Service Positions,
  • Foreign Service Positions,
  • The Rangel, Pickering and Payne Graduate Fellowship Programs,
  • The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program,
  • Internships and Student Positions, and
  • The mission and contributions of the State Department to global peace and prosperity.

RSVP at ThursdayLuncheonGroupEvents@gmail.com

Friday 10.16.2015

Ten years of the Renewable Fuel Standard: What’s been the impact on energy and the environment? – Brookings Institution
Time: 10:30-11:45am
Location: Brookings Institution1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036(map)
Ten years ago, Congress established the first federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires that gasoline and diesel sold in the U.S. contain minimum amounts of renewable fuels, such as corn ethanol and biodiesel. The mandate was meant to spur innovation in renewable fuel use, but the Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly used its authority to decrease the required amounts because of limited productive capacity.Join the Economic Studies program at Brookings on October 16 as we convene an expert panel to discuss the effect of the RFS on prices for both fuels and food, whether the RFS is having an impact on greenhouse gas emissions, and if the statutory levels for future years are realistic or if they need to be revised further. The event will be webcast. Join the conversation via Twitter at #Biofuel.

Pandora Report 10.9.15

by spopescu, posted in Pandora Report, Uncategorized

Happy Friday! Since we’ve made it through Hurricane Joaquin, let’s celebrate with some biodefense news by way of air defense, Ebola, some amazing original work from the GMU Biodefense clan, and all the fun in between. Fun fact: On October 8, 2001, President George W. Bush established the Office of Homeland Security. Let’s start your weekend off right with some zombies, shall we?

Zombies & Air Defense?
With Halloween around the corner and The Walking Dead about to premiere, it’s time for some zombies – Pentagon style! Ever heard of JLENS? This $2.7 billion radar blimp was initially designed to act as an early warning system for low-flying weapons, drones, etc. Unfortunately, this system has been plagued with problems (pun intended) as it failed to detect the low-flying aircraft piloted by Florida postal worker, Douglas Hughes. We’ll let that slide since JLENS wasn’t deemed operational that day but that hasn’t stopped many from calling it a “zombie” program, meaning it’s “costly, ineffectual, and seemingly impossible to kill”. Check out the LA Times investigation into whether this defense technology is really “performing well right now” as claimed by Raytheon.

2016 Presidential Candidates on Nonproliferation- Part I

GMU’s Greg Mercer has churned out another fascinating commentary in a new series related to what 2016 presidential candidates are saying about nonproliferation. His series will pull together candidate stances and comments to take an in-depth look into the role nonproliferation is taking in this race. Greg notes, “Lucky for us though, there’s been a major nonproliferation news event to drive the foreign policy debate: the Iran nuclear deal.  So this is a rundown of what’s been said and being said about nonproliferation and WMD policy in the 2016 election.” This week we’ll be looking at the Republican Party, so make sure to check in over the next few months to see how everyone’s stance has changed or strengthened.

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Spike in Pakistan
Pakistan is currently seeing a spike in their cases of CCHF with the most recent death of a patient in Quetta at the Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital. The death toll is now 3 in 3 days and a total of 15 patient mortalities this year. There are 9 other CCHF patients under observation and treatment at the regional hospitals. The WHO’s Diseases Early Warning System (DEWS) in Pakistan tracks these seasonal spikes in hopes to also prevent its spread. The concerning aspect is the high amount of deaths this year so far when compared to other years.

Iran’s Shifting Preference?
How lucky are we to have two amazing GMU Biodefense commentaries this week? Scott McAlister is discussing the Iranian nuclear deal and the potential consequences. He hammers out a topic we biodefense folks are all too familiar with – dual-use and the hiding-in-plain-sight reality of so many programs. Scott points out that, “the scary thing about biological and chemical weapons programs is their ability to hide in plain sight.  Due the dual use of much of today’s biotechnological advancements, an offensive weapons program can be disguised as a facility to create vaccines or research centers for diseases with minimal effort.” Take a look at his notes on nuclear weapon capabilities and Iranian perspective on biological weapons.

Tacit Knowledge & Biological Weapons Proliferation
On a scale of 1-10, having your research cited during a meeting of the State Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons, is pretty much a 12. What can we say, GMU Biodefense professor, Dr. Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley, did just that! At the meeting of experts in August, the State parties met to discuss the field of science and technology while emphasizing tacit  knowledge in relation to bioweapon proliferation. When discussing tacit knowledge, the U.S. noted at the conference, “the concept of communal or collective tacit knowledge has been explored extensively, particularly in the work of Donald Mackenzie and Graham Spinardi, who examined its role in the context of nuclear weapons creation, and Kathleen Vogel and Sonia Ben Ouagrham- Gormley, who examined it with respect to biological weapons creation.” During this meeting, the role and relevance of tacit knowledge as a risk modulator was heavily discussed, pointing to its corresponding role of increasing the risk of bioweapon proliferation.

Bioweapons for Dummies?
Speaking of tacit knowledge and the rise of the biotechnology revolution… Zian Liu from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists goes through the five steps of building a biological weapon to address the barriers to weaponization. Broaching the topic of “biohacking”, Zian points to the concern within the biodefense industry related to synthetic biology and fourth generation bioweapons. From ordering the synthetic genes to recently published research that discusses the developments of genetic modification, this commentary hits on the very real barriers that a fourth-year bioengeneering undergraduate student identifies -even with the available tools. Between the need for increased regulations on synthetic DNA and the dual-use concerns, Zian notes that “novice biologists are not likely to construct advanced weapons any time soon.”

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Stories You May Have Missed:

  • Guinea outbreak region goes a full week without a new Ebola case! We’re all holding our breaths in hope this means the outbreak is nearing an end in this hard-hit region. Sierra Leone has reached 3 weeks (a full incubation period) of no new cases and the last healthcare worker infection was back in August. The WHO and local public health workers are still maintaining door-to-door case finding efforts and contact tracing.
  • PPD Awarded Contracts with US Army & BARDA – Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) was just awarded two US government contracts to address health outcomes in armed forces and test the efficacy of the national strategic stockpile’s supply of avian influenza vaccine.
  • Findings of the 7th WHO Ebola Emergency Committee Meeting – Last week this committee met to discuss the ongoing outbreak in West Africa. They provided updates and furthering advisement regarding the disease and international travel as 34 countries “continue to enact measures that are disproportionate to the risks posed.”

The Candidates on Nonproliferation – Part 1

by spopescu, posted in Uncategorized

By Greg Mercer

I initially set out to write this as a candidate-by-candidate look at what the 2016 crop had to say about an issue near and dear to Biodefense students’ hearts: nonproliferation.  As it turns out, though, not many candidates have well-developed stances on highly specific policy issues (or any issues, depending on how serious a candidate we’re talking about) more than a year from the general election.  Lucky for us though, there’s been a major nonproliferation news event to drive the foreign policy debate: the Iran nuclear deal.  So this is a rundown of what’s been said and being said about nonproliferation and WMD policy in the 2016 election.

So over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to take a look at what the 2016 election looks like for nonproliferation.  I’m learning a lot about the way candidate’s structure their websites.  And no, I don’t want to donate.

I’ll start first with the Republicans.  There are 15 of them right now (plus a handful of fringe/joke candidates).  Some of them have extensive platforms, others don’t.  Most of them don’t have much to say about nonproliferation.  Fair.  But the Republican Party is unified, though, in its stern opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, as evidenced by the recent attempt to block the deal in Congress.  What the candidates think about nonproliferation is also likely a function of the faith they place in the UN and international institutions.  Those who trust those mechanisms will probably push treaties as the best counterproliferation tool.  Those who don’t will probably call for strong deterrence.

 

Marco Rubio: 

Marco Rubio lumps defense and foreign policy together in this video staged to look like an interview, where he says that he aims not to make America popular, but safe, and pledges to rebuild the military.  He doesn’t talk about deterrence or proliferation in that video, but he does devote two entire sections of his “Issues” page to the Iran deal, and he alludes to nuclear proliferation in his hour-long talk at the Council on Foreign Relations (helpfully, the website provided a transcript): “The president’s proposed deal with Tehran will likely lead to a cascade of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and could force Israel to take bold action to defend itself, making war with Iran even more likely.”  This interesting statement links the Iran deal with going to war with Iran (backing up Israel in an all-out war is a foregone conclusion, it seems).  Huh.

It’s safe to say Marco Rubio is anti-Iran deal, but right now he hasn’t spoken extensively about nonproliferation efforts beyond advocating for American strength in the international community.

 

Jeb Bush:

Thanks to some name association, Jeb Bush tends to get asked about the Iraq War frequently.  The war did have quite a lot to do with nonproliferation, given the controversy (at the time) of whether or not Saddam Hussein possessed or was attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction.  Jeb has praised his brother’s actions (although he’s said that “knowing what we know now,” he would not have gone into Iraq).  Jeb is still thinking about Iraq, because his defense issues section is titled “Defeating ISIS.”  Fair enough; that’s pretty direct and avoids Marco Rubio’s blog-like setup that made me comb through three different pages.  (I think the content of the page was cobbled together from a few different sources because it switches back and forth between “ISIS” and “Islamic State,” and if you’ve read me before you’ll know that’s fascinating to me.)  On this issue page, Jeb links the Iran nuclear deal with Iran’s support for Assad and Hezbollah, and more or less explicitly promises to dismantle the deal, if elected.  He doesn’t have much else to say about nonproliferation.

 

Ted Cruz:

Ted Cruz’s website offers “proven record” sections instead of “issues” pages.  While they’re mostly bullet points on things he’s said in the past, it’s not a recycled speech so that’s nice.  Among the ways Cruz plans to create a “stronger, safer America,” Cruz specifically notes his opposition to the Iran deal.  Cruz also links ending sanctions with locking in military action as the only way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and calls on all of the candidates to promise to repudiate the deal.  So far, that’s not a controversial stance among Republicans.  He’s also agreed that the Iraq War was a “mistake.”  Cruz has little else to say about nonproliferation, but he’s taken a stance on another interesting biodefense issue: He authored legislation to give military service members deployed to provide aid during the 2014 Ebola outbreak the same tax benefits that service members in combat zones receive.  So far, both the House and Senate versions of this bill have only been referred to their respective committees, but it’s an interesting point that hasn’t seen too much discussion.

Iran’s Shifting Preference?

by spopescu, posted in Reviews

By Scott McAlister

With the possible passage of the Iranian nuclear deal looming, it is important to look to possible consequences of the deal.  By taking away Iran’s ability to manufacture a nuclear weapon in the near future, how does that affect their overall desire to possess weapons of mass destruction?  In the world of WMD’s, the big three are nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.  It can be argued that nuclear weapons are far above the other two, as they are the only one to cause enormous amounts of damage to a victim’s infrastructure and population.  It is true, a biological or chemical weapons attack isn’t going to take down buildings or level cities, but does that mean they don’t deserve to be feared?  Biological weapons can introduce susceptible populations to deadly pathogens, and can cause mass hysteria when released.  Biological weapons programs are also much easier to hide.  While having a nuclear reactor isn’t a dead give away for building a nuclear bomb, if you are enriching uranium past a certain point, it might send up some red flags (normal enrichment for energy is 3-5%, weapons grade is above 75%, records show Iran had enriched uranium past 20%.)  The scary thing about biological and chemical weapons programs is their ability to hide in plain sight.  Due the dual use of much of today’s biotechnological advancements, an offensive weapons program can be disguised as a facility to create vaccines or research centers for diseases with minimal effort.

This brings us to Iran.  If the deal passes, Iran will realistically be unable to produce a nuclear weapon for at least the next 10 years, loosing a vast majority of its nuclear fuel, decommissioning a majority of its centrifuges, and subjected to thorough inspections.  The question now is, does their inability to produce a nuclear weapon influence them to switch routes and invest in an offensive biological weapons program?  While some hold that nuclear weapons are a class above biological and chemical weapons, to others it’s the notion of possessing a WMD of any form that holds clout.  Does Iran view biological weapons as an equally effective way to convey their message to the outside world? Continue reading “Iran’s Shifting Preference?” →

Week in DC Events: 10.5-10.9.2015

by spopescu, posted in Uncategorized

MONDAY 10.5
Come listen and chat with Dr. David R. Franz, former commander of USAMRIID, about balancing research and regulations when it comes to dual-use!
Date & Time: Monday, October 5, 2015, 4:30-6pm
Location: Hanover Hall, L-003 George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, see map
Dr. Franz was the Chief Inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and served as technical advisor on long-term monitoring.  He also served as a member of the first two US-UK teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilateral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts’ Committee for biological weapons negotiations.  He previously served as member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB). Dr. Franz currently serves on several committees including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control and the National Research Council Board on Life Sciences. Dr. Franz is a leader in the areas of cooperative threat reduction and health security and an expert in the development of U.S. regulations for biological threat reduction and biological security.  Dr. Franz will discuss the history and current debates related to U.S. and international regulations for select agents, dual use research of concern, and gain-of-function experiments.

Innovation and the Defense Industrial Base

Heritage Foundation

Date & Time: Monday, October 5, 2015, 11:30am-1pm
Location Heritage Foundation214 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 (map)
Defense reform sparks a great deal of debate in Congress, in the Pentagon, and across Washington. When it comes to acquisition and innovation, senior Pentagon leaders have heavily invested in outreach to Silicon Valley and emerging technology companies. The Department of Defense must do a better job of acquiring innovative technology, but how does this drive for innovation affect the defense industrial base? In the first of a series of public events on defense reform, this program will feature opening comments by Dr. Jerry McGinn followed by a panel discussion on this critical component of our national defense industrial base.

TUESDAY 10.6
Analyzing and Assessing Saudi Arabian Defense Strategy National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
Date & Time: Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 10am-noon
Location: Rayburn House Office Building45 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20515 (map) Gold Room (2168)

The featured specialist will be HRH Navy Captain (Ret.) Prince Sultan bin Khalid Al-Faisal Al Sa’ud – President, Al Joshan Security Services; Former Commander, Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) Counter-Insurgency Special Operations Task Force; Designer and Inaugural Commandant, RSNF Special Forces Training Center. Serving as context provider and moderator will be Dr. John Duke Anthony – Founding President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; and Member, U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and Subcommittee on Sanctions.

WEDNESDAY 10.7
Open or Closed Borders? Understanding Europe’s Migration Challenge
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 11am-noon
Location: Center for Strategic and International Studies1616 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036(map)

Please join us for a discussion featuring Thomas Zwiefelhofer, Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, and UNHCR Regional Representative for the USA and the Caribbean Shelly Pitterman as they assess Europe’s ongoing migration crisis and recent decisions taken by European leaders on border control and asylum policies. Although not a member of the European Union, the Principality of Liechtenstein is a member of the Schengen Agreement enabling border-free travel among 26 European countries, and a signatory to the Dublin Convention regulating Europe’s open border policies. The migration crisis is presenting enormous challenges to Schengen countries. As tens of thousands of migrants continue to arrive across Europe, individual states are taking disparate approaches. While some are increasing their refugee quotas, others are sealing their borders. Deputy Prime Minister Zwiefelhofer leads the ministries of Home Affairs, Justice and Economic Affairs. As Minister of Home Affairs he is in charge of border issues and will discuss how the greater European community can promote unity to address the crisis while minimizing internal clashes. The conversation will examine the future of the Schengen Agreement and the Dublin Convention and explore the role of international agencies such as the UNHCR and foreign countries in support of European partners during this crisis.

THURSDAY 10.8
Policy & Politics of the Iran Agreement
Georgetown University
Date & Time: Thursday, October 8, 2015, 4:30-6pm
Location: Georgetown University37 St NW and O St NW, Washington, DC (map)

Joseph Cirincione is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation. He is the author of the new book Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats. He is a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s International Security Advisory Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Switzerland’s Good Offices: Protection of Interests in Cuba, Iran and Beyond
Women’s Foreign Policy Group
Time & Date: Thursday, October 8, 2015, 6pm
Location: Thursday, Oct 8, 2015
6:00 pm

H.E. Martin Dahinden assumed his position as Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States in November 2014. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (2008 – 2014) and headed the Directorate of Corporate Management of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (2004 – 2008).
During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, Dahinden has served as Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, as a member of the Swiss Delegation to GATT, at the Embassy of Switzerland in Paris, as Deputy to the Swiss Ambassador in Nigeria, and in a temporary posting at the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York. In addition, he worked in the FDFA’s Service for Disarmament Policy and Nuclear Issues, as Head of the OSCE Service of the Directorate of Political Affairs, and held the position of Deputy Head of the OSCE Coordination Unit during the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE in 1996. The following year, he was sent abroad as Deputy Head of the Swiss Mission to NATO in Brussels. Dahinden holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked as a postgraduate assistant at the university, and was then employed by a bank and a publishing house.
WFPG Members — $40          Non-Members — $60   Space is limited. Advance registration is required. Some parking is available.
Event proceeds support WFPG mentoring activities and programs.

Migrant States, Mobile Economies: 
Rethinking the Political in Contemporary Turkey

Date & Time: Thursday, October 8, 2015, 3:30-8pm
Location: George Mason University, Merten Hall 1201

This event brings together scholars from anthropology and political science to interrogate the conceptual relationship between state formation and capital accumulation as related but distinct technologies of power in contemporary Turkey.  From gold traffic between Turkey and Iran and smuggling economies in Turkey’s Kurdistan to the historical development of energy infrastructures and im/mobilities across the Turkey-Syria border, the authors aim to chronicle the shifting and transnational operations of economic and political power. By exploring states of migrancy as well as economies of mobility in conjunction with state formation and capital accumulation, Migrant States & Mobile Economies aims to rethink the political in both political economy and political theory through the historiography and ethnography of contemporary Turkey.

 

FRIDAY 10.9
Producing More with Less Through Partnerships
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Date & Time: Friday, October 9, 2015, 9-11am
Location: Center for Strategic and International Studies1616 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036(map)

Join the CSIS Global Food Security Project and the Royal Danish Embassy for a half-day event focused on how to produce more with less through partnerships for agricultural development. Harnessing the power of agriculture to feed a growing planet requires a multi-stakeholder approach that moves beyond typical public-private partnership rhetoric and has sustainable, deep relationships along entire supply chains. Solutions must include low-cost, innovative technologies that help farmers maximize production and minimize resources.

This event will provide an interactive forum in which leaders from business, non-governmental organizations, academia, and government agencies will come together to explore how to best tackle dwindling natural resources in a world of ever-increasing demand, and how to scale up partnerships to catalyze efficient production.

Pandora Report 10.2

by spopescu, posted in Uncategorized

All this rain and grey weather (at least in DC) makes us want to curl up with a good book and luckily, we’ve got just the reading list! This week we’re sharing some top-notch work by our phenomenal faculty and alumni for you to enjoy. Earlier this week, straight out of a James Bond movie, Elon Musk presented Tesla’s Model X and its Bioweapon Defense Mode. Google had its 2015 Science Fair and a pretty amazing high school student took home top honors for her work on Ebola. Did I mention Kansas is prepping for the zombie apocalypse? Needless to say, there was a lot going on this week in the world of biodefense, so let’s venture down the rabbit hole….

 Zombie Preparedness Month Starts for Kansas 
I’m thinking we may need to take a class trip to Kansas since Governor, Sam Brownback, will be signing a proclamation to officially designate October as “Zombie Preparedness Month”! Brownback’s rationale is to emphasize preparedness in any form, stating, “If you’re prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for anything. Although an actual zombie apocalypse will never happen, the preparation for such an event is the same as for any disaster: make a disaster kit, have a plan, and practice it.” During Zombie Preparedness Month, state emergency management services will have activities and information for residents to help get their preparedness on. They’ll also be using social media to engage people people on these topics. The one thing we’ve learned in biodefense, Gov. Brownback, is to never say never!

Connecticut Teen Wins Google Science Award By Developing Affordable Ebola Test
High school junior, Olivia Hallisey, just took home the Google Science Fair top prize for developing an affordable and easy Ebola test in her project, “Ebola Assay Card”, which quickly (we’re talking 30 minutes quick!) detects the virus and doesn’t require refrigeration. Each test only costs $25 and picks up antigens on photo paper. Hallisey summarizes, “In this new device, that is stable and stored at room temperature, 30µl drops of water were used to dissolve silk-embedded reagents, initiating a timed-flow towards a center detection zone, where a positive (colored) result confirmed the presence of 500pg/ml Ebola(+)control antigens in 30min, at a cost of $25,” Hallisey hopes this project will encourage other girls to pursue their passions in science. Hallisey is truly an inspiration and we tip our hats to her passion for solving world problems while encouraging her peers!

Let’s Talk Dual-Use!
Come listen and chat with Dr. David R. Franz, former commander of USAMRIID, about balancing research and regulations when it comes to dual-use!
Date & Time: Monday, October 5, 2015, 4:30-6pm
Location: Hanover Hall, L-003 George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, see map

​Dr. Franz was the Chief Inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and served as technical advisor on long-term monitoring.  He also served as a member of the first two US-UK teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilateral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts’ Committee for biological weapons negotiations.  He previously served as member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB). Dr. Franz currently serves on several committees including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control and the National Research Council Board on Life Sciences. Dr. Franz is a leader in the areas of cooperative threat reduction and health security and an expert in the development of U.S. regulations for biological threat reduction and biological security.  Dr. Franz will discuss the history and current debates related to U.S. and international regulations for select agents, dual use research of concern, and gain-of-function experiments.

1977 H1N1 Influenza Reemergence Reveals Gain-of-Function Hazards
Dr. Martin Furmanski discusses the gain-of-function (GoF) research hazards in relation to the 1977 H1N1 strain and it’s laboratory origins. Highlighting a previous article on the GoF debate, Dr. Furmanski notes that “separating the risks of vaccine development from those of basic GoF research is inappropriate, because GoF research seeks to discover antigenic and genomic changes that facilitate human-to-human transmission and/or augment virulence, with the aim of preemptively producing vaccines.” He also notes that while the 1977 H1N1 epidemic originated in a lab and it’s release was unintentional, the culprit laboratory matters little in the GoF debate.

Define Acceptable Cyberspace Behavior
GMU Biodefense alum, Dr. Daniel M. Gerstein, discusses the US-China cybersecurity agreement and the Friday announcement between Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama. The agreement highlights the mutual desire to prevent cybertheft of business secrets. Dr. Gerstein emphasizes that while this agreement is a step in the right direction, it points to larger preparedness and response capability gaps. He notes, “So while a U.S.-China agreement is a welcome step, it also underscores the greater issues facing the United States, and indeed the international community, in this largely ungoverned space.” Dr. Gerstein highlights the necessity to define cyberspace boundaries, especially as there are delays in DHS security system deployments while US vulnerabilities continue to develop.

Implementation for the US Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern
As of September 24, 2015, all institutions and USG funded agencies are now required to comply with the policies. Agencies now must have “a mechanisms in place to evaluate research that is potentially Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC).” Institutions must also organize an Institutional Review Entity (IRE) to review and manage compliance with these requirements.

 Just Another Reason to Read Barriers to Bioweapons: The Challenges of Expertise and Organization for Weapons Developmen Unknown
Dr. Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley’s  new book, Barriers to Bioweapons, received glowing reviews in the latest issue of Perspective on Politics. Her work, which is a staple for biodefense courses, and particularly this text, focusses on the perception of risk and lethality of bioweapons while addressing the realities of these assumptions. Ouagrham-Gormley discusses the key role of tacit versus explicit knowledge in the development and dissemination barriers for bioweapons. “The author identifies important factors internal to a weapons-development program- talented individuals and cohesive groups, corporate culture, communities of practice, organization structure- as critical nodes or ‘reservoirs’ of knowledge that must be configured to optimize the sharing of ideas and information.” The case studies of Iraqi and South African programs, as well as Aum Shinrikyo, lay the foundation for her points on the role of internal and external variables that can hinder or help a bioweapons program. Whether you’re reading  it for class (GMU Biodefense folks, I’m looking at you!) or you’re looking to brush up on nonproliferation, this book is a well-written and captivating necessity to understand bioweapon development. Did I mention how awesome the cover is?
Al Qaeda : The Transformation of Terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa
Our very own GMU Biodefense PhD alum, Dr. Denise N. Baken, has a wonderful new book being released – let’s check it out! Al Qaeda : The Transformation of Terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa examines violence and the way it is marketed by the global terrorism industry.  Authors Denise Baken and Ioannis Mantzikos frame the violence discussion through the prism of its use by Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).Baken and Mantzikos look at the business parameters of violence –its cost, return on investment, efficiency, and effectiveness; They propose a new approach to that violence. One that looks at violence as a controlled commodity that evolved from Al Qaeda’s initial presentation of future possibilities, AQAP exploited those possibilities and ISIS pushed the boundaries of usability.
Stories You May Have Missed:

Week in DC Events: 9/28-10/2

by spopescu, posted in Events, Week In DC

EU-U.S. Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Cooperation Forum: NEW FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE DIPLOMACY- Opportunities for U.S.-EU Cooperation
Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Date & Time: Monday, September 28, 2015, 8:30am
Location: Johns Hopkins SAIS – Nitze Building1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 (map)

The EU-funded project BILAT USA 2.0 will organize a conference on Science Diplomacy on 28 September in the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C. This conference will gather major EU and US stakeholders as well as active researchers and innovators to answer, among others, the following key questions: How to advance “science in diplomacy”, “diplomacy for science” and “science for diplomacy” Where can the EU and the US learn from each other’s approaches with regard to Science Diplomacy? Where are potentials for cooperation? How similar / different are the motivations and approaches of different countries / regions – here in particular the EU and US – in science diplomacy? What are some of the key differences? The promotion of scientific cooperation is an essential element of foreign policy. Research and innovation cooperation between countries can help solve common problems, address grand societal challenges and build constructive international partnerships. Many countries integrate science as an important part into their international agendas utilizing the term ‘Science Diplomacy’ to describe international cooperation in research and innovation cooperation, even in times of crisis. Although experts may use a variety of definitions for science diplomacy, the term now has become an established approach that encompasses a variety of formal and informal technical, research-based, academic or engineering exchanges.

Meeting the Challenges of Global Polio Eradication 
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Date and Time: Monday, September 28, 2015, 8:30am-2:30pm
Location: Center for Strategic and International Studies1616 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 (map)

The number of wild poliovirus cases worldwide is significantly reduced compared to last year, as Pakistan improves its immunization reach and Africa goes more than a year since its last reported case. Nonetheless, substantial challenges remain to global eradication, including newly reported cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus in Ukraine and Mali. Join the CSIS Global Health Policy Center on September 28 as it welcomes keynote speakers Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Chair of the global Polio Oversight Board, and Sir Liam Donaldson, Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Independent Monitoring Board. They and other top experts will discuss current and future eradication challenges, including the ambitious vaccine switch needed to address vaccine-derived polio cases. Panelists also will explore plans to transition polio-related assets and knowledge to national health systems and other health priorities as well as measures to address political instability and insecurity hampering vaccination efforts.

George Pataki Speaks on Domestic & Foreign Policy
George Mason University
Date & Time: Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 4pm
Location: 113 Founders Hall, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201

Please join the Financial Times and the Center for Politics & Foreign Relations for a speech on domestic and foreign policy featuring Republican Presidential Candidate George Pataki.  Seating is limited.  Please RSVP to Robert Guttman, rguttman@gmu.edu.

 

The Syrian refugee crisis: Challenges for Syria’s neighbors and the international community
Brookings Institution
Date & Time: Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 10:30am-12pm
Location: Brookings Institution1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 (map)

In the last five years, more than four million Syrian refugees have crossed into neighboring countries seeking safety from the unending civil war. Providing protection and public services for the refugees has taxed the capacities of host countries, with hospitality wearing thin and many refugees despairing about their futures. In recent months, the European dimension of the Syrian refugee crisis has finally drawn global public attention to the catastrophe and the need to increase burden-sharing with neighboring host countries. Does the international community have the political will and the resources to respond, and if so, how will it address the challenge? How is the crisis affecting Syria’s neighboring countries that still bear the brunt of the refugees? Why is burden-sharing so important? On September 29, the Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE) at Brookings will host a panel discussion to explore the international response to the Syrian refugee crisis. Brookings Senior Fellow Elizabeth Ferris and Brookings TÜSİAD Senior Fellow and CUSE Turkey Project Director Kemal Kirişci will present their new study, “Not Likely to Go Home”, an examination of  the challenges that Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey face in providing protection and humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees. They will also reflect on what these conclusions mean for the wider international community. Following their presentations, Simon Henshaw of the U.S. State Department, Gregory Maniatis of the Migration Policy Institute, and Alar Olljum of Brookings and the European External Action Service will provide remarks. Elizabeth Ferris will moderate the event and offer opening remarks.

Does Putin’s Move on Syria Make Russia the New Middle East Power Broker?
Hudson Institute
Time & Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 11:45am-1:30pm
Location: Hudson Institute1015 15th Street, N.W. 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005 (map)

In coordination with Iran, Russia has been steadily building up its position inside of Syria. President Vladimir Putin has sent combat planes, ships, technicians, engineers, marines, and special forces units. Although American policymakers have suggested that the Russians are there to fight the Islamic State, Moscow has made its intentions clear—they are there to defend Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. And by building an air force base and expanding its current naval facility at Tartus, Putin’s larger purpose appears to challenge the United States as the Middle East’s power broker.
How will Russia’s incursion into Syria shape the ongoing conflict? How will it affect the three American allies on Syria’s borders, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey? Does Putin’s increasingly assertive behavior signal the erosion of American influence in the Middle East? If so, how would the next White House change course?
On September 29th, Hudson Institute will host a timely discussion of these issues with an expert panel moderated by Lee Smith and featuring Michael Doran, Hannah Thoburn, and Tony Badran.
Subcommittee Hearing: Ridding Central Africa of Joseph Kony: Continuing U.S. Support
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Time & Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015, 2-5pm

Location: Rayburn House Office Building45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20515 (map)
Room: 217

Panel I

The Honorable Robert P. Jackson
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
Bureau of African Affairs
U.S. Department of State

Panel II

Mr. Paul Ronan
Co-Founder and Project Director
The Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative

Mr. Sasha Lezhnev
Associate Director of Policy
Enough Project

The State of Transatlantic Relations: A Conversation with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
German Marshall Fund
Date & Time: Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Location: German Marshall Fund1744 R st NW Washington, DC 20009 United States (map)

With conflict persisting in Europe’s east and to Europe’s south, a migration crisis in Europe, and continuing economic uncertainty, the transatlantic community is facing the most difficult set of challenges in 25 years. These crises have exposed rifts in the post-1989 political and security architecture, while also serving to unify transatlantic partners. Given these realities, GMF is pleased to invite you to a conversation with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Latvian President Vaira Vike Freiberga on the current state of transatlantic relations and what is required to confront the regional and global challenges facing the partnership.

Cybersecurity Summit
Washington Post Live
Date & Time: Thursday, October 1, 2015, 8:30am-11:30am
Location: The Washington Post1150 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20005 (map)

Recent cyber attacks have wreaked havoc on companies and millions of people. Business leaders, lawmakers and security experts will discuss and debate the newest tools for cyber defense and policies to better protect companies, consumers and citizens.

Engaged Scholarship Brown Bag Lunch Talks: Dr. Denise Brennan, “Trafficking, Migrant Exploitation, and Moral Panics: Doing Research on Spectacularized Issues”
Georgetown University
Date & Time: Friday, October 2, 2015, 12:30-1:30pm
Location:  Georgetown University37 St NW and O St NW, Washington, DC (map)

Dr. Brennan (Anthropology) will talk about her research with a specific focus on her methods and data collection. Direct questions and requests for accommodations to Dr. Andria Wisler at akw28 or 7-2859.

Pandora Report 9.25.2015

by spopescu, posted in News, Pandora Report

You didn’t think a Papal visit would slow us down, did you? Even in the event of a zombie apocalypse, we GMU Biodefense folks would still find a way to get out the weekly report – perhaps pigeon carrier? Until that happens, don’t forget to check us out on Twitter! This week saw a lot of great focus on collaborations to fight public health threats like antimicrobial resistance and epidemics. Schools in Chicago were closed for concerns over Legionnaires’ disease, yours truly provided a piece on Ebola infection prevention, and we have a wonderful opportunity to contribute to World Medical & Health Policy regarding women’s health on a global stage.

Learned Lessons from Ebola in the US
Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health & Human Services, discusses the clinical complexity and reality that “our clinical approach to treating Ebola in a hospital setting posed different challenges.” Several key US health experts weighed in on the pivotal first patient, Thomas Duncan, to unknowingly bring Ebola to the US. The implications for healthcare and preparedness sent a tidal wave of response across US hospitals. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), also highlights three main lessons from not only the cases in Dallas, but also the Ebola epidemic as a whole. He points to the necessity of a strong surveillance and response system, need for rapid international aid, and better infection control in hospitals….which segues beautifully into our next story.

The Infection Prevention Angle of the 2014 Ebola Crisis
Reports and analyses from a range of responders to the crisis have been trickling out for several months now, but there’s a constant in all of them – infection control. Given my background and experiences in this field, I wanted to take our readers down the rabbit hole of what exactly it was like to be an Infection Preventionist during this time. A hopeful start to a series of pieces on this subject, it will give you a taste of not only the daily struggles, but the brevity of what potential Ebola patients meant for US healthcare preparedness.

Partnerships to Support Antibiotic Development
564px-Penicillin_Past,_Present_and_Future-_the_Development_and_Production_of_Penicillin,_England,_1943_D16963The ASPR’s (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is part of a larger initiative to use Other Transaction Authority (OTA – flexible advanced research and development funding instruments) to start developing business relationships between government and private industry. The relationships are mutually beneficial, allowing both parties to invest and develop products for biodefense and the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Given the slowing of new antibiotic development, this joint agreement comes at a pivotal time for antimicrobial resistance efforts.

Three Chicago-area Schools Close in Response to Legionnaires’ Disease Concerns
Three schools in the Illinois U-46 district were shut down on Wednesday and Thursday after cooling tower test results showed “higher than normal levels of Legionella bacteria”. The OSHA recommended threshold is no higher than 1,000 CFU/ml (colony-forming units per milliliter) and with the outbreak among residents of the Illinois Veteran’s Home, it’s not surprising to see many water towers being frequently tested, etc. The important thing to note is that Legionella pneumophila infections are a result of the intensity of the exposure and the immune status of the exposed person. Legionella can’t be totally eradicated from the water supply and a majority cooling towers will contain some amount of growth.

Call for Papers – Women’s Health in Global Perspective
Papers sought for a special issue and workshop of World Medical & Health Policy on “Women’s Health in Global Perspective,” to contribute to understanding and improve policy related to women’s health and wellbeing.  Forces ranging from the economic to the climactic have human repercussions whose genesis and solutions demand consideration of their global context.  A wealth of recent research and inquiry has considered the particular plight of women, who often suffer disproportionately from lack of education, compromised nutrition, poverty, violence and lack of job opportunities and personal freedom.  The Workshop on Women’s Health in Global Perspective will consider the broad ranging social determinants of health on a global scale that importantly influence health outcomes for women everywhere, which in turn has implications for economic, political and social development.
Abstract submission deadline (250 words): October 16, 2015 
Contact: Bonnie Stabile, Deputy Editor, bstabile@gmu.edu
Notification of selected abstracts: November 13, 2015
Workshop March 3rd, 2016
Completed papers due: March 11, 2016

Stories You May Have Missed:

  • Personal Microbial Cloud – researchers found that a person’s microbiome form a cloud around them, allowing scientists to identify a specific person just by sampling their microbial cloud. Food for thought: would this be our microbial cloud version of a fingerprint?
  • C. Difficile Drug Success – Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine were successful in their ability to get rid of the deadly gastrointestinal toxin via a drug that didn’t focus on the organism, Clostridium difficile, but rather the toxin itself. C. difficile is responsible for 250,000 hospitalizations and 15,000 deaths per year while costing the US more than $4 billion in healthcare expenses. Yay for successful treatments!
  • EC, EU, and WHO Work To Better Share Private Drug Data – The European Commission, European Medicines Agency, and World Health Organization are working to “step up coordination” on EU medicines regarding safety, quality, and efficacy of new drug candidates. The first step in solving a problem is recognizing you have one, right? The new focus on global public health threats is one we can all appreciate!
  • WHO Makes Changes to Southern Hemisphere Flu Vaccine – The WHO committee recommended changes for two of the three trivalent influenza vaccines for the Southern Hemisphere next year due to changes in the circulating viral strains. They suggested using H1N1, H3N2 an A/Hong Hong/4801/2014-like virus, and for influenza B, the Brisbane/60/2008-like virus. In the quadrivalent vaccine, they recommended adding the influenza B Yamagata lineage component, with the A/H1N1 strain staying.

Ebola 2014: The Infection Preventionist Perspective

by spopescu, posted in News, Pandora Report, Uncategorized

By Saskia Popescu

Unlike many infectious diseases, especially ones with a relatively small number of occurrences, the Ebola outbreak that started in 2014 received a sensational amount of attention. While many in public health keep tabs on outbreaks (thanks ProMed!), it’s not uncommon for the rest of society to remain blissfully unaware unless the bug comes knocking on their front door. I’ve been captivated with Ebola (now called Ebola Virus Disease, or EVD) since a young age after Richard Preston’s sensational book, The Hot Zone got passed to me during a family vacation. The first whispers and later emails of the surging cases in West Africa were pretty astounding in early 2014. Usually these outbreaks occur in small blips and then die off a few weeks or months later. I was working in Infection Prevention & Control at a pediatric hospital at the time and, like many, didn’t think too much about the outbreak pertaining to the US and even if it did, our infection control practices should be able to handle an organism that required Contact/Droplet isolation. I put some updates in our monthly newsletter and continued to watch as West Africa became overwhelmed with EVD.

Like many public health issues, no one really starts hitting the panic button until a disease shows up and you’re scrambling (and trust me, most of the time, you find out retrospectively) to do damage control. The IP (infection prevention) world started to get worried in late July when Emory University Hospital accepted and began treatment the first two EVD patients transported into the US from their field assignments in West Africa. Questions about isolation and practices were asked, but again, no one really worried too much since these patients were flown directly to Emory due to their special infectious disease isolation unit. Suddenly, on September 30th, 2014 a media storm announced that a patient being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas, was positive for EVD. I can personally tell you, this is when the proverbial crap hit the fan for just about every healthcare facility and IP in the US. A visiting your emergency department, being sent home, and then coming back with a highly infectious disease that few physicians know well enough to suspect, let alone diagnose or treat, is pretty much the equivalent of an IP nightmare. So what could we do?

First, I should say that every hospital with an IP team (most of them have at least one IP) experienced a massive level of panic, anxiety, and stress dedicated to avoiding this, so please, give them a pat on the back. I am fortunate that my IP team consists of not only enthusiastic, ridiculously talented and intelligent people, but they know how to respond to crisis in the flip of a switch. We quickly pulled together a committee to encompass all people that would play a role in the preparedness and response of an EVD patient. Fortunately, by this time, Emory had released an extremely helpful document that discussed their experiences and lessons learned. We met our committee (now filled with people from environmental services, facilities, nursing, medical staff, infectious disease, emergency preparedness, the emergency department, and many others) with this document and everything else the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had on EVD response. For many, the difficulty laid in where do we put this patient, what designated staff will care for them, and what will we do with the waste? You pretty much need to have a specific process for both your emergency department if there is a suspected case, but also a designated wing you can move patients out of and move this potential EVD patient into. Without going too much into detail, one of the trickier components became the PPE (personal protective equipment) and waste process of a potential patient. CDC PPE recommendations were changing almost daily (or at least that’s how it felt). Information was changing so rapidly it was a constant cycle of checking their website, talking with peers, and attempting to update instructional handouts and training tools for staff incase we happened to get a potential patient. Historically, EVD PPE recommendations came from outbreaks in Africa with little access to the equipment and capabilities we’re used to in the US. The ability to intubate a patient or insert a central line opened up a Pandora’s box of potential transmission scenarios, leading to difficulty in establishing a solid PPE process. Acquiring the PPE was another struggle. Our materials management team worked tirelessly to find the ever changing products we would need to not only have PPE kits in our emergency department and urgent cares, but also to sustain care for a patient for several days. The sustainability was a huge concern as staff were changing in and out of PPE every 45 minutes due to heat exhaustion and CO2 build-up from the N-95 masks. Once we were able to obtain the PPE, and this was a constantly changing cycle to follow CDC recommendations, training went into effect. One of the greatest struggles was training enough staff to have a proficient understanding of an extremely complex (and dangerous) process. The unique part about EVD PPE practices is that you utilize a buddy system with a checklist – something healthcare workers are not used to and something we had to remind them of (don’t try and memorize this)! We did several drills involving patients projecting a mixture of chocolate syrup and glitterbug to not only prepare healthcare staff, but also show their cross contamination when doffing the PPE.

Courtesy of USA Today
Courtesy of USA Today

The PPE struggles were one small piece of this EVD pie. Many IP’s could probably write a novel about the struggles and random problems that came up during this time. Our ridiculously long days were filled with preparedness meetings, educational trainings, hospital-wide communication, worried calls from people and staff (the comical relief of people calling to ask for an EVD vaccine but refusing to get their flu shot showcases the ridiculousness of what we experienced), educating physicians on signs and symptoms, identifying routes for patient transportation, and coordinating surveillance mechanisms like electronic mandatory travel history (from the affected countries) questions and alerts in the intake process of patients from the emergency department or urgent cares. The simple truth is that the US became so panicked and so obsessed with a disease no one really worried about a few months before, the amount of preparedness that was initiated simply couldn’t be maintained for an extended period of time. Emergency departments and hospitals are comprised of some of the most hardworking and intelligent people you’ll ever meet, but I can honestly say, something like what happened in Dallas could’ve happened in any hospital. Healthcare is an imperfect system and while we struggle to make it better and more robust, it always comes down to overworked staff and communication gaps. My experiences as an IP during the EVD 2014 outbreak, while exhausting, were truly eye opening to the ability of our healthcare infrastructure to respond to such an event. It revealed a lot of gaps in our practices and the state of our preparedness, but overall, it highlighted the growing need for better disease surveillance, preparedness, and attention to biosecurity.