Boosting NATO Resilience to Biological Threats

The Center aims to strengthen global health security by preparing NATO for biological attacks. The Boosting NATO Resilience to Biological Threats Project will first examine current NATO preparedness for biological threats. Next, the team will prepare and conduct a series of tabletop scenario exercises for NATO leadership, aiming to simulate outbreak response management and promote reflection on current levels of NATO preparedness for biological threats. Finally, the team will continue to engage with NATO as they strengthen preparedness against biological threats.

The tabletop scenario exercises act as centerpieces to the project and draw on a variety of internationally-recognized threats and concerns regarding global health security. These include bioterrorism, protection of civilians and military forces, medical countermeasure stockpiling, risk communication, border closures, and emerging infectious diseases, among other topics.

Ultimately, the project team would work towards the integration of resilience requirements for biological threats into NATO’s baseline requirements for civil preparedness. These resilience requirements would range from traditionally public health-oriented goals such as having systems of surveillance, detection and rapid response to infectious disease threats, to more defense-related goals such as having attribution capabilities in the event of a biological attack.

Project team lead: Gigi Gronvall, PhD

Project team: Carolina I. Andrada; Thomas V. Inglesby, MD; Amesh Adalja, MD; Elena Martin, MPH; Lucia Mullen, MPH; Marc Trotochaud, MPH

Partners: Daniel Hamilton, PhD; Jason Moyer, MA - Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Study (SAIS)

Project supported by: Open Philanthropy Foundation