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1 The History of Cooperative Threat Reduction (1991-2018)
Pages 17-34

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From page 17...
... Committee on Enhancing Global Health Security through International Biosecurity and Health Engagement Programs was tasked with examining the Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP)
From page 18...
... The committee has explored the history of the CTR Program, often called the Nunn-Lugar Program after the two sponsors of the 1991 legislation that established it, and the evolution of the biological threat reduction component and biological threats of concern. The goal of this exploration was the development of a 5-year strategic vision for BTRP's work within the larger health security space to promote biosafety, biosecurity, disease surveillance, health security, and biorisk management with partner countries, and to make recommendations to ensure this vision can be achieved.
From page 19...
... 4. What gaps are most important for the international community to address to advance global health security over the next 5 years?
From page 20...
... programs and related international activities. This report has adopted the following terms to refer to various programs: The Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program is referred to as DOD CTR, and the broader U.S.
From page 21...
... Pre-History of International Cooperative Threat Reduction Engagement History DOD engaged in bioweapons research from 1943 until 1969 (Carus, 2017) , and formally rescinded the program by signing and ratifying the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972 and 1975, respectively (UN, 2020c)
From page 22...
... The infrastructure and sustained focus on communicable diseases has allowed a large cadre of experts to rapidly address emerging infectious diseases as they have become more common and better recognized as threats to human health. In a 2011 assessment of the scientific contributions of these overseas laboratories, Peake and colleagues noted that these laboratories "bring broad global health benefits beyond their immediate mission of force health protection." Scientists at these labs focus on developing products such as prophylactic and therapeutic drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and scientific knowledge.
From page 23...
... was issued and, noting the limited worldwide disease surveillance and preparedness for emerging infectious diseases, called on DOD to improve worldwide emerging infectious disease surveillance and preparedness (NSTC, 1997)
From page 24...
... was established in Moscow in 1994 under an agreement with the Russian Federation. ISTC became the interlocutor for the CTR Program and similar programs of several other countries, and was able to provide money for assistance and collaborative civilian technical research and training to these former biological weapons experts, while avoiding taxation by the Russian or other recipient governments.
From page 25...
... Bush administration released the National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in 2002, expanding the strategic focus of the CTR Program to also address the threat posed by non-state terrorists, particularly those seeking to acquire WMD capabilities (U.S.
From page 26...
... in 2006. Reflective of CTR's expanded geographic scope, initial focus was to ensure the physical security of pathogens, upgrade laboratory biosafety procedures, and improve approaches for combating infectious diseases in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East (NRC, 2007)
From page 27...
... The May 2006 Implementation Plan for the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza tasked the Department of State with leading the federal government's international engagement, bilateral and multilateral, to promote development of global capacity to address an influenza pandemic. The first priority for DOD support in the event of a pandemic was "to provide sufficient personnel, equipment, facilities, materials, and pharmaceuticals to care for DOD forces, civilian personnel, dependents, and beneficiaries to protect and preserve the operational effectiveness of our forces throughout the globe." DOD, in conjunction with the Departments of State and HHS, would "utilize its existing research centers to strengthen recipient-nation capability for surveillance, early detection, and rapid response to animal and human avian influenza" (HSC, 2006, p.
From page 28...
... The report, Global Security Engagement: A New Model for Cooperative Threat Reduction, was released in 2009, and the programmatic modifications described in the report necessary to address the changing international security environment in the future were described as "CTR 2.0." Box 1-2 summarizes the key recommendations of the report. BOX 1-2 Global Security Engagement: A New Model for Cooperative Threat Reduction Key Recommendations • Expand Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR)
From page 29...
... Program leadership added influenza to the list of threat agents authorized for collaboration, because of the security consequences of a major pandemic and the global concern about the potential consequences of such an event, and greatly increased its efforts in global disease surveillance. The National Security Strategy of 2010 also emphasized the need to continue working with international and domestic partners on ways to reduce the risks associated with unintentional as well as deliberate outbreaks of infectious disease and to strengthen resilience across the spectrum of high-consequence biological threats (White House, 2010)
From page 30...
... In 2013, the memorandum of understanding known as the umbrella agreement that established the legal framework for U.S.–Russian collaboration under the CTR Program expired. Russian leadership chose to terminate its support for ISTC in Moscow, originally established to administer grants and manage the transfer of funds from the United States, the European Union, Japan, Norway, and South Korea to support threat reduction projects and facility renovation efforts aimed at redirecting scientists to peaceful activities.
From page 31...
... metrics, but only where appropriate. • The United States and the Russian Federation have years of experience working together on arms control and CTR programs, and these efforts have created longstanding positive relationships that could be used to renew technical cooperation and improve transparency and trust between the United States and the Russian Federation.
From page 32...
... THE CURRENT REALITY: BTRP POISED FOR CTR 3.0 It was with that backdrop that the Committee on Enhancing Global Health Security through International Biosecurity and Health Engagement Programs undertook the deliberations associated with this study, and developed the findings and recommendations described in the following chapters. The committee began its work with a review of the current state of BTRP and CTR (See Box 1-3)
From page 33...
... The DOD CTR Program consists of the following efforts: Strategic Offensive Arms Elimination, Chemical Weapons Destruction, Global Nuclear Security, the Biological Threat Reduction Program (formerly the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, an administrative name change to
From page 34...
... The Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) BTRP (formerly Cooperative Biological Engagement Program)


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