In 2003 the President's budget for bioterrorism defense totalled more than $5 billion. Today
the nation's top academic scientists are scrambling to begin work to understand Bacillus
anthracis and develop new vaccines and drugs. However just five years ago only the US
Department of Defense (DOD) seemed concerned about these exotic agents. In 1997 the DOD spent
approximately $137 million on biodefense to protect the deployed force while academe industry
local governments and most of our federal leadership was oblivious to and in some cases
doubtful of the seriousness of the threat. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) received
the largest budget increase in the organization's history. Fortunately during this time of
national urgency a sound base exists on which to build our defenses against this new threat. A
relatively small cadre of dedicated scientists within the US Army Medical Research and Materiel
Command (USAMRMC) laid this foundation over the past 20 years.
