National Biodefense Strategy Goals

The 2022 National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan for Countering Biological Threats, Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness, and Achieving Global Health Security (National Biodefense Strategy) and National Security Memorandum 15 represent a single coordinated effort to orchestrate the full range of activities that are carried out across the U.S. government to protect the American people from biological threats. It explains how the U.S. government will manage its activities more effectively to assess, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from bioincidents. The strategy details the federal government’s plans for coordinating its biodefense efforts with those of international partners, industry, academia, non-governmental entities, and the private sector.

Goal 1: Enable risk awareness and detection to inform decision-making across the biodefense enterprise

The United States will build risk awareness at the strategic level, through analyses and coordinated research efforts to characterize naturally occurring, accidental, and deliberate biological risks; and at the operational level through One Health surveillance and detection activities to detect and identify biological threats and anticipate biological incidents.

Goal 2: Ensure biodefense enterprise capabilities to prevent bioincidents

The United States will work to prevent the outbreak and spread of naturally occurring infectious diseases, and minimize the risk of laboratory accidents both domestically and globally. The United States will also strengthen biosecurity to prevent both state and non-state actors from obtaining or using biological material, equipment, and expertise for nefarious purposes, consistent with the U.S. Government’s approach to countering weapons of mass destruction.

Implementing Goal 2 will ensure we have the capabilities necessary to disrupt plots, degrade technical capabilities, and deter support for state and non-state actors seeking to use biological weapons. This goal also recognizes the dual use nature of the life sciences and biotechnology, in which the same science and technology base that improves health, promotes innovation, and protects the environment can also be misused for harmful purposes. Domestically and internationally, the United States seeks to prevent the misuse of science and technology while promoting and enhancing its legitimate use and innovation.

Goal 3: Ensure biodefense enterprise preparedness to reduce the impacts of bioincidents

The United States will take measures to reduce the impacts of bioincidents, including maintaining a vibrant national science and technology base to support biodefense; promoting a strong domestic and international public, veterinary, and plant health infrastructure; developing, updating, and exercising response and recovery capabilities; establishing risk communications; developing and effectively distributing and dispensing medical countermeasures; and collaborating across the country and internationally to support biodefense.

Goal 4: Rapidly respond to limit the impacts of bioincidents

The United States will respond rapidly to limit the impacts of bioincidents through information sharing and networking; evidence-driven, coordinated response operations and investigations; effective public messaging; and research.

Goal 5: Facilitate recovery to restore the community, the economy, and the environment after a bioincident

The United States will take actions to restore critical infrastructure services and capability; coordinate recovery activities; provide recovery support and long-term mitigation; and minimize cascading effects elsewhere in the world.

National Biodefense Strategy