A congressional panel gave the U.S. government an ‘F’ for its ability to prepare for and respond to a biological attack. The report pointed to the government’s delayed response to last year’s H1N1 influenza outbreak and early vaccine shortage, and expressed concern for the country’s ability to protect from the threat of biological weapons. President Obama is expected to announce a new bioterrorism-response plan in his State of the Union address tomorrow evening.
Guests:
Jim Talent, Vice-Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation. He is a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and a former Senator representing Missouri
Peter Katona, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Member of the LA County Task Force on Health Services Preparedness for Bioterrorism. He co-founded Biological Threat Mitigation, a bioterror consulting firm.
Brian Michael Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President of the Rand Corporation and one of the nation’s leading experts on terrorism and homeland security. He is the author of "Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?"