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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
National Research Council
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Board on Life Sciences and Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
Committee on the Evaluation of a Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the Department of Homeland Security's Planned National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas

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Congressional Briefings
Thursday, November 4, 2010
109 Hart Senate Office Bldg. and 130 Cannon House Office Bldg. – 10:30 a.m.
342 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. – 11:30 a.m.
192 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. and 1301 Longworth House Office Bldg. – 1:30 p.m.
and
172 Ford House Office Bldg. – 4:30 p.m.

on

Evaluation of a Site-Specific Risk Assessment for
the Department of Homeland Security's Planned
National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas

In P.L. 111-83, Congress asked The National Academies to review the validity and adequacy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) site-specific biosafety and biosecurity risk assessment (SSRA) of the proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas. The laboratory would study dangerous foreign animal diseases -- including the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which affects cattle, pigs, deer, and other cloven-hoofed animals -- and diseases deadly to humans that can be transmitted between animals and people. Until complete, Congress has withheld funds to build the NBAF.

This new report makes that independent evaluation of the DHS analyses to ensure that risk has been adequately identified and mitigated in planning for NBAF.

These series of briefings were for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on November 15, 2010 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.