Thank you for the kind introduction Susan
thank you for the invitation to speak as

Susan mentioned I'm going to be
talking about a specific program

from the Department of Defense which
I got to be involved with roll

through the initial
implementation execution.

Now why is this program which was
national called the green light

the Benchley became the transformational
medical technologies mission chip.

Why is it something one should care about
what I call the soul what here as well.

Relates to revolutionary
development innovations to

counter your biological threats.

There's more chance that Mary George
attack would definitely answer it.

No other answer is this is the only
research and development program that was

explicitly called out in the two thousand
and six point reading of the plans for

the Q.T.R. that is pretty
much the Paramount strategic

document coming out of the Department
of Defense every four years U.D.R.

is required to be produced only programs
one point five billion dollars for

only programs specifically called out the
are so there are sort of a two different

versions of the so what who cares what
the policy side of the science and

innovation side look right through
more talk more about this program.

I do want to give a little brief for
how I got to be in the office Secretary

let me just pick the important for
students arrested for

the Ph D. students for
post-ops might be thinking about this.

I'm so yes isn't that actually like
a Ph D. in chemistry more of an affair.

In which I worked on the synthesis
characterization reactivity

of a variety of a lot better.

Boy I was looking at super model
materials based on your friends.

These are cattle call work that
eventually led me to my first real

call from a company called time sensitive
corporate which were taking some of these

films and using to look at detection
of different animal ever take a look.

I was working at actually biological
agents chemical agents and explosives.

So it was more Actually I
became more interested

in questions like why did
I not reach one of this

research rather than the bellman
of these sensors these tires.

So I may share my science says
something I call technical

security stunts that involve
not only cognitive shift but

also involve geographical shit so
on the central plains

of Illinois highest point in
the county is a freeway overpass

to Palo Alto California
where I was a center for

international security cooperation in
the political science department but is

an organization that historically has had
to call directors a political scientist.

Business or site.

So you've got a scientist and
a social science writers.

So all that was finished for

I want to get back into our day and
basically work to browse in some way.

Robin was a paralyzing drugs

like you're really awesome scientists
get you're really awesome.

You're a science partner.

Lots of science and
then once you have tenure.

You can decide hey I want
to do this policy stuff so

that one wrote one tech and
was just you know I'm curious science.

I said that was not the wrong
one said my passion and

mood to these issues of arms control
not what racial battened up people did.

So what's your right.

Go.

Make policy is a different route I don't
want to say one it was harder or easier

but it's one that doesn't have a lot of
there's not a lot of ways other people

to follow someone else's The opportunity
came up it was a science technology.

So for us in part but

now I actually get a sense you policy
fellowships take on a whole wide variety

of different forms the vision I was
of I was in the what's called and

she just fifteen bill
that's the current bill.

So here I come from Stanford
out of the Pentagon.

I got everything never any
experience words are hard and

now I'm told it was six bill.

It was pretty cool but
there was a really steep learning curve.

One of the assumptions of this assumption
that I made coming out of the deal D.

was that I was cool and
scientific knowledge.

Do you know.

D. in particular that was issued.

So I hear something without
needing a Ph D. scientists.

If I had to reconstruct the military
from the people I dealt

with they were all by kind of Perl or
higher and

about half of the Pep Ph D.'s and
in some of the members of the same and or.

So this is so often that there's the slap
of technical expertise in the D.M.V.

You know you go into certain aspects
of the deal of yesteryear and

you're not going to ponder Jordy being
retired colonel Meyer be an architect.

But there is a tremendous
amount of capital expertise.

And there are other aspects of the D.O.J.

culture that one either finds
fresh trading or invigorating.

I find them often invigorating.

OK I want to talk about the Ken bio
defense program to cause more research

program and or do that is important
to you a little very brief history

after the first Gulf War it was recognized
that chemical and biological urges

first go war every service to their own
way and there was no Iraq or ability.

The Department of Defense with
respect to research development.

So ninety ninety four Public Law one
of the three different sixty's passed

in which basically Congress tells you must

make everything short so night very for
this is put in place for

us to consolidate all the you know I
heard single office officer three months

two points to note DARPA and so
can't get to their own place so

consequential Operations Command for
a moment money start very large moment and

he flew around that also no medical and
now on that front.

So you're right.

Sort of a piece of rhetoric but
I want to point out there is the medical

community and
everything else will become violent.

But that's personal protective
gear decontamination

detection all of that
is not about a couple.

This goes back to the historical aspects.

OK so you've got about
eight years that go by and

basically put it less than
that lip service is going to.

What Congress is that.

The folks who are still controlling
all of this pretty much harm

to our lives that are still
controlling all of this.

That's not joint when the army has
control over the program gets reorganized

April two thousand and three and here you
see established specific institutions and

organizations these
institutions you get miles of

decision authority that sounds kind of
weird and what that basically means they

have the power to stop money and
you get a J P O office.

This is an office that's still run
me one start to start his army

they deal with the programs that are going
from what's called six four through six

by the European own terminology.

So these are the danceable
net systems engineering side

get this joint science and technology
are six one three six three basic

why research stuff we do they fund it.

You get some obviously in joint chiefs
of staff you're getting institutions

to buy head here so my thought it would be

why strategy in organizations
Marah more than sawing it's

really seeing this program today and
the size of the sun it becomes

the downfall our organizational
institutional aspects I was so

OK so T.M.T. All right.

Transformational medical technology
initiative the green line where does this

come from the motivation comes from
a group of individuals who are in these

lawsuits and Ph D.'s who recognize that
there are advances in biotechnology

in biological science that
are presenting new challenges.

There's a sort of little.

You know but as we're being though we're
biosecurity you have a mouse pox in all or

you've got you know the Sunni
says this is a polio.

We've got vendors one of the five
hundred seventy four bacteria.

It's our group prior on other genetic
modification that the stable therapeutic

and we specifically refer often Susan
work that was done by the Russians

to character develop our undermine our
measures and rocks synthetic biology and

so there are these underlying bio security
I.D.'s political racial worries that

are sort of the motivational factor from
a science side and from the security side.

So this is what they're trying
they're thinking about and

they're looking at the current
chem bio defense program and

going calm not adequate to be able
to develop countermeasures to these.

There also was a technical and
commercial driver or

rather a challenge be a better way of
putting it that was recognized and

that is the drug development the F.D.A.
approval process.

I.E. it takes a lot of money and
time to get eighty

pharmaceutical a drug from
Discovery down to F.D.A. approval.

Now if you're talking about something
like a leper Tor that's going to make you

an old rules and
rules of money that's one thing.

If you're talking about a therapeutic or
a vaccine

that's probably only going to have
a single purchaser department defense.

You might get homeland security
that really is going to D.O.D..

It there's no major market for this.

And frankly we hope there never
will be a major market for this.

You also hear economics that
are very different than the model.

I mean the reason that this model works
is because you get out one or two.

Lipper tours that may.

Q Wardle's of money getting out
a vaccine against viral hemorrhagic

fever is probably not going to make
anyone who rules a little soft money.

So there are minimal
incentives in the marketplace.

You know the process is onerous.

Also when you're dealing with things
like viral hemorrhagic fevers.

You know you how do you
do the clinical testing.

You know.

So you've got here to get young
male models and you're still going.

But we hope it works and people.

You know we test and.

Yeah almost you can I think that humans
with smallpox were a wonderful writer.

We were intentionally to test or drop.

So we got these motivations for
this transformational medical technology

initiatives that are coming from
the new threats a recognition of

the Advancement of Science and that are
coming from this problematic process from

the D.O.D.'s perspective of getting thinks
I also want to highlight that there

is a nother problem that
goes back to policy.

How many people are the anthrax vaccine.

Everybody.

I mean you are right that there
are a number of court cases of people who

don't want to take you
right back to the case and

you notice that this is
your brain line is on

there are a few ticks there is that
the vaccine is something you get

over there units is
something you minister and.

Drop so.

All right.

But this is when they where

the whole the other round
anthrax cases right now right.

Court cases which is my guess what.

It's a whole lot of attention on growers.

So we get this straight.

Gee that emerges for the green light and I
want to have a size this is coming out in

fall two thousand and five news motivate
by side dish no way do you see does

medical research medical development is
shown in the first column you take threat.

One level one.

That another but no no the drop.

Was one by one drug that was
the traditional way of developing

counter-measures So the C.N.C.
young sought to instead of looking at

you know the same economist
Harvey rose sue me

what new knowledge by all of this

understanding of Sunni and
things like Target.

Human uses so that your system
responds rather than targeting a bot.

So we've got very different technical
approach underlying approach.

And these solutions that they
were looking at similarly looking

at capabilities sort of trying to
develop broad based approaches.

Now initially the first three years.

It's one point five billion
dollar effort all of

the program plans were
devoted towards science.

Jennifer cation of Kliman biomarkers
looking at things that might indicate

brought be some sort of
broad pathogenic agents

development of computer based
modeling computer based technologies

designing platforms to allow
very fast identification

just more examples of the specific
projects of the larger programs looking

at once very systems biology approached
got looking at nucleotide therapeutic.

Here's S I R N A trying
to enhance the host

again here's the innate immunity as well
as down regulate non-adaptive pathways

of the store ward off things like sepsis
trying to do things like studying

small proteins particularly
some of the monoclonal

antibodies that might be
proteins to be more useful.

So all science directed here.

Bottom line.

One point five billion dollars
over five years money.

So the two thousand six hundred other
fence review directed the Kemp biodefense

program to really allocate this one
point five billion dollars for.

This program and you made over time
what Georgia Tech's budget is per year.

That right with eight hundred million
students approaches the project.

This is a single of the program
by one point five billion.

The program.

I was in it's a yearly budget
was one point six billion.

Compare That's Georgia Tech's you know
there's still the question is Where does

this money come from.

It's Rielle location.

This slide shows remember these
are the guys who are responsible for

systems development.

So this is actually in the T.M.T. I hear
you see procurement sixty one percent.

So that's buying stuff.

Sixty one percent initially
by the time we get to this

eight through thirteen it's only thirty
six percent but we see the X. and T..

Growing majorly as you see the S.
and C. in the R. and D.

side are the ones that are growing.

So this is a program where
we're real Celt reallocating.

Monny what in specific offices

in particular that this is
almost yearly atheist and.

Where are they created the Green Line
T.N.T. are the folks who came up with this

these guys just for them for
adoption agency is that we

separated were the ones who were telling
us what it will not even executing it.

They did come up with
they were told do this.

The money came from these
guys are words that mostly no

one point five billion was reprogramming
from a program called Guardian.

Guardian.

It was and is a program to put in place
chemical and biological detectors

around Damascus and zero zero zero

zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero S.
basis.

So they're talking real program of
money from here and sent it over here.

So you're stealing from wants to
shift to another institution and

by the way the oversight
it's coming from up here.

You start to see some potential
organizational contradictions is

a challenge is one whole lot
of other issues in particular

I sort of highlighted this idea it
was just the office was an office and

Reduction Agency that took over
responsibility for the basic point

research that previously had the Army
the Army Research Laboratories the C.M.C.

I write our research libraries yet

are still getting between
a third of the money.

Now these are less are not necessarily so.

You lost in a big research
you want to say that

you want to get a project or
program sure you saw it you know

you start to see little hints here where
the institutional issues become critical.

This is just another funding
term from a skeptic.

OK so let's get to more
recently what's going on.

So here's an article from nature.

What's the Pentagon rethinks bioterror
policy two thousand and eight the T.M.T.

are right one hundred million
dollars in cuts from this program

and they're all these assertions another
on a call one billion dollar effort

though a bioterror defense as well that's
actually patently wrong two thousand and

nine in the way the aviation five and
one was

one of the platform technologies developed
by the N.C.I. was able to do double blind

identification and
sequencing of H five N one But

here's another political piece
that calls into the strategy

five N one influenza
pandemic is that censorship.

Some might argue for
sharing your every chambray or U.S.

Marine Corps stance for
our view is that this issue was

the right time for your U.S.

Navy captains of the six of them
to be out Higher State University.

Prof of microbiology he's pushing for
this because it is and

this is a great opportunity didn't
demonstrate the technical capacity.

So we two thousand and nine they do this
they think this is going to be awesome.

And everybody looks out and goes.

Why are you playing in public
health that C.D.C. territory.

They were might actually change yes but

this is what the rhetoric comes
out on two thousand and ten.

There's a new director at J.
Stokes he rename.

Things that we dropped the initiative it's
now just the transformational medical

technologies.

And two thousand and eleven all the T.M.T.

is folded into the medical program
the traditional medical program.

So it's not the song it's even
though this article that I love

is a heavy infusion of research.

It's a mission to break
the limitations of genetic science.

No one the science they were developing
new science they developed two new I and

her ideas in a major
investigatory drop the pathway.

It wasn't the science if you can get
those we can deal with the saw it's

it's overcoming the processes.

So in conclusion I also want to help
bring us back to the sort of place

where I thought I was
going to take US strategy.

This is a Power Point as Susan said to
all of you do you fall from why it's so

combative and that you can be
also involved in on her nerves

combating tell you and
be strategic framework.

This is the spreadsheet that has been
driving released over the years he

says nine eleven with respect to
combating weapons of mass destruction

here is where all matter call all

non-medical countermeasures fall but

by calling this out and by putting
this forward as a scientific endeavor.

They fundamentally mess and fundamentally
pulled out of the strategic goal.

You have the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of struck.

Joint Chiefs of Staff.

You're looking at you have a commander
there you would be developing cool.

Article devices including things that
are even one thing that might be figures

huge issue is not under the so

in the end as I said the argument
that I'm on the side face further.

Is that it's not a science and
reliant overreliance on science actually

undermines revolutionary
science missions as well and

largely says that you are out

there.

But I want to start with my
take home message because

you my experience I was a professor
at Tech for about ten or

eleven years I have a console
ship the criteria was you were

taking a faculty member with
ten years of experience.

And they would drop us in
the State Department to work

in a foreign policy problem with a science
technology component in reality it's like

overnight you go from being professor to
being a pretend civil servant doing all

the things that civil servants do and my
experience going to dovetail with baggage

because I work in an office with the forks
called chemical and biological and

they change their name every year but
they don't with foreign policy aspects

of chemical or biological security and so
actually I met a lot of people they say

you know Maggie she just went to
George Tech and she had just come to check

rather time I was going there but we saw
a different side to the same thing and

my biggest take home message
from that entire experience was

actually what mad just finished with this
is that you want to think as a scientist.

There's a rational process for

how policy gets made in there
kind of is a rational policy.

There is a rational mechanism but.

The end of the day it comes down to
the organizational structure and

there are many ways
the policy really gets me and

so I want to start by
just asking open ended by

telling them what your

work read your every day.

If you think hard your yes yes i

would you say yes

for an OK

I thought it was a nurse

and you were the medical device

tax and it was a bureaucratic process.

If you view your.

So these are things that I'm right about
the nature of life because they're all

expert just doing a research lab to get
back to you don't have to think very much.

Where do these things come from and

how to live her life how we've
changed our new ballpark

to many of our professions so I you seem
to think that being gay from Washington

is a smaller number personal side his or
her stand

that there's a circle of science policy
wonks who live in that revolving door.

You know civil service or working for

a hard government organization that
actually helps you make the smart society

even example I truly believe
us head which is the branch

of actually their focus is there
that it will technology how

that turns out people and
they do this with targeting

people are here is was that while there
are many over societies the big reforms.

Don't you know you know I guess low so
let's suppose

you know the source image you
know who gets to do research.

You know you're in a lab that
works on anthrax you actually have

to register the people in your lab or
the C.D.C. who wrote back or

decide they're allowed to work or
even mild We used to try to toxin.

It's a bit of a proper fish it's
a commonly used in her science experiments

and we're what's called examples like the
agent list the drug checkers the monitor

how many middle leaders we have a bit.

It was never more than a hundred
milliliters of the entire Georgia Tech

campus in the minds of the next report
the other labs the that we would have to.

But I'm getting to the episode
with this regulation things so.

These rules come out of Washington.

So I want to pose the next question how
does Washington decide that some rule

that some issue needs
because if it were is

that the site isn't a sit around
one day and say this is a problem.

Yes.

If so.

The circumstances that that somebody
is are told to put literature and

other examples.

Planned for.

There is a little bit of that that goes
on as well and the other examples.

So I get all of that into what I call
the extreme of course is the internal

forces the external is the news
the day something happens.

We've got to do something about it.

And professional organizations
advocacy groups often lobby for

example the professional organization the
biosafety officers they lobby very high.

And we have one bio safety officer here
for attack but some campuses have many.

So those are external forces
there are plans and that we

also have throughout the U.S. government
where all these policy committees.

These are typically subcommittees
a subcommittee is a subcommittee it's of

White House editors there's a whole
bunch of the Nash Security Council.

There's a whole bunch of the Office
of Science Technology Policy O.S.T.P.

there's another bunch of
the Council of Economic Advisors.

But so once a policy it takes
place in Washington through these

committees which are subcommittees or
sub sub committees or so

the committees of White House office and
then they're typically chaired

by overworked staffers are typically
between thirty five and forty five

years old and they're herding cats those
committees are actually populated.

By delegates from all of various federal
agencies that I would be sure that if it.

So what I accidently got
immersed in Germany or

Washington D.C. is there all these
Policy Committee is involved

a different flavors of bio security
policy and some are under US T.P.S.

or Nash Security Council of my office
trying to drag me to these meetings.

And sometimes there is a plan that they
actually march down the list say here is

a bunch of things you want to happen for
the year.

So those are the various internal and

external ways that policy is the side
that you should be either by.

But now those kidneys
actually act on the problem.

So the politics can exist.

We think this issue is important and

when he has a real example of the D.N.A.
said this industry.

There is a fear largely by the use
article The Guardian bit of years ago.

That you can just go on the web.

And type in about a few thousand
characters a being is in season C.

is a G.'s in order part of the anthrax
genome we get it said she in the mail

in the Guardian actually did
that as a publicity stunt.

And so the industry that
actually sold us the again.

If you or the like.

We don't want to copy a sense that
someone in the government became or

it was or like my gosh.

Does that mean you can just sit in the
comfort of your own home types of letters

into a web browser and
get anthrax delivered to your mailbox.

And there might just the N.A.C.
crack that some people know that.

So so that was the real issue so
how do you deal with that issue.

What would be your process.

Or who does the research is a policy

wonks OK So

why are these government committees
actually do their initial fact

finding that the first thing but but
how did that backfire by Spirit.

Is that most of these policy.

Professionals.

There are typically people
who have experience like.

MAGGIE.

And they they have Ph D. is the number
one way to get these jobs to triple

as fellowship that never left Washington
in the AAA S. fellowship program by

the way is like the co-op program be
a science policy wonk Washington.

Almost I'm willing to bet ninety percent
of all the civil servants I've met for

boys who worked in Health and Human
Services Homeland Security the E.P.A.

the State Department who
work at a science policy.

It had Ph D.'s and were under the age
of fifty got their start the trip

last fellowship for these people
are also incredibly overworked.

So there was less of these
an issue than a lot of time.

So if your time was very near and

on the tally up you might get
three hours to work with us as we.

It was reported actually what you
learn by going to figure the use

Google that they call their
buddies from graduate school.

So that's my second thing is that these
science policy people they come to D.C.

with good intentions they're good
scientists many of the post-ops of

proposals for years for the one there but
they have their own social circles and

the longer they stay in
policy the further you get or

from the lab the bore of
an echo chamber becomes

really asking you very suspicious
the same small number of people.

Heba getting asked to do the same thing.

And this isn't any kind
of conspiracy theory.

It's actual cause for the social
networking one people go through the.

Two not every scientist ranch
near it knows how to talk policy.

With being a funny face
I did I saw this so

both Maggie you know I respect
your roles but we work for

the government went to the Sorgen ization
called the National Science Advisory Board

for Biosecurity this is and
I could be any of a step.

Scientist advisors are bio
security related issues and

I can tell you about half the people that
it's of this committee were identified

issues they want to deal with.

After I have a student
here who would like to me.

Talk very detail precise technical
language that was novel that to me.

So partially they keep their list small
because they know you're going to speak in

their language you can translate from
the science to the end properly matters.

So where was I So
I think that's one process.

It's like this committee I was
on they did their fact finding

in this case we are then applied
who are the major companies that do

it is that this is we contacted the three
or four major companies in the West.

If they happily came and

they talked to us and they explained how
their entire history worked and for those

of you that work in biological labs you
know there's this you know he said the sis

in us all the nucleotides at this with
you can see very different Forestry and

Fire nurse you know to do all your
various Walker biology electrics.

And they're explaining to us what
a commodity industry there because

that when you order.

You know the nucleotide
sequence from id T..

The most expensive thing for
them is the actual shipping cost.

That's so cheap per item it has become
there when you press a button or

keyboard that were being processed
like fifteen seconds later

they're shipping costs are such a big
expense that invaders to their production.

They have their own advances do deliveries
is cheaper than paying factory.

Yes but their point was that the costs
are going down the orders are going up and

they want some guidelines or they know
what to do and what we found out was.

So that he was their perspective in
the end really a small number of people on

the committee a AAA S. fellow who is under
thirty years old Health Human Services.

I know the trouble is fellows
are all of just you just the.

To post office scripts of work in
my office myself two other people.

We did a drug survey guidelines just based
on our own knowledge of the biology doki

a biological expert you have
to know how to do research.

You know how to talk to scientists and

then we have to bounce
them off the industry.

We also decided you should
not be government regulations

because this is an international business
if we make it a government regulation.

You just order your stuff in Germany or
China or India does that.

And also in parallel.

The industry was heavily focused
about Germany in the U.S.

the time there was a trade
organization based out of Germany

those advocating the same
thing to the German companies.

And so this was an example where there
was a decision not to do regulations but

the federal government
simply put out guidance

which are just recommended best
practices for screening D.N.A.'s and

this is orders they do all these
companies are already doing it.

They've got them all the same page and
it's guidelines include things like

what genomes will screen against
what chemistry script as a screen.

How much of a sequence homologies.

And there was a News and

Views thing in science about six
months ago about this actually come

into effect with the companies can now
actually put in their website you know

a sou approval that you know we we conform
with the screening technologies and

there's a hope of actually that you know
and I might actually write the rules and

regulations that you know you
must buy one of these companies.

So this was a really informal process but

it actually worked out really well and
I learned a lot from it.

But there are other more formal process
was the most educational thing I did my

entire time in Washington when I was
one of the last and not one of the last

the use of the Bush administration
he signed an executive order called

the executive order and strengthening
the bio security of the United States.

And he taps the White House level task
force with a due date of July fifteenth

two thousand dollars to
look at all the bio secure.

C.G. regulations within and
outside the federal government and

recommend changes to essentially
do we always want to do.

Reduce red tape make
things more efficient and

get rid of waste of things that we part.

And this process work.

Amazingly well we have a way hell
civil steering group with about twenty

representatives that met every week
had a big list of topics went down.

We had five subcommittees I was
in the subcommittee in person.

There were liability you know you
screw people all over the Michael of

the microbiologists of
the subcommittee about what

should slip digit list be should be
changed back their recommendations

are now coming down the pike.

In process of place changes
like a list of all that works.

In the part I found the most
illuminating about this process

was all the government people come
in with preconceived notions.

To give an example of Maggie
alluded to this this committee or

two chairs one for
how the human services one from D.O.D..

Deity decided they couldn't
get their act together and so

the deity chair had two chairs one
worker the medical side of deity and

the other represented
the security side of D.O.D..

The security people are completely
biased by nuclear technology they think

everything can be locked up and controls
and tagged attractive then understand

that was biotechnology everything
is out there and you just can't.

You cannot control biotechnology
the way you control nuclear technology.

And what was amazing was all people
came out of their biases all the time

this process was done six months later
I actually saw mines getting changed

a lot of things were discovered
in the thing that changed

people's minds the most were
the public hearings we held.

We helped to open daylong
forums where we brought in

experts of panel discussions we sent this
out to all the professional associations

the American bio safety officials
the American Society of microbiology

off Bassat which is a noble cause
oversees all of this the our research.

Hundreds of people she.

You know if you send a lot
of other missiles in

you know I just kind of sudden my hands
accompli in the role of a pretend fed but

what I found amazing was after
each of those public hearings.

We sat room for three hours and

we digested everything that we heard and
that input.

I can tell you really matter
what came out of the report

that there were security
people that filing understood

why a biotechnology research is
different than nuclear research.

There are medical people that understood
that there are actually two reasons why we

screen people who work and select agents
we're not just putting roadblocks in

people's ways probably the most a limiting
thing we discovered there was an F.B.I.

agent that I became very good friends
with he might be the other special

agent in the F.B.I. with a Ph D.
in molecular biology.

Actually Has it was his colleague I became
friends of both of them and she discovered

that the rules for screening for
select agents were copied word for

word out of the Brady Bill and
she posed a very good question.

Other rules for

accessing guns the same rules you might
request access microbes and pathogens.

Probably not but
whatever congress person wrote it.

They lifted the rules exactly what the
screening is right out of the Brady Bill

says maybe want to put more thought into
exactly what we're trying this free form

why that was a recognition that you
too has a screening guidelines.

But overall.

So I just gave two examples one of an
informal process whereby which people can

be one of a formal process and actually
that committees are still has things for

me during my executive order
responding to political needs.

I do want to show.

If I can get the projector up for
one minute.

Don't worry about it.

I do want to show that
sometimes government doesn't.

Good decisions.

And I was one I just wanted
to end with this because

my my very first week at
the State Department.

I was handed a piece
of paper that was said

if you ever get a phone call asking for
the U.S.

government's position on this don't use
your brain just read this piece of paper.

And what it was was a it's
is this is in the law in

the US Code eighteen U.S.C.
one seventy five C. very ill of virus.

We actually have U.S. law.

What the smallpox virus is and
it actually says in U.S.

law there's actually serious
international issues here.

In section deed definition of this law.

The term very ill of virus means a virus
that can cause human smallpox or

any derivative of the variable a major
virus that contains more than eighty five

percent of the gene sequence
of the Ariel a major virus or

the burial Byner virus the legal
definition of the smallpox virus

is eighty five percent
sequence of knowledge.

There's a huge problem with this
it's scientifically not true.

That there are researchers
working related viruses

that have more than eighty five
percent seek with some ology.

And there are not harmful.

And there are mutants of the very ill
of virus that are theorized to exist or

are known to exist that have less
than if I superset sequence Moggi.

And people have tried to
get this law changed and

it's always shut down by
lawmakers correctional staff or

is that this would be perceived as we
continue our stance on biosecurity law.

So I was going to close with
that that that's an example

of when the process doesn't work and.

Having said that I suppose
many questions but

what I want to really take home
is it's a standard because I'm

vice president of my professional
societies we spend so much time

telling our members professional societies
conduct our congressman from all.

Money but
these other issues that affect our life.

However GA which hurdled a place for
better will the voices working with

selected agents biosafety roles things
that affect your Iacocca in RB protocols.

We seem to devote a lot less time to those
things even though every survey shows

that as a P.R. I what I've been afraid of
burden now supposedly forty two percent

and I really think our professional
side is with more time learning

how these decisions get made in Washington
and getting plugged into those circles and

it's a giant social network of science
policy wonks in Washington D.C.

You just have to become a part
of the next record looks.

If

you do this or what

is or is that

there were a lot of

you that you look at right.

We really knew that this last couple
weeks yet as I said he's a very yes

if you want to take that one.

I'll tell you what I'll read out
dress it but I want to sort of

I dissent table a few things you said
you start using this word right.

Bret three different components.

There is more ability
motivation people that you know

the motivation to do are that's
work at Sandia National average.

You have access to the SO material.

You're assuming not and

you know you know how to design
your weapons yourself motivation.

I mean former Soviet scientists to

rage against you know capitalists

whatever you know it's whatever
you want you know are is a job.

You've got motivation has gone so

are we in we have some
vulnerability there.

So what you're asking for
is what goes to keep Philip and

this comes near to a lot of times
the individuals perspective.

Now I have I'd say not only

what I would say risk embrace it for
now and restore power I risk embrace it.

I think that the alternate
benefit of this be a bail

out way by phone in me the right.

The risks that would
be reduced by limiting

the number of widgets so
technically you've got a gene sequence.

There are only a handful of companies in
the world that you can deliver a double

standard here you see what's more base
pairs you want to actually say rephrase

your needs a vision knowledge
you can place the orders and

the sum of them all together and there's
a lot of know out there that you know

people might play one hundred base pairs
press one but to actually do a whole and

you know going from first of all
placing these orders is not trivial and

they're actually taking those in
assembling a real genome in a cell that's

incredibly for you if you were to do that
you then have to get lots of cells and

then even this build up threat.

You would actually have to find a way
to deliver that to make it a threat.

So there is.

Many obstacles of course the bottom line
is the information is already there that

it's pretty hard to throw the information
at it but you do as a good point.

If you don't control
somewhere all this pipeline.

Most definitely.

But that issue of what
happens with information.

There is another issue some more of
this influenza paper the the milk

supply one a few years ago
where someone had published

a mathematical model of what
it would take to poison

the milk supply of a given country
a geographical area and help them with it.

Homeland Security was up for

Tommy Thompson if he got it were always
the secretary of homeland security

and they tried to block
publication of this manuscript.

So this woman I asked why he manuscript.

I mean I mean Larry why I'm stand for who
when he started writing this manuscript

was making I had to be at Stanford the
same time he was talking about things like

bottle and toxin growing anybody
who knows anything about

microbiology knows the pox doesn't grow
the bacteria that produces the toxin.

So he's doing very good cutting edge I
asked why he were making these nets for

models in these black boxes but
he's not going to going with

regard to biology was completely absent so
he came he gave a few initial talks before

it published a paper see secularists
stamper that's where you were misled.

Larry.
You got some problems used for

you tried to publish a number of
people criticized the paper on

other grounds but it was one of the first
papers that went to the N.S.A. be should

this be published or not directly because
Tommy Thompson said Goodness gracious.

This is going to be a road map for
terrorists to contaminate about supply.

Never mind pasteurization.

The critical piece.

Yes.

She says.

I actually have a theory
on that because I was so

I happened to be there as a physician for
Bush to Obama.

We weren't about checks and

balances in our classes were
a student there is a fourth check and

balance of the U.S. government and
that's the career civil servant.

So what I found the change
of administrations.

There's a few interesting things first of
all the miss a new president comes in and

there's this huge power vacuum at the top.

She took the state department
of secretary of state five

under secretaries probably
thirty assistant secretaries.

In all but

maybe five assistant secretaries are all
political appointees so you have these

like five civil servants temporaries
holding on the fort running things.

What you find is so many of
the issues that we're talking about.

Are below that there are important
issues no matter what political

bias is in power in the really skillful
civil servants like I learned more from my

office director who's now in a bastard of
the O.P.C. W. than anyone else is he said.

You learn what's important in you learn
which issues to push depending on

who is in power and
you just sit on the other issues.

That the political appointee is they spend
all their time focusing on either money or

really big picture things but there's so
many of the things that government does

specialise regulatory space that
are just kind of off the radar but

I was really struck at how these
civil servants are like they

are the institutional memory
of the check and balance and

I'm sure there's an episode of
an ever watch Dr Who or Torchwood.

There was an episode of
Torchwood about six.

Once ago of this British civil servant who
said we are the cockroaches of government

no matter what happens.

We're still going to be around and we're
the only ones that remember what happened.

And it's actually a very perfect
model from a deity perspective.

I was there during
the Bush administration.

There was the the changes from Rumsfeld
Gates and you know from the perspective

of the programs that I was involved in
these are accusations technology and

logistics almost well eighty percent.

No change with the administration for
the reasons that Rob.

Articulated as well as reasons
that have to do with these

are programs that
are devoted to the mission

have to be seen to enable
countermeasures for the war fighter.

That's motherhood and
apple pie whether you're Republican or

Democrat so that was the other thing
I saw was that the civil servants

who were policy professionals some of
them had very strong political biases

Democrat Republican but
when it came to their policy issue their

politics really didn't matter that
they put somebody years studying it.

It was like this they put it aside and
they were just like you are the expert on

the small tiny narrow technical area but

that

all changed.

That one.

I don't know the details
I do know that that.

That was different.

Undersecretary to get my department
a difference like Richard I was going

to help her.

That was our business issues that
again you know you're going to see

these are these are these are these
are not you know harvested.

So it has to do with why you just got to
my boy the pulp the policy matters there's

lots of money involved a political
point you get involved.

I remember one thing that
somebody told me I don't know

who was the divine is not democratic.

And The Divine is executive branch
Harker the executive branch

thinks it's their money that Congress will
give the Congress things that are money

that the executive branch will
do what they want with it.

And that their political structure.