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This article addresses the need to keep biodefense in perspective. The opportunities available to a terrorist who wished to cause social and economic disruption by making people ill would, in fact, be rather wide-ranging. Despite the billions of dollars that the U.S. is spending on biodefense, well-informed critics feel that little real progress has been made. Vaccines and antidotes remain in short supply, local officials have not developed plans to distribute medical supplies in a timely manner to citizens, and hospitals do not have the capacity to handle a sudden surge in patients. While it is improbable that terrorists today could manipulate an agent for malign purposes it can not be ruled out in the decades ahead, in light of the accelerating development of biotechnology worldwide.

Focuses on the U.S. rejection of the protocol to the biological weapons treaty at the Biological Weapons Convention in 2001. Reason behind the rejection; Information on the treaty; Major elements of the protocol.