Meeting

In-Person DC Roundtable: National Security and the U.S. Pharma and Biotech Industries

Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Thomas Peter/REUTERS
Speakers
Monique K. Mansoura

Executive Director, Global Health Security and Biotechnology, The MITRE Corporation

Victor Suarez

Colonel (Ret), U.S. Army, Senior Fellow (Visiting), The Council on Strategic Risks; Founder, BluZoneBio

Presider
David P. Fidler

Senior Fellow for Global Health and Cybersecurity, Council on Foreign Relations

from Roundtable Series on U.S. Foreign Policy and Global Health

The COVID-19 pandemic and chronic U.S. drug shortages highlight the health security and strategic importance of U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology capabilities during and between pathogenic crises. Geopolitical competition and interest in industrial policy for biotechnology further underscore the national security role of domestic biopharmaceutical infrastructure. Policymakers confront competing health, economic, and strategic priorities in maximizing innovation in technology, business models, and health-care systems in facilitating safe, accessible, secure, and sustainable products, services, and supply chains.  

Please join our speakers, Monique K. Mansoura, executive director for global health security and biotechnology at The MITRE Corporation, and Victor Suarez, Colonel (ret.), U.S. Army, senior fellow (visiting) at The Council on Strategic Risks and founder of BluZoneBio, to explore challenges facing the U.S. pharma and biotech industries and approaches to strengthening the national security resilience of those industries in a world marked by health and geopolitical threats.

Top Stories on CFR

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

With the Islamic State now linked to the Bondi Beach terror attack, authorities need to redouble efforts to counter the group’s enduring appeal, especially during the yearend holiday period.

Immigration and Migration

The White House said that it had expanded the travel ban to include Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria. Fifteen other countries were added to the list of countries that face partial travel restrictions.

Nuclear Energy

The U.S. president can order a nuclear launch without consulting anyone, including Congress, and U.S. nuclear weapons have been prepared to launch within minutes since the Cold War. While reforms to U.S. retaliation policy seem unlikely, restraining a president’s ability to launch a first strike could be possible.