A new plan brings biological warfare scenarios into routine combat exercises for the first time.
By Catholics for Catholics
The fact of the matter is this: U.S. Army soldiers cannot always be protected against every conceivable biotechnological attack, says an expert.
So what’s the option? Well, prepare and deal with the attack, says Dr. Alison Tamasi, a senior official at the Army’s Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Agency.
According to a story by Fox News, the U.S. Army revealed its plan to ready soldiers to fight through biological attacks rather than think that every threat can be stopped.
“Can we protect every soldier from every possible bio threat? Probably not,” Tamasi told reporters on Monday.
“We can’t put them in a bubble,” she added.
The new plan brings biological warfare settings into routine combat training as artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology raise new concerns about the weapons America’s adversaries could develop in the near future.
The change is happening as U.S. officials continue to examine whether Moscow maintains an offensive biological weapons program after a mysterious death in Russia was linked to an anti-plague facility — renewing questions of biological safety and transparency.
When asked how much Russia’s biological weapons activities informed the Army’s planning, Tamasi said the strategy was based on “intelligence writ large” rather than any single adversary.
“It’s not solely focused on a particular threat actor,” she said.
Nevertheless, when asked what lessons the Army had concluded from Russia’s biological weapons program, Tamasi said the plan was created to address biological threats irrespective of their origin — whether accidental, deliberate or ultimately determined not to pose the threat initially feared.
For the top brass in the Army, Tamazi explained, the urgent priority is responding to a potential biological threat and keeping operations, rather than determining its origin. Questions of attribution would involve the broader U.S. government.
Save and Share This Catholic Patriotic Minute!
