Global Security Newswire

An Obama administration plan to help finance swine flu vaccine production would draw $3 billion from a fund established in 2004 to prepare the nation for chemical, biological and nuclear attacks, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, May 7).

Former Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and James Talent (R-Mo.) yesterday sent President Barack Obama a letter criticizing the plan to take money for the swine flu vaccine from the Project Bioshield Special Reserve Fund.

"Using Bioshield funds for flu preparedness will severely diminish the nation's efforts to prepare for WMD events and will leave the nation less, not more, prepared," said the former lawmakers who now head the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

Project Bioshield is intended to provide funding to spur development of WMD countermeasures by the private sector. Pulling funds from $5.6 billion program would discourage private investment in the development of biological-weapon countermeasures for the U.S. national stockpile, according to industry representatives.

The program has $3 billion remaining from its original funding source, according to a Management and Budget Office official. The money must be available for use if the swine flu outbreak becomes far more lethal in the coming months, according to aides to the president.

Obama should also assign Vice President Joseph Biden to head the administration's nonproliferation efforts, Graham and Talent said: "You already know what he offers: long experience working on WMD, an understanding of how to move the levers of power to meet urgent goals, and most important, the unique credibility and stature of his office" (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post, June 8).