Appendix C — Further Reading and Resources

A curated collection of resources for further exploration of biosecurity topics covered in this handbook.

Essential Books

Foundational Texts

  • Koblentz, G. D. (2009). Living Weapons: Biological Warfare and International Security. Cornell University Press. - Comprehensive analysis of biological weapons as a security threat.

  • Guillemin, J. (2005). Biological Weapons: From the Invention of State-Sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism. Columbia University Press. - Historical overview of state bioweapons programs.

  • Alibek, K. & Handelman, S. (1999). Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World. Random House. - First-hand account of the Soviet Biopreparat program.

  • Tucker, J. B. (2012). Innovation, Dual Use, and Security: Managing the Risks of Emerging Biological and Chemical Technologies. MIT Press. - Analysis of dual-use challenges in emerging technologies.

AI and Emerging Risks

  • Russell, S. (2019). Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control. Viking. - Foundational text on AI safety.

  • Amodei, D. et al. Various Anthropic research papers on AI safety and responsible scaling.

Pandemic Preparedness

  • Osterholm, M. T. & Olshaker, M. (2017). Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs. Little, Brown and Company. - Expert perspective on pandemic threats.

  • Quammen, D. (2012). Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. W. W. Norton. - Accessible exploration of zoonotic disease emergence.

Key Reports and Policy Documents

Government

International Organizations

Think Tank Reports

Key Organizations

Government Agencies

Organization Focus Website
CDC Disease surveillance, biosafety cdc.gov
BARDA Medical countermeasure development medicalcountermeasures.gov
IARPA Advanced research including biosurveillance iarpa.gov
USAMRIID Military biodefense research usamriid.health.mil
Select Agent Program Pathogen regulation selectagents.gov

International

Organization Focus Website
WHO Global health security who.int
FAO Animal and plant health fao.org
WOAH (OIE) Animal health standards woah.org
OPCW Chemical weapons (overlap) opcw.org

Think Tanks and NGOs

Organization Focus Website
NTI Nuclear and biological threat reduction nti.org
Johns Hopkins CHS Health security policy centerforhealthsecurity.org
RAND Policy research rand.org
RAND Meselson Center Biosecurity research rand.org/meselson
CSIS Security studies csis.org
CEPI Epidemic preparedness cepi.net

AI Labs with Biosecurity Programs

Organization Focus Website
Anthropic Frontier Red Team, biosecurity evaluations anthropic.com
OpenAI Preparedness Framework openai.com
Google DeepMind AI safety research deepmind.google

Academic Programs and Training

Graduate Programs

Fellowships

Fellowship Organization Focus
ELBI Johns Hopkins CHS Mid-career biosecurity leaders
Emerging Leaders Program NTI Nuclear and biological security
Biosecurity Initiative Open Philanthropy Research and career development

Surveillance and Data Platforms

Platform Purpose Website
GISAID Pathogen genomic data sharing gisaid.org
ProMED Outbreak reporting promedmail.org
NCBI GenBank Genetic sequence database ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Nextstrain Pathogen evolution tracking nextstrain.org
Our World in Data Pandemic data visualization ourworldindata.org

Journals

Primary Biosecurity Journals

Relevant General Journals

  • The Lancet - Global health including outbreak coverage
  • Nature - Biotechnology and life sciences
  • Science - Dual-use research and policy
  • EMBO Reports - Synthetic biology and biosecurity
  • PNAS - Broad science including biosecurity-relevant research

Online Resources

News and Analysis

Databases and Tools

Podcasts and Media

Community and Networking

Conferences

  • BWC Review Conferences - Every 5 years in Geneva
  • ASM (American Society for Microbiology) - Annual meetings
  • Biosecurity Central Events - Various biosecurity-focused meetings

Professional Networks

What resources are recommended for learning biosecurity?

Start with foundational texts like Koblentz’s Living Weapons and the CDC BMBL (Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories). Follow key organizations including CDC, BARDA, WHO, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and NTI. Subscribe to ProMED for outbreak alerts and explore GISAID and Nextstrain for genomic surveillance. For AI-biosecurity convergence, review RAND’s recent reports and follow Anthropic and OpenAI’s biosecurity evaluations.

Where can I find biosecurity training programs?

Graduate programs include Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (health security concentration), Georgetown University’s Global Health Security and Security Master’s Program, MIT’s synthetic biology programs, and Stanford CISAC. Mid-career professionals can apply for the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative (ELBI) at Johns Hopkins CHS, NTI’s Emerging Leaders Program, or Open Philanthropy’s Biosecurity Initiative fellowships.

How do I stay current on biosecurity policy and research?

Subscribe to ProMED for outbreak reports, CIDRAP for infectious disease news, and Stat News for health policy journalism. Follow journals including Health Security, The Lancet, Nature, and Science. Review policy reports from RAND (especially the Meselson Center), Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and NTI. Monitor OSTP and BARDA for U.S. policy updates, and track WHO and BWC Implementation Support Unit for international developments.

This appendix is part of The Biosecurity Handbook. Last updated: December 2025.