Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs

by Mark Olshaker

It is a high-probability, low-frequency threat. So it will happen; that is a given. The variables are when and how severe; and, of course, how prepared mankind will be to respond. As you know, Mother Nature is the greatest bioterrorist of them all, with no financial limitations or ethical compunctions—at least that we understand—and no limit on the level of effort expended. Our most dangerous adversary will not originate in the tribal areas of Afghanistan or some other remote place. It is everywhere man and animal live in close proximity. Just ask the chickens. As we used to say at HHS: If you’re a chicken, it’s already a pandemic. And for something like this, you can’t turn on a dime. You have to have a ten-year runway. The problem is, with any of these threats, Congress gets worried, they appropriate a lot of money. What isn’t obligated gets taken and put into the next threat, and the next.