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10 April 2024 How COVID-19 is reshaping U.S. national security policy
Margaret Kosal
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Abstract

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is actively reshaping parts of its national security enterprise. This article explores the underlying politics, with a specific interest in the context of biosecurity, biodefense, and bioterrorism strategy, programs, and response, as the United States responds to the most significant outbreak of an emerging infectious disease in over a century. How the implicit or tacit failure to recognize the political will and political decision-making connected to warfare and conflict for biological weapons programs in these trends is explored. Securitization of public health has been a focus of the literature over the past half century. This recent trend may represent something of an inverse: an attempt to treat national security interests as public health problems. A hypothesis is that the most significant underrecognized problem associated with COVID-19 is disinformation and the weakening of confidence in institutions, including governments, and how adversaries may exploit that blind spot.

Margaret Kosal "How COVID-19 is reshaping U.S. national security policy," Politics and the Life Sciences 43(1), 83-98, (10 April 2024). https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.2023.13
Published: 10 April 2024
JOURNAL ARTICLE
16 PAGES

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KEYWORDS
biosecurity
bioweapons
Deterrence
disinformation
infectious diseases
national security
pandemics
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