The BioWatch program was established in 2003 in the aftermath of the anthrax attacks that killed 5 people and sickened more than 20 others. The program is a system of detectors deployed to more than 30 U.S. cities to scan for a number of aerosolized biothreat agents. Recognizing the limitations of the current system, in 2008 the Department's Office of Health Affairs began the process to acquire a next-generation detector known as Gen-3. After a series of missteps spanning two administrations, 6 years, and millions of dollars later, Secretary Johnson recently canceled that acquisition on April 29, 2014. We know through the subcommittee's biothreat hearing in February and a subsequent Classified briefing that the threat of bioterrorism is real. In fact, in its BioWatch analysis of alternatives performed for the Department, the Institute for Defense Analyses noted that the bioterrorism threat has not changed since 2001. With that in mind, robust biosurveillance and biodetection capabilities are vital to our country's security.
