[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1669-1670]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        BLUE RIBBON STUDY PANEL

  (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, last week I was grateful 
to chair the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities hearing 
to receive outside views on biodefense for the Department of Defense 
and review the bipartisan report of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on 
Biodefense.
  Chaired by former Senator Joe Lieberman and former Governor and 
Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, the panel evaluated the 
status of prevention, deterrence, preparedness, detection, response, 
attribution, recovery, and mitigation of our Nation's biodefense.
  The report was clear. Our Nation faces a complex threat from both 
biological weapons and naturally occurring diseases. For example, the 
recent response to the Ebola outbreak demonstrates the importance of 
the Department of Defense's biodefense contributions to broader 
government and global efforts.
  I am grateful that the former Attorney General Ken Wainstein and Dr. 
Gerald Parker, both members of the

[[Page 1670]]

panel, were there testifying before the subcommittee. I look forward to 
working with the Department of Defense to implement the findings and 
recommendations.
  In conclusion, God bless our troops, and may the President, by his 
actions, never forget September the 11th in the global war on 
terrorism.

                          ____________________