Global Biosecurity Engagement Activities

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The Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR), part of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), sponsors foreign assistance activities funded by the Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR) account, and focuses on mitigating weapons of mass destruction (WMD), related delivery systems, and advanced conventional weapons proliferation and security threats from proliferator states and non-state actors. ISN/CTR administers the Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) as part of the Global Threat Reduction (GTR) portfolio. BEP’s national security mission is to mitigate global biological threats by minimizing the access of proliferator states and non-state actors to biological expertise, materials (e.g., high consequence pathogens (HCP), pathogens and toxins included on control lists such as the U.S. Select Agent List, synthetic biological materials), and dual-use equipment that could be misused to conduct biological weapons (BW) attacks against the United States, U.S. allies, or U.S. interests abroad. BEP’s efforts align with and help implement U.S. national security strategies, including the U.S. National Security Strategy, the U.S. National Biodefense Strategy, the U.S. Global Health Security Strategy, and the National Security Memorandum on United States Global Leadership to Strengthen the International COVID‐19 Response and to Advance Global Health Security and Biological Preparedness, among others. An underlying aim of all BEP’s efforts is long-term sustainability by which it can maximize programmatic impact while minimizing the need for foreign partners to rely on outside financial or technical assistance.

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