Panel says government should increase anti-bioterrorism efforts

Intelligence agencies should improve their ability to collect and analyze public health data in order to combat bioterrorist threats, a congressionally mandated anti-terrorism panel said Thursday.

During its quarterly meeting, the so-called Gilmore Commission-named for its chairman, former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore-agreed to incorporate that recommendation into its fourth annual report to the president and Congress, due Dec. 15.

"The intelligence community has to expand their mindset into the medical and health arena so that they don't miss things that may be related to bioterrorism," said Patricia Quinlisk, a member of the bipartisan panel.

Commission member Kenneth Shine, director of the RAND Corp.'s Center for Domestic and International Health Security, said intelligence officials must be able to examine certain types of public health data in conjunction with other intelligence. Shine said if a U.S. agency, for example, learned that a well-known molecular biologist had recently met suspected terrorists in Pakistan, data from health organizations about a possible outbreak in that region would be crucial.

But Quinlisk, an epidemiologist who serves as medical director of Iowa's Public Health Department, cautioned that information sharing among health agencies and intelligence officials must not violate civil liberties such as patient confidentiality. "I think public health [officials] would have some reservations about being linked to the CIA," she said.

Quinlisk also noted that data sharing between public health agencies and domestic law enforcement officials cannot include any personal identifying information. "The law specifically forbids us from telling law enforcement if we suspect someone of ... [manufacturing] anthrax in their garage," she said.

But Quinlisk and other commission members said there still is a pressing need to bridge certain information gaps among public health officials and the law enforcement community.

George Foresman, assistant to the governor of Virginia for emergency preparedness, said that when epidemiologists, for example, determine an outbreak may be the result of a criminal act, they must be able to alert public safety officials. Likewise, he said, when police officers, firefighters or other public safety officials discover evidence of a possible biological hazard, they must be able to notify public health officials-and each other-immediately.

"We shouldn't be doing two parallel investigations that never cross anywhere," Foresman said.

Shine also urged continued funding for emergency communications systems such as the Health Alert Network being developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That network, when fully deployed, will enable federal, state and local officials to track disease outbreaks, send warnings of health emergencies and strengthen bioterrorism preparedness.

"It does have promise, and there ought to be continued funding of that," said Shine, who did not attend the meeting in person but discussed the draft recommendations with the other panel members during a public conference call.

The commission also agreed Friday to recommend the implementation of some type of alert network throughout the agricultural sector for reporting potential threats to the food supply. Members of the panel said that network could be modeled on, or integrated, with the Health Alert Network.