US Releases New Chemical and Biological Defense Strategy

The Department of Defense released [yesterday], the 2024 Chemical and Biological Defense Program (2024 CBDP) Enterprise Strategy. It replaces the 2020 CBDP strategy and positions the Department to ensure the total force to carry out its missions in the face of advanced chemical and biological threats.

Taking its lead from the 2022 National Defense Strategy, this strategy prioritizes delivery of operationally relevant chemical and biological defense (CBD) capabilities at speed and scale, to sustain and strengthen U.S. deterrence against the People's Republic of China as the pacing challenge and Russia as the acute threat. The new strategy reinforces other strategic guidance including the 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, inaugural National Defense Industrial Strategy, and the Biodefense Posture Review. It also calls for tighter integration of CBD capabilities with international Allies and partners to ensure our combined armed forces can deter or prevail against advanced chemical and biological threats.

"Strategic competition and rapid technological changes are making chemical and biological threats harder to defend against and increasingly attractive to adversaries," said Ian Watson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for chemical and biological defense. "This strategy creates the urgency and change necessary to continue to outpace our adversaries and the threat."

The CBDP develops chemical and biological defense material capabilities for all the Military Services. DoD is increasingly prioritizing CBD modernization to ensure the Joint Force is equipped to carry out all its missions in the face of chemical and biological threats.

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