The future of public health preparedness.

This redacted version of a speech by former United States Senator Sam Nunn, Chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, points out that although there are concerns about global issues involving security and weapons of mass destruction and bioterrorism, it was not until September 11, 2001, that these issues (and new, unforeseen ones) were getting the funding and attention they deserved. In the event of a biological attack, millions of lives may depend on how quickly we diagnose the effects, report the findings, disseminate information to the healthcare communities and to state and local governments, and bring forth a fast and an effective response at the local, state, and federal levels. Public health must become an indispensable pillar of our national security framework. As we develop a national strategy to respond to these challenges, we must think in the broader context of causes as well as symptoms. To provide context for the next 25 years, Senator Nunn provided an overview of the "Seven Revolutions" for change identified by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) with which he is also associated. Finally, he discusses major security challenges facing the United States.