host: we are back with daniel gerstein, who is a senior policy researcher with the rand corporation, and he is here to discuss the chemical and biological threats and the invasion of ukraine. dan, good morning. guest: good morning, jesse. nice to be here. host: first of all, explain your background in bio security and some of your work in this field. guest: well, i have a doctorate in biodefense, and that is from george mason university. i have been working in the field for over 15 years and served in a variety of positions within industry, to government. i was in the obama administration doing this kind of work as the principal director for countering weapons of mass destruction in the office of the secretary of defense for policy. here at rand i work on a lot of security and defense issues, public health, emerging technology. and i have a long background in security defense, going back to my days in uniform, and, of course, industry think tanks and academia. i am also an author. i have two published books on biological warfare and i have done a number of studies on the government,

host: we are back with daniel gerstein, who is a senior policy researcher with the rand corporation,nd he is here to discuss the chemical and biological threats and the invasion of ukraine. dan, good morning. guest: good morning, jesse. nice to be here. host: first of all, ein

get to your calls i want to get back to a little bit where we were talking about earlier with daniel gerstein earlier from the rand corporation. there is a story from cbs news that talks about what is going on with the chernobyl nuclear power plant. i want to bring you that story before we get to our calls. ukraine claimed on friday that russian president vladimir putin had ordered the preparation of a terrorist attack on the chernobyl nuclear power plant. the main electric supply to the plant, site of the 1986 explosion and meltdown data traumatized to the world, was cut off on wednesday, with ukrainian authorities blaming russia's invading forces for the blackout and warning that it could lead to nuclear discharge. a ukrainian national emergency services agency said if power to the plants cooling systems -- which keeps spent nuclear fuel safely surrounded by water -- is not insured, it could create a radioactive cloud that would blow over other regions of ukraine, belarus, russia, and europe. belarus, russia, and europe. the u.n.-backed global watchdog agency, the iaea, downplayed concerns

host: we are back with daniel gerstein, who is a senior policy researcher with the rand corporation,nd he is here to discuss the chemical and biological threats and the invasion of ukraine. dan, good morning. guest: good morning, jesse. nice to be here. host: first of all, explain your background in bio security and some of your work in this field. guest: well, i have a doctorate in biodefense, and that is from george mason university. i have been working in the field for over 15 years and served in a variety of positions within industry, to government. i was in the obama administration doing this kind of work as the principal director for countering weapons of mass destruction in the office of the secretary of defense for policy. here at rand i work on a lot of security and defense issues, public health, emerging technology. and i have a long background in security defense, going back to my days in uniform, and, of course, industry think tanks and academia. i am also an author. i have two published books on biological warfare and i have done a number of studies on the government, as