tara o'toole who advises all of us on this important subject. we are deeply concerned about the biological threat, whether intentionally induced, naturally occurring or accidentally released. i want to emphasize those three issues. because this is not a report just on intentionally induced biological threat. it also covers the naturally occurring ones or the accidentally released. i want to take a moment to address the threat now, but let me recommend that you get a classified briefing at your earliest opportunity. make no mistake, we have been told that our enemies are seriously considering the use of biological weapons. during the invasion of afghanistan, the united states uncovered evidence that al qaeda was trying to develop biological weapons. more recently, isil has gained control of enough land physical infrastructure, scientific expertise and professional military personnel to potentially create and deploy biological weapons. and they have expressed their intent to use them. additionally, the verification protocols associated with the bi

next tara o'toole this is a senior advisor and executive vice president at in-q-tel that works because of that connection in cooperation between venture backed technology startups u.s. intelligence community. dr. o'toole firmly served as under sector of science and technology of the department of homeland security and assistant secretary for fundamental health and safety, and looking forward to hearing your expertise today. thank you also for being a. now i will yield to mr. florist who will introduce our next witness. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think you probably this hearing today and for the courtesy of flying me to introduce one of my classmates and i felt texas aggie and renowned expert on public health. dr. gerald parker serves as vice president for public health preparedness and response of the texas a&m health science center. he oversees the largest federal public-private partnership with the help -- advanced research and development authority, referred to as barda. for vaccine development. prior to his current role, he had a distinguished career of public and military servi

tara o'toole who advises all of us on this important subject.e are deeply concerned about the biological threat whether intentionally induced, naturally occurring or accidentally released and i want to emphasize those three issues. because this is not a report ust on intentionally induced biological threats. it also covers the naturally occurring ones or the accidently released. i want to take a moment to address the threat now but let me recommend that you get a classified briefing at your earliest opportunity. make no mistake, we've been told that our enemies are seriously considering the use of biological weapons. during the invasion of afghanistan, the united states uncovered evidence that al qaeda was trying to develop biological weapons. more recently, isil has gained control of enough land, physical infrastructure, scientific expertise and professional military personnel to potentially create and deploy biological ep wes and they have expressed their intent to use them. additionally the verification protocols associated with the biologica

tara o'toole who constantly advises all offous this important subject. we are deeply concerned about the biological threat whether intentionally induced naturally occurring or accidentally release said. and i want to emphasize those three issues because this is not a report just on intentionally induced biological threat. it also covers the naturally occurring ones or the accidentally released. i want to take a moment to address the threat now, but let me recommend you get a classified briefing at the earliest opportunity. make no mistake. we've been told that our enemies are seriously considering the use of biological weapons. during the invasion of afghanistan and the united states uncovered evidence that al qaeda was trying to develop biological weapons. more recently, isil has gained control of enough land, physical infrastructure, scientific expertise and professional military personnel to potentially create and deploy biological weapons, and they have expressed their intent to use them. additionally, the verification protocols associated with the b