The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) announced on April 8, 2025, the availability of its final report and action plan, "urging Congressional action to bring the full weight of American innovation to improve and maintain U.S. global leadership in biotechnology." After an extensive study that included "more than 1,800 stakeholder consultations, a holistic review of unclassified and classified material, site visits across the United States, and meetings with foreign government and technology leaders," NSCEB developed a set of top-priority recommendations to ensure that the United States "outrun[s] and slow[s] down Beijing in the biotechnology race." The principles for action include:
- Promote U.S. biotechnology innovation;
- Be the biotechnology partner of choice for the world;
- Use national security tools to protect innovation and industrial base in biotechnology; and
- Work with the international community, including China where prudent, to develop best practices and standards for biosafety and biosecurity to prevent against misuse, whether deliberate or accidental.
The report states that after an extensive study, "including more than 1,800 stakeholder consultations, a holistic review of unclassified and classified material, site visits across the United States, and meetings with foreign government and technology leaders," NSCEB developed the following set of top-priority recommendations:
- Pillar 1: Prioritize biotechnology at the national level:
- 1.1a Congress must establish a National Biotechnology
Coordination Office (NBCO) within the Executive Office of the
President with a director, appointed by the President, who would
coordinate interagency actions on biotechnology competition and
regulation.
- 1.1a Congress must establish a National Biotechnology
Coordination Office (NBCO) within the Executive Office of the
President with a director, appointed by the President, who would
coordinate interagency actions on biotechnology competition and
regulation.
- Pillar 2: Mobilize the private sector to get U.S. products to
scale:
- 2.1a Congress must direct federal regulatory agencies to create
simple pathways to market and exempt familiar products from
unnecessary regulation;
- 2.2a Congress must establish and fund an Independence
Investment Fund, led by a non-governmental manager, that would
invest in technology startups that strengthen U.S. national and
economic security;
- 2.3a Congress must authorize and fund the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Commerce to develop a
network of manufacturing facilities across the country for
precommercial bioindustrial product scale-up;
- 2.4a Congress must direct the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to ensure that biotechnology infrastructure and data are
covered under "critical infrastructure";
- 2.5a Congress must require public companies to disclose single
points of supply chain vulnerability located in foreign countries
of concern; and
- 2.5b Congress must prohibit companies that work with U.S.
national security agencies and the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (DHHS) from using certain Chinese biotechnology
suppliers that are deemed to pose a national security threat.
- 2.1a Congress must direct federal regulatory agencies to create
simple pathways to market and exempt familiar products from
unnecessary regulation;
- Pillar 3: Maximize the benefits of biotechnology for
defense:
- 3.1a Congress must direct the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
to consult with stakeholders to define principles for ethical use
of biotechnology for the U.S. military;
- 3.2a Congress must direct the DOD to work with private
companies to build commercial facilities across the country to
biomanufacture products that are critical for DOD needs; and
- 3.3a Congress must require outbound investment rules to ensure
that U.S. capital does not support Chinese development of certain
biotechnologies that could pose a national security risk.
- 3.1a Congress must direct the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
to consult with stakeholders to define principles for ethical use
of biotechnology for the U.S. military;
- Pillar 4: Out-innovate our strategic competitors:
- 4.1a Congress must authorize the DOE to create a Web of
Biological Data (WOBD), a single point of entry for researchers to
access high-quality data;
- 4.2a Congress must conduct oversight of existing policies, and
add new ones where warranted, to ensure that China cannot obtain
bulk and sensitive biological data from the United States;
- 4.3a Congress must establish Centers for Biotechnology within
the existing National Laboratory network to support grand research
challenges; and
- 4.4a Congress must direct the executive branch to advance safe,
secure, and responsible biotechnology research and
innovation.
- 4.1a Congress must authorize the DOE to create a Web of
Biological Data (WOBD), a single point of entry for researchers to
access high-quality data;
- Pillar 5: Build the biotechnology workforce of the
future:
- 5.1a Congress must direct the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) to provide workforce training in biotechnology across the
interagency;
- 5.1b Congress must ensure that federal agencies have the
necessary expertise across national security and emerging
biotechnology issues; and
- 5.2a Congress must maximize the impact of domestic
biomanufacturing workforce training programs.
- 5.1a Congress must direct the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) to provide workforce training in biotechnology across the
interagency;
- Pillar 6: Mobilize the collective strengths of our allies and
partners:
- 6.1a Congress must include biotechnology in the scope of the U.S. Department of State's International Technology Security and Innovation Fund to fund appropriately international biotechnology policy, research and development (R&D), and secure supply chains.
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