In reaction to criticism from the General Accountability Office (GAO), the FY2010 DHS Appropriation Act (P.L. 111-83) prohibits the obligation of funds for construction of the new National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) until the Secretary of Homeland Security undertakes a site specific bio-safety and bio-security mitigation risk assessment for the Manhattan, Kansas site. Once DHS completes the risk assessment, the Congressional language mandates that the National Academy of Sciences(NAS) provide an independent evaluation of the DHS analyses to ensure that risk has been adequately identified and mitigated in planning for NBAF. Therefore, under the auspices of the Board on Life Sciences and the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, the National Research Council will convene a committee of experts to review the DHS's site specific risk assessment. The committee will not perform an independent evaluation of the safety of the NBAF, but will restrict its findings to assessing the adequacy and validity of the site specific risk assessment. DHS is currently conducting a source selection process for a contractor to manage the development of the risk assessment. Subsequent to the selection, the committee will undertake its first task to answer questions related to the selected contractor’s work plan brought to it by DHS. In this capacity, prior to the performer beginning work early in 2010, the committee will meet with DHS and the performer. Within four weeks of this meeting, the committee will provide a brief letter report to DHS that will respond to DHS's questions to the committee on the work plan. Following the delivery of the final Risk Assessment report by the performer to DHS, the committee will undertake its second task to review the finished site specific risk assessment and prepare a second and final letter report containing its findings within four months of receiving the performer’s report from DHS.