The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will appoint two ad hoc topical committees to address specific issues related to chemical and nuclear terrorism threats. These committees will address the adequacy of strategies to prevent, counter, and respond to chemical and nuclear terrorism, and identify technical, policy, and resource gaps with respect to—

(1) identifying national and international chemical and nuclear risks, and critical emerging threats;

(2) preventing state-sponsored and non-state actors from acquiring or misusing the technologies, materials, and critical expertise needed to carry out chemical and nuclear attacks, including dual-use technologies, materials, and expertise;

(3) countering efforts by state-sponsored and non-state actors to carry out such attacks;

(4) responding to chemical and nuclear terrorism incidents to attribute their origin and help manage their consequences;

(5) budgets likely to be required to implement effectively such strategies; and

(6) other important matters that are directly relevant to such strategies.

For the biological terrorism assessment, NASEM will appoint an ad hoc planning committee to convene two workshops to discuss current and future issues in preventing, deterring, and countering bioterrorism. The focus will be on three primary issues, all of which were highlighted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and previous biological incidents:

(1) Policy and technical capabilities for forensics and attribution of biological incidents of unknown or questionable origin, including current scientific capabilities and their limitations at determining whether the incidents were man-made.

(2) Current and future threats of mis- and disinformation campaigns that contribute to challenges toward prevention, detection, and accurate attribution of biological terrorism incidents.

(3) Gaps in policies and programs for addressing biological terrorism based on lessons learned from the pandemic and other biological incidents, and awareness about actor capabilities, motivations, and resources.

NASEM will produce consensus reports for the chemical and nuclear portions of the study and
will produce rapporteur-prepared workshop proceedings-in-brief for the biological portion. Reports and proceedings-in-brief will be provided to the sponsor and to Congress within 17 months, and all work will be completed within 18 months after receipt of funds.