: Advances in synthetic biology and AI have lowered the bar for creating lethal, novel pathogens in laboratories [2, 19].

Today, the biodefence story is increasingly about the convergence of technologies [19].

In October 2001, just weeks after 9/11, letters filled with white powder containing Bacillus anthracis spores were mailed to news offices and U.S. senators [11, 21]. The attack killed five people and hospitalized 17 others, causing widespread panic and forcing a fundamental change in how the world viewed microscopic threats [14, 21]. It proved that biological agents could be used to incite terror and disrupt entire governments [13, 21]. From Offense to Defense

Historically, biodefence emerged from the shadows of offensive biological weapons programs [31, 35].

: While countries like the Soviet Union once ran massive covert programs to weaponize diseases like smallpox and plague, international treaties (like the Biological Weapons Convention) shifted the focus to purely defensive research [22, 35].

: At facilities like the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), scientists focus on "medical countermeasures"—creating the vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments needed to protect soldiers and civilians from biothreats [23, 35]. Modern Challenges: The "Silent" War

For a deeper dive into the history and potential future of these threats, the graphic novel Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History provides a visual walkthrough of these "microscopic weapons" [4].