Detecting Biothreat Agents: the Laboratory Response Network This nationwide lab network coordinates surveillance and is at the ready to identify pathogens and alert authorities of suspected bioterrorist incidents

n response to the threat of bioterrorismand following a presidential order, offi-cials at the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention (CDC), Association ofPublic Health Laboratories (APHL),Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), andUnited States Army Medical Research Instituteof Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) establishedthe Laboratory Response Network (LRN) in1999. This national system is designed to linkstate and local public health laboratories withotheradvanced-capacityclinical,military,veter-inary, agricultural, water, and food-testing lab-oratories, including those at the federal level.The LRN is a critical component of CDC’s pub-lic health mission, enhancing U.S. readiness todetect and respond to bioterrorism incidents. Inadditiontobiothreatagents,theLRNisexpand-ingtoincludetheabilitytodetectchemicalagents.Funding for LRN to build infrastructure, ob-tain state-of-the-art equipment, and train per-sonnel is helping to rebuild the country’s publichealth laboratory capacity, improving our abil-ity to respond not only to bioterrorism incidentsbut also to other infectious diseases outbreaks.Part of these efforts include developing a well-trained laboratory workforce, including mem-bers who are certified by the American Board ofMedical Microbiology (ABMM) or its equivalent,raising the capacity of LRN to respond quicklyand appropriately to public health emergencies.After officials in the Department of Healthand Human Services told CDC to prepare thepublic health system for dealing with the bioter-rorism threat, CDC developed a series of coop-erative agreements with every state and severallarge municipalities that focus on preparedness.These agreements initially emphasized five crit-ical areas: (i) preparedness planning and readi-ness assessment; (ii) surveillance and epidemi-ology capacity, (iii) biologic laboratory andchemical laboratory capacity, (iv) health alertnetwork, and (v) information technology. Sincethe