National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology’s Final Report Includes Recommendations to Boost Economy and Protect National Security

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.

     

• 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.

     

• 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.

     

• 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.

     

• 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.

     

• 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.