Interagency biological restoration demonstration (IBRD) science and technology products

In 2007, the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense created the Interagency Biological Restoration Demonstration (IBRD). The goal of IBRD was to reduce the time and resources necessary to recover a wide urban area following an intentional release of Bacillus anthracis. Early in the program it became clear that the absence of a systematic approach to planning for and executing recovery (specifically decontamination) activities was a significant gap in national preparedness for a biological incident. One of the program objectives, therefore, was to identify and demonstrate technologies that support recovery; these technologies were then integrated into planning and guidance documents. The following paper highlights sample science and technology efforts undertaken in IBRD as well as the process used to identify them.