Bio-Surveillance Program Initiative Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Secrtary of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson

Release Date: 01/30/04 00:00:00

January 29, 2004

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  It's truly my honor this afternoon to invite you into our communication room, and also to have the privilege of having the Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, here with me this afternoon to have a joint press conference about the next step in bio preparedness in America.  And I thank all of you for coming, and appreciate very much that you're here.  And I certainly am happy that Sally Canfield is back, who started out with me when I was secretary, and then she went over to Tom Ridge.  So, it's good to see you, Sal.

September 11, 2001 made us all aware in America, just how vulnerable we are to terrorist attacks.  But we had already begun improving our readiness in the first half of 2001.  Since September 11th, we have made unprecedented improvements and advancements in public health readiness.  While we must never cease in our vigilance, I am very proud of the work that my department, and the Department of Homeland Security, is doing, will do, and we'll be able to make America safer.  And I also would like to point out that we've had great cooperation between our two departments on all issues.  We've been able to work every issue out on a cooperative basis, and that's -- for me it's the way government should work.

The contrasts between what we were doing a few years ago and what we're doing today is absolutely striking.  The amount that HHS spends on bioterrorist preparedness is absolutely 12 times as much as three years ago.  We've gone from $300 million in 2001 to $3.9 billion, which was requested for this year.  And I'm happy to say that we are better prepared to prevent and respond to any public health emergency in America.

Today I'm pleased to join Secretary Ridge in announcing the next step in our defense against bioterrorism.  The Bio-Surveillance Program Initiative, which is what it's called, will enhance our defenses against bioterrorism, and enable all parts of the federal government to work together more closely, and more cooperatively.  The initiative will compliment new, as well as existing, programs, including food safety, hospital preparedness, state and local preparedness, vaccine research and procurement, health professional, training, laboratory enhancements, and bioterrorist research.  This initiative will effectively integrate the information to give us the tools that we need to stop terrorists and prevent bioterrorism.

I would like to address how this initiative will help my department protect America.  If Congress approves President Bush's request, my department will invest $130 million in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to be able to heighten human health surveillance.  To be able to improve the links between public health laboratories, and to be able to increase the capabilities of border health and quarantine stations.  We will enhance CDC's traditional and proven approach to disease surveillance by analyzing information sooner that is being collected across the country.  

What we'll be able to do is, we'll be able to get information coming in from hospitals, pharmacists, clinics, and so on, across America on a daily basis.  This also will be set up so that we'll protect patients' identification.  This new Bio-Surveillance Initiative will look at information from those hospital, from pharmacy sales, and nurse call-in lines, and various other avenues that haven't traditionally been available to public health officials, and be able to help us detect disease patterns, and be able to prepare an appropriate defense.  If we see a spike in regards to an infectious disease in a particular area of the country, we will then be able to advance that information very quickly to Homeland Security and develop a way to respond.

For example, if there is an unusual number of drug purchases in Boston, Massachusetts, for a particular disease, we will be better able to analyze what is happening, and why.  This new surveillance system will compliment the existing efforts, and better help us harness all of the information that is out there, and be able to put it to a better use.

Additionally, this initiative will improve border operations by extending border health and public health quarantine stations from eight to 25 at selected points of entry, including airports.  We will also invest an additional $5 million in the Food and Drug Administration, to help coordinate the agency's improved food surveillance capabilities, better connect public health and environmental officials, and be able to integrate its operations with the Department of Homeland Security's threat analysis.  The $5 million will be an additional to FDA's new food safety budget.  It is vital that we are able to detect, to monitor, and be able to treat any disease outbreak as quickly and as efficiently as possible.  

These new investments will not only better prepare our nation for, and protect us from, a bioterrorism attack, they will also better prepare us for any public health emergency.  In fact, we've already seen our investments pay off last year in CDC's leadership in fighting the SARS outbreak, and a coordinated public health response to the West Nile Virus.  We have shown that these investments allow us to react quickly, decisively, and effectively to protect americans.

Now, it is my privilege to be able to introduce a fellow governor, an outstanding leader, Tom Ridge, to be able to discuss the integration with this new information with the Department of Homeland Security.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Thanks, Tommy.  Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  It's a pleasure to be joined today by my friend in public service, my colleague and friend for a long time, Tommy Thompson.  I'm grateful for his friendship, his partnership, and for his assessment with regard to our work together since I came to Washington over two years ago.  We've got a great partnership with Health and Human Services.  It's not surprising, that's the way Governor Thompson has worked and continues to work.  So I'm very honored to be here today with my friend to announce this very important new initiative that will further protect our nation and our citizens from the threat of bioterrorism.  

Over the past two years, it has been proven time and time again that one of the most valuable tools we possess within the federal government -- and I might add, as we look to our friends at the state and local government, it's equally important there -- that one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror is the notion of partnership.  As we build bridges to each other across government, throughout our communities and between neighbors, we build barriers to terrorists.  Working together, we forge a safer America, and every day there become fewer gaps and weaknesses for the terrorists to exploit.

Bioterrorism is no different.  To meet this threat, it is absolutely imperative that we build strong partnerships across the federal government, and with our state and local counterparts.  In this budget, as Secretary Thompson has outlined, the President proposes $274 million for a new Bio-Surveillance Program designed to pool together the various federal government resources devoted to this issue, and create one integrated system.  This new system will bring together information collected by Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and other agencies, so that we can more effectively protect the safety of our food supply, and the health of our citizens.

It will also enhance considerably, and expand dramatically, our current bio-surveillance efforts.  Specifically, our department's science and technology division will receive an additional $65 million in this year's budget, bringing our total funding in this year, in '05, if Congress seems to authorize and appropriate, to $118 million.  A large portion of those funds will help expand this nation's innovative Bio-Watch Program.  Many of you are familiar with it.  It is a system that monitors the air in many of our nation's urban centers for the presence of certain biological pathogens.  Early detection and early response are critical to saving lives in the event of a bioterrorist attack.  And Bio-Watch provides the rapid detection upon which we depend.

Currently, there are Bio-Watch sampling devices in more than 30 major American cities.  And while this is tremendous progress for a program that is less than a year old, we certainly can and must do more.  That's why we plan to more than double the number of monitoring devices, and to invest in technology that will enhance the capabilities of the current system to make it even more efficient to operate.  The President's budget also provides $11 million to the Department of Homeland Security's Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Unit to ensure that the Bio-Surveillance data is collected and coordinated in one central location so we can provide the decision makers with all the necessary information they need to protect this country.

As the President said in his State of the Union address, our greatest responsibility is the active defense of the American people.  With today's announcement, we continue to prove that as a nation, we will not give way to fear.  Rather, we will continue to fight terrorism with our vigilance, our preparation, and our partnerships, and our commitment to all those who call this great country home.  At the end of the day, the system that Secretary Thompson and I have been charged to build and to operate will make our country not only safer, but the Secretary and I also believe it will make our country healthier.  

This is a very important example of when we make the right kind of strategic investment, we not only advance that interest in securing America from bioterrorist attack, but also we advance the broader interest of making America healthier.  Because whether the biological agents are thrown at us by a terrorist, or by Mother Nature, our ability to detect it and respond to it quickly -- certainly quicker than we've ever been able to in the past -- certainly means that we will save lives.  

And at the end of the day, whether you're fighting a bioterrorism incident generated by a terrorist, or Mother Nature, that's our mutual goal.  So, I'm very pleased to make this joint announcement with my friend, Secretary Tommy Thompson.  Thank you.  

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  Thank you, Tom.  Questions.

QUESTIONS:

QUESTION:  I hope -- well, I'm not exactly sure I understand what -- what's new here.  It looks to me like, as I go through here, I'm wondering if you can explain that.  Because a lot of the money is to augment programs and efforts that are already going on, such as Bio-Watch, such as what goes on at CDC.  The $11 million for IAIP looks new, and the $5 million for the FDA to establish an activity, whatever that means, exactly, looks new.  But can you -- can you sort of talk a little bit more about what's actually new here?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  First of all, you did identify, we do need to build more of a -- an Internet-based technological infrastructure to connect our departments and the sources of information.  We are going to more than double the number of Bio-Watch locations and devices, but almost half of the new dollars into the Department of Homeland Security will be taking the next step toward an advanced system of detection and analysis.  Right now, we have a fairly labor-intensive Bio-Watch system.  You're able to monitor the quality, but you really need to take this device, and then take it to a lab, and have it analyzed.  

The next level, the next technological step, is to have that acquisition of whatever that agent is in the air, and analysis right at that point, so you can respond to it that more quickly.  So, part of the money is for the next level, the next step in the -- the architecture, the scientific architecture of the Bio-Watch program, a doubling of the number of devices, and then the technical connections we need to make with Secretary Thompson's maze of -- he's got this monstrous information system that we will be connected to.  Tommy?

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  We haven't -- we've never been able to get the information on a daily basis from doctors and hospitals and pharmacists across America.  This is going to allow us on a daily basis to get that information in, so that we'll be able to monitor any kind of spike, and purchase of drugs for a particular disease, any kind of increase in disease, anyplace in the country.  We've always got this information before from laboratories, which we're connected with.  We've never been connected with clinics and hospitals and pharmacists across America.  That's what's new.  

The second thing that's new is that we are also doing something to expand our ability to protect food that's imported into America, because that is always -- those individuals that cover the Department of Health and Human Services know this has been my biggest concern is something -- some pathogen getting into food.  We're going to be able to go and increase the number of inspections, the number of sites, by quite a bit.  We'll be going from -- this year, from 70,000 inspections to 97,000, and hopefully 100,000.  So, these are new things and developments that are going to protect America much better.  

Once we find out that spike, and see whatever the -- whatever the medicine is, we will then be able to analyze it with our doctors, we will be able to transmit that information right away, the next day, or the same afternoon, same evening, to Homeland Security, so that they can analyze it as well.  They will put that in comparison with their threat analysis, and then we will be able to develop something -- a plan -- if, in fact, something is really out of the ordinary.  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  If I might just conclude with that very important question.  You know, within the Department, we have an information analysis, an  infrastructure protection unit, where we take a look at the threat and map it against potential vulnerabilities, and then take action.  Well, Congress very appropriately said, Secretary Thompson with HHS has within his shop FDA, he's got NIH, he's got CDC, he's got connected to the public health network.  So he is really -- the critical infrastructure protection unit here is really the public health infrastructure, and citizens generally.  

So we can either transmit to Secretary Thompson and to those in charge of this network, an alert based on threat information with regard to a particular kind of incident.  Be alert, be aware, be vigilant.  You may detect around the country signs associated with this kind of threat, or we may not have that threat information, but he may pick it up, because he is now connected to pharmacies, clinics, nurse -- I mean, he's just connected all over.  So again, we may get the threat alert first, or we may be able to detect it because of this national surveillance system.  And early detection saves lives.  

QUESTION:  This program overstocks any specific bent, or any new intelligence you have on biological weapons?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  No, it's a continued expansion of the administration's goal as we look at potential weapons of mass destruction, regardless of their nature, and we've done a lot of work in the area of bioterrorism, and we build on that annually with a budget.  And this -- this budget gives an opportunity, I think, to move aggressively in several areas.  Probably the most important of which is the ability of the country, through Secretary Thompson, to have access to, with appropriate safeguards, under medical privacy rules, to all that medical information from which health care professionals can draw conclusions.  And I must say, again, and Secretary Thompson and I would emphasize this -- it also builds up a more robust public health system

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  That's right.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  So, it may not just be a terrorist attack, this is one of those investments where you get -- it's more than just fighting terrorism.  It's about making America healthier, too.

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  The Secretary is absolutely correct.  You know, last year, when we had this real problem with SARS.  We have developed a procedure to be able to get information out quicker, get information in and out quicker in order to protect the public health.  And early detection will save many lives, and also control diseases.  And that's why, right now, we have several of our epidemiologists, in Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia, looking at the avian flu, because we want to know as soon as we possibly can about the -- about the -- the infection, about the virus, and be able to get as much information back to CDC so that we can prepare plans in order to combat it if, in fact, it comes to America.  So, this early detection will help in a bioterrorist attack, but it also will help us a great deal to protect your health and your families, and every American's.

QUESTION:  Can you tell us a little bit more about this network and how it works?  How doctors will be connected in, because it's going to require computers always being --

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  It's going to be -- it's going to require a lot of computers, and the actual system has not been set up yet.  We have to get the dollars in order to do so.  But we were already working with Homeland Security, we'll be working with CDC and all of the OpDivs in my department to be able to come up with a way to have interoperatibility with all of -- with doctors and the pharmacists.  We'll also work with CMS, which has the best capbility of connecting with hospitals and clinics across  America.  And so, we're still in the embryonic stages for building this.  We haven't done this before, and we've got somewhere -- some ways to go, yet.  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Sir?

QUESTION:  What you're describing would require, as you describe it, partnership with the private sector, it seems.  Well, will there be, or can you foresee funds in the future being made available to some of these private-sector partners, to upgrade their systems, their infrastructure, to communicate with you better?

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  There's another portion of the President's budget that will be unveiled on Monday, that allows for demonstration grant dollars for updating the interoperatibility of computer systems for private providers.  And that would work in directly into what we're doing here.

QUESTION:  Secretary Ridge?  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Yes.

QUESTION:  I was curious if you can give us any kind of update on Bio-Watch.  How it has been operating so far, whether there have been any sort of false positives.  Are you satisfied with it so far?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, we've taken, since Bio-Watch has been up, probably a half a million samples in the urban areas.  They're doing it less than -- less than a year.  And one of the challenges with bio-detection is the -- is the fact that it's not a failsafe science or technology yet, and like anything else, there have been false positives, and it's a labor -- very, very labor-intensive.  And so, these dollars will give us the opportunity to move to the next step to improve the analytical capability around Bio-Watch, and -- and hopefully, the next step gets us so that -- that analysis is done at the point that they pulled in whatever the biological agent is.  So, it's been a very successful program.  We have -- it's -- we've -- it's a portable program, so we've -- we've moved it around from time to time, but it's in over 30 -- 30 cities.  Obviously, we're not going to reveal where they are, but the mayors know where they are, and the people that need to know know where they are.  And we want to double the number of monitoring devices.  But we also, and perhaps even more importantly, want to improve the analytical capability that we have with it.

QUESTION:  When you double the number of devices, will you be doubling the number of cities, or --

SECRETARY RIDGE:  We'll be adding additional cities.

QUESTION:  Can you say how many?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  To be determined.  A lot of it will depend on whether or not we get the full appropriation from Congress.

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  Yes.  Right there.

QUESTION:  Will any of this money go to states and localities, or does this require anything new from them?

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  This money that we're talking about is going to be going to -- to CDC and FDA, and Department of Agriculture.  I don't know about Tom's portion, if any of that goes to it, but this is going to go to put up the -- up the kind of mechanics, the kind of computer systems, the kind of interoperability that we need with clinics and things.  You can see up here, the screens, that we already have a -- just a wealth of knowledge that we get on a daily basis into this department.  But we don't have it from individual hospitals and clinics.  This is going to allow us to make another giant step forward, to get America prepared.

QUESTION:  Is this reporting going to be originating from local health --

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  It has to, because that's where the information is.  That's where -- you know, we're going to mine the information that comes in, and we're going to mine that information by protecting the individuals' identities.  But we're going to get the information, so it'll be coming in, hopeful on a daily basis, so that the big laboratories, and CDC, and the big computer systems will be able to distill that information, be able to get it up here to the department, to Homeland Security, very quickly, and we'll be able to know in advance any kind of change in health patterns that may take place in any community, or region across America.  It's going to be great information, it's going to be vital for the job that Tom has to do to protect the homeland, it's going to be vital for us to protect the public health.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Okay, sir?

QUESTION:  How much is it of an increase does this represent in assisting health surveillance dollars?

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  I can't tell you -- I can't tell you the exact percentage.  It's going to be a hundred and -- it's -- the total thing is almost $300 million new initiative.  And $130 million of that is going to go to CDC to set up this kind of a system, and $5 million to FDA.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  We'll get back to you with a percentage figure.  I mean, it is -- I think it's higher than any other level.  And again, every year, I think, you're see, for the foreseeable future, that we build ever broader and deeper infrastructure in the country.  Over the past couple of years, some federal dollars and some state dollars, some private-sector dollars -- there are systems within counties and within states, as governors, that connect certain kinds of public health information back to a state data base.  Well, this will make -- first of all, we'd like to connect all of the state data bases, but this is going to create an even broader network.  So again, it is an unprecedented level of commitment from the President and the administration, and -- but I can't tell you percentage-wise how much more than in the past.

QUESTION:  Could you say for the fire watch -- the air monitoring stations -- is the technology there to do this instantaneous analysis that you need to do, or --

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Right now, it's very labor-intensive.  No, right now, we have the ability to capture what's in the air, but the technology to analyze what's been captured, is not available o-site.  You literally take the pad and take it to a laboratory, and analyze it.  This takes us -- one of the first RFPs that we put out was the bio-detection -- I mean, we've got a lot of progress -- hopefully making some progress in this is a health increase in those dollars to go to enhancing this particular technology for Bio-Watch.  

QUESTION:  But what I was asking, is the technology there, or do you have to do research and development to develop the technology to instantly analyze the air samples, or is that something you can -- you can go out and purchase?

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Well, we've seen -- I mean, I have personally seen some models from different sources, where they are trying -- where they -- they appear to have the capacity, but it needs to be refined, and try to -- from prototype to a device that has broader application, and a device that can be purchased quickly and as inexpensively as possible.  And we've got -- a little of this is an '05 appropriation.  They're working on it, and this will accelerate it rather substantially.  There are a couple of prototypes out there, so we think we can advance this rather quickly, because they're not starting from scratch.  Okay.

QUESTION:  Would you please comment on today's report out by the House Select Committee on Homeland Security on smallpox?  It specifically calls the smallpox vaccination program --

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  I certainly can.  When we started three years ago, there was a total inventory of 15 million doses of smallpox vaccine, and only 100,000 doses that was available to be shipped out.  There were not enough needles -- in fact, there was a real dearth of needles, in order to -- in order to vaccinate anybody in America.  Since that time, we have grown from 15 million to 300 million doses of vaccine and smallpox.  In the short three years.  We have an ample number of needles in order to vaccinate America many times over.  We have 28,000 doses of VIG, which there was only 800 doses, which is the -- is the -- which is the anti-vaccine that would prevent any kind of deaths or sickness by taking it.  It's -- it acts as a repressant for the -- for the virus.  We have been able to have 40,000 people vaccinated.  It's not as many as we would like, but we have a vast majority of the states which could -- which could vaccinate every person in that particular state within 10 days, and that's our goal.

So, well over a majority of the states are there, we've got some ways to go, but from where we started, to where we are today, it has been a huge success.

QUESTION:  That report specifically criticizes the -- the vaccination portion of that same program, it's stalled.  It's more or less stalled, it's just under 40,000 vaccinations.  Do you consider it stalled?

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  Well, it's -- it certainly is stalled right now, but that doesn't mean that -- that we are not going to be pushing very hard to get more people vaccinated.  But, right now, our goal is to get all the states -- our goal is to get states set up so that they can vaccinate every person -- every man, woman and child -- in that particular state within ten days.  And a majority of the states are already there.  We would like to be able to keep increasing that vaccination number, so that every state is ready.  You've got to realize that there was no state plan whatsoever three years ago, for smallpox.  And today, every state has a plan for vaccinating for smallpox.  

QUESTION:  Secretary Ridge, you talked about coordination between the two agencies, the agencies on health preparedness, but there have been some concerns about specifically the metropolitan medical response system, in respect the Bush administration is asking to eliminate funding for that as they did last year.  Could you comment on that, please?

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  Well, yeah, I can comment on that, because when we set up our budgets, you've got to realize that when we started three years ago, there was no money going back, or very little amount of money, for local participation, or local preparedness for public health.  The public health system was in disarray, and every state was not doing enough, including my own state of Wisconsin was not doing enough in order to build a good public health system.  Since that time, we have grown the system tremendously across America.  And every state now has a state plan in order to protect it, and right now, the amount of money that was set aside for 2002, for Fiscal Year 2002, not all of it has been used up.  Almost half of the money for Fiscal Year 2003 has not been used up by state and local units of government, and we've just, of course, as you know, had the 2004 appropriation bill signed.  So we've got half of 2003, all of 2004.  And so, there's plenty of money available to continue to build the public health infrastructure.  But the President is trying to hold down on excess expenditures in order to get the deficit under control, and we all have to tighten our belts a little bit.  So, I think that when you look at what is available still out there for the states and local units of government to draw down, there's plenty of money in the system to continue to build our public health system.  

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Okay.  Thank you.

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  Thank you all for coming.

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Can you all come here?  

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  This is -- I wanted to quickly point out just some of the things that we can do.  This right here is -- this is the West Nile -- we are able to tell -- three years ago, Tom, the West Nile virus was known here.  This year, we predicted it was going to be in Colorado and Nebraska because of the dead birds and dead horses.  We were predicted.  By March or April or May, we'll be able to predict where the next incidents of West Nile Virus is going to.  

In our data base, we have every hospital, every hospital, we have the best, the location, we have every fire station, every police station, every highway, every street, every nuclear plant, every hydrogen plant.  So, we're able to tell exactly on a day-to-day basis what the capacity is for any hospital in America.  It's really --

SECRETARY RIDGE:  They can --

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  They convince --

SECRETARY RIDGE:  I mean, you do a computer search, I mean, you have it for the --

SECRETARY THOMPSON:  And so -- and so, if we wanted to go here to find out this hospital here, that can tell us that -- how many trauma beds there are, what the -- what the -- where it's located, and so on.  What the capacity is.  And so, it's something that would happen -- if you had to move those hospital beds, you would -- you would call us up, and we would be able to tell you that this hospital needs about ten trauma beds, and we could tell you the next hospital where to send it to.  And so this over here is -- t his is the avian influenza that we're all concerned about right now.  We're watching this on a daily basis, and I was just talking with the Chinese health minister the other night about it.  

And this one, of course, is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, a state of mad cow disease, and this is some of their assets around the world.  And this is SARS that every day during the SARS epidemic, we had it updated exactly how many people were -- were infected, where they were infected, and so on.  And this over here -- we have the capacity here to download any one of 4,000 local TV stations across America, so if there's a bioterroism attack in Topeka, Kansas, we can call up the local TV stations and put them up here, and watch it.  We also have al Jazeera in Pakistan on TV stations that we can follow.  

And our telephones are synchronized so that you can call up and you can be listening to a particular station, and not bothering the person that's working next to you.  It's all hepa-filtered, and positive air, so if something goes off in the building, as you see right here, you continue to deliver services to you right here.  

Thank you all for coming.  

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