Pathogen proliferation: Threats from the former Soviet bioweapons complex

This article outlines the proliferation threats of pathogen collections fro m the former Soviet biological weapons (BW) program and the inherent diffic ulties in safeguarding sensitive biological materials. It describes new U,S . government efforts to improve security conditions of these collections th rough the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Finally, the art icle analyzes these U,S, programs and offers additional policy recommendati ons to reduce the proliferation threat from these dangerous pathogens.