Strategic National Stockpile

The need for biodefense has become more clear in the wake of outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa, Zika in the Americas, devastating wildfires and hurricanes, and the poisonings of the North Korean leader's half brother in Malaysia and former Russian spies in England with nerve and radiological agents.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the nation's top military leader delivered a sober assessment Wednesday of Syria's sophisticated air defenses and its extensive stockpile of chemical weapons in a strategic reality check to the demand for U.S. military action to end President Bashar Assad's deadly crackdown on his people.

The need for biodefense has become more clear in the wake of outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa, Zika in the Americas, devastating wildfires and hurricanes, and the poisonings of the North Korean leader's half brother in Malaysia and former Russian spies in England with nerve and radiological agents.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the nation's top military leader delivered a sober assessment Wednesday of Syria's sophisticated air defenses and its extensive stockpile of chemical weapons in a strategic reality check to the demand for U.S. military action to end President Bashar Assad's deadly crackdown on his people.