Editing Biodefense (section)

==Military==

===Troops in the field===
[[United States biological defense program|Military biodefense in the United States]] began with the [[United States Army Medical Unit]] (USAMU) at [[Fort Detrick]], [[Maryland]], in 1956. (In contrast to the [[United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories|U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories]] [1943–1969], also at Fort Detrick, the USAMU's mission was purely to develop defensive measures against [[bio-agents]], as opposed to weapons development.) The USAMU was disestablished in 1969 and succeeded by today's [[USAMRIID|United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)]].

The [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] (DoD) has focused since at least 1998 on the development and application of vaccine-based biodefenses.  In a July 2001 report commissioned by the DoD, the "DoD-critical products" were stated as vaccines against [[anthrax]] (AVA and Next Generation), [[smallpox]], [[Bubonic plague|plague]], [[tularemia]], [[botulinum]], [[ricin]], and [[equine encephalitis]].  Note that two of these targets are toxins (botulinum and ricin) while the remainder are infectious agents.
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