National Interest

by Dov S. Zakheim

    Both houses of Congress have urged the Pentagon to stand up a “Biotechnology Management Office,” ensuring a unified approach to biotech within the armed services.

    For over a year, the Congressionally-mandated National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), of which I am a member, has been urging the Congress to pass legislation that would strengthen America’s ability to preserve its lead over China in this critical scientific field. The Commission’s April 2025 report offered a series of recommendations that would both reorganize the Executive Branch to enable more efficient exploitation of biotechnology for national security and spur private investment to enable the production of a host of biotech products at scale. The report warned policymakers that they had only a few years to act in order to secure America’s longstanding lead in biotechnology. Otherwise they would risk ceding that lead to China.

    Chinese president Xi Jinping has long identified biotechnology as a national security priority for his country. For two decades, the Chinese government has devoted massive resources to seize international leadership of this critical sector. It is noteworthy that China is forging ahead with biotech developments on the battlefield, such as strengthening human capacity and endurance in combat operations.

    China already dominates much of the biotech supply chain. America’s biotech-related industries, notably the pharmaceutical industry, relies heavily on Chinese inputs, rendering them and American consumers vulnerable to a Chinese cutoff, similar to China’s 2025 restriction on exports to the US of six heavy rare earths and rare-earth magnets.

    American advances in biotechnology, such as synthetic blood for battlefield medical aid and growable runways powered by microbes will enable the United States, in conjunction with allies that are also forging ahead in this field, to retain its lead over China for the long term. In order to do so, however, America needs the ability to produce these products at scale and for that government support is critical.

    The FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provides an opportunity to strengthen our global security posture well into the future by equipping America’s warfighters with the most cutting-edge technology available. Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have included multiple provisions in the NDAA to accelerate the employment of biotechnology for defense.

    To that end, both committees direct the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish a formal Biotechnology Management Office to oversee research, development and acquisition of broad-based biotechnology capabilities. They require DoD to issue competitive awards that would encourage domestic bio-industrial manufacturing capacity for critical bio-manufactured products at a commercial scale. Similarly, they expand the DoD’s authority to support demonstration and pilot facilities for bio-industrial research and development to transition critical materials to scale. They also require key intelligence agencies to appoint senior biotech leads, to improve intelligence sharing on foreign bio-threats and to secure biological data and procurement networks. Finally, both committees establish a partnership with Israel in bilateral research and development across multiple technology domains, including biotechnology.

    In addition to these provisions, a bipartisan group of seven senators, led by NSCEB Commission chairman Todd Young (R-IN) is championing a series of recommendations that derive from the NSCEB’s April 2025 report to strengthen and secure US biotechnology for America’s long-term national security.

    To begin with, the group of seven urges the executive branch to improve biotechnology governance across government agencies thereby enabling the government to keep pace with innovation by means of modern, streamlined and proactive biosecurity policies. That is not the case today. The Executive Branch currently has a fragmented approach to ensuring safe, secure and responsible biotechnology research and innovation. Moreover, for 20 years the government has failed to develop a system that does not stifle innovation. This recommendation offers a first step toward solving that problem and securing America’s technological lead.

    A second recommendation focuses on the growing convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology. It identifies the need to Improve the availability of high-quality biological data for use by American researchers and calls upon the government to develop standards and frameworks to make biological data ready for use in AI models.

    Yet another recommendation would establish a national network of cloud laboratories in order to generate high-quality data through automated instrumentation. These cloud labs would advance research and improve training for future AI models, including for accelerated biotechnology research.

    Finally, the senators call for establishing a National Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center. This center would improve reliability and efficiency of biopharmaceutical manufacturing methods, engage regulators to ensure alignment with regulatory requirements and provide workforce training opportunities.

    These additional recommendations, which are embodied in provisions to be inserted in the NDAA, would strengthen and underpin the government’s urgent need to address the growing threat that Chinese advances in biotechnology pose to our national security. The Senate must act now to approve both the NDAA and the additional language that the seven senators have put forward, so as to ensure that America does jeopardize its long-term national security by ceding to Beijing the world’s leadership this crucial cutting edge technology.