US Department of Homeland Security

Created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the months following the 2001 anthrax attacks, the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center is a government laboratory quantitatively assessing the risks posed by biological threats and attributing their use in bioterrorism or biocrime events. Completed in March 2009, NBACC's 160,000 square foot facility is located within the National Interagency Biodefense Campus, at Fort Detrick, Maryland. NBACC research guides the development of such countermeasures as detectors, drugs, vaccines, and decontamination technologies. NBACC achieved the highest international standard of testing and calibration by which a lab can be assessed, ISO 17025, and as such is a worldwide model for bioforensic lab practices.