Zeitschrift für Bioterrorismus und Bioverteidigung

Abstrakt

Microbial forensics: Present and future

Randall S. Murch

Microbial forensics, emerged from the creation of the first-ever Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) forensic
investigative program in the FBI Laboratory in 1996. At the beginning, this program was an interagency endeavor
involving the FBI, Department of Defense military medical laboratories, Centers for Disease Control and Department
of Energy National Laboratories. Today, the forensic characterization and source attribution of biological weapons and
associated forensic evidence is a very important priority in U.S. biodefense planning and preparedness. Concomitantly,
the Federal interagency involved in this arena has become a ?whole of Government? enterprise. The science of
microbial forensics draws upon a variety of disciplines and capabilities and is designed, developed, validated and
applied to inform investigative, intelligence, legal and policy questions and support decision making. Microbial forensics
seeks to address requirements of sound science, but also those of the users of the information. The soundness of
the science is an end-to-end proposition, from sample collection through reporting and interpretation of results and
communication of conclusions