Dr. James R. Swearengen, following retirement from the U.S. Army after 21 years of service, served for 4 years as the senior director at the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International before joining the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center as their comparative medicine veterinarian in 2009. Since 2007, Dr. Swearengen has served on the National Academies of Science National Research Council Standing Committee on Biodefense for the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Academies of Science Institute for Laboratory Animal Research Committee on Animal Models for Assessing Countermeasures to Bioterrorism Agents.
Praise for the Previous Edition Most readers will be surprised at the long-standing involvement of veterinarians in global historical programs-both offensive and defensive in nature...Dr. Swearengen's qualifications as the editor are matched only by the world-class assembly of contributors...This book should be one of those few dog-eared, ready references on your desk. --Donald L Noah, DVM, MPH, DACVPM, in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA), Vol. 229, No. 12, December 2006 This text will be useful to physicians, veterinarians, scientists and technicians pursuing expertise in infectious diseases in general and, in particular, in infectious agents with potential as biological weapons. ...The first chapter, which reviews the history of biological weapons, is a chilling reminder of man's inhumanity to man in the successful-as well as unsuccessful-deliberate release of biological agents in the past. ...The main value of this text is the concise overview of each agent, with significant experimental data and extensive references. --Mark T. Whary, DVM, Ph.D., DACLAM, in the Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (JAALAS), Vol. 45, No. 5, September 2006 .. .includes a wealth of accurate well presented, well referenced information on the subject, including readable accounts of the history of biological warfare/bioterrorism and detail of specific disease threats, such as anthrax. --Brian Austin, in Microbiology Today, 2006