New Site – BiodefenseEducation.org – In brief, a new site, similar in concept to NOSI, but dedicated to the topic of biodefense and biological warfare, that we are working on for the National Institutes of Health. Below is the formal description:

The biodefense field and biodefense information is growing rapidly, and keeping current is challenging.

BiodefenseEducation.org is a Biodefense Digital Library and Collaboratory which is intended to serve as a source of continuing education on biodefense affairs.

BiodefenseEducation.org is designed to serve several different populations: the current and next generation of biodefense investigators and trainees, medical personnel, first responders, and other interested parties.

BiodefenseEducation.org has three components:

1. News Library – An annotated list of links to biodefense news stories are posted daily after scanning over 100 international news sources. The purpose of this News Library is to serve as a source of daily biodefense education and continuing professional development for biodefense investigators and trainees and to define a biodefense learning curriculum.

2. Collaboratory – Discussions about the biodefense news stories or any other biodefense topic is encouraged. The purpose of this Collaboratory is to bring together online individuals interested in biodefense so they may freely and easily discuss the numerous issues in biodefense research, education, or patient care.

3. Reference Library – The reference library serves as a biodefense knowledge management system, connecting the individual interested in biodefense faced with a question with the right information at the right time so they can make the right decision.

BiodefenseEducation.org can be found at: http://www.biodefenseeducation.org

BiodefenseEducation.org is funded in part by a grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

BiodefenseEducation.org is a work in progress, and we welcome your comments which may be sent via our online Comment Form at http://www.biodefenseeducation.org/sendcomments.

Thank you for your consideration,

Donna M. D’Alessandro, M.D. and Michael P. D’Alessandro, M.D.

US Navy – A U.S. Navy strategic missile from the USS Georgia was damaged during a mishap at a submarine base last year, nearly striking a nuclear warhead.

• Washington Times: Nuclear missile damaged in submarine base mishap

Iraq – Will US learn from the lessons taught to the British during their occupation of Iraq starting in 1920?

• Chistian Science Monitor: What the British learned in 1920 by not leaving Iraq