Introduction to Volume XI

We are proud to publish Volume XI of the Journal of Biosecurity, Biosafety, and Biodefense Law. The volume, similar to all past volumes, highlights important current issues and takes a deeper look into the fields of biosecurity, biosafety, and biodefense law. The articles selected for publication in Volume XI cover numerous up-to-date topics. These topics include: vaccination requirements for members of the armed forces, methods to counter bioterrorism, laws surrounding DIY science, vaccination exemptions and constitutionality of removing them, biosecurity as it relates to food safety, biosurveillance systems in the United States, the 2014 Global Health Security Agenda, and biodiplomacy. The featured article of Volume XI is derived from a keynote address from the Global Biodefense Symposium on April 11, 2019. Richard Rosen, Glenn D. West Professor of Law and Director of the Center of Military Law & Policy, addresses the biological treats members of the armed forces face and how our government protects them in his article titled, Vaccines and the Armed Forces: There “Ain’t” No “Anti-vaxxers” in the Military. Following our featured article, Tarun Krishnakumar, in Mandatory Incident Reporting as a means to counter C/B Terrorism: Moving from Accident-based to Incident-based Systems, analyzesmandatory incident and near-miss reporting as a means to combat bioterrorism. Ashley Vaughan then discusses the laws and regulations that apply to DIY scientists and the gaps that may be present in these laws and regulations in her article, DIY Science A Cure for Cancer or the Next Plague? And, in The Constitutionality of Mandatory Vaccinations: Eliminating Exemptions, Conner Lee analyzes the constitutionality of changing the laws surrounding vaccination exemptions. In The Food Safety Fence: Gaps and Consequences, author Patrick Rippy analyzes food-borne outbreaks in the United States and the biosecurity mechanisms related to these outbreaks. James Lee Brooks provides insight into the field of biosurveillance by examining its strengths and weaknesses in his article titled, Biosurveillance: A Modern Look.