Few areas of contemporary biomedical science so vividly illustrate the tension between knowledge as a source of public safety and security, and knowledge as a source of vulnerability as gain-of-function (GoF) research. INSS Senior Fellow, Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare, Dr. James Giordano writes in Homeland Security Today that much of such work is routine and relatively benign, however, controversy arises when research involving infectious agents could increase properties such as pathogenicity, transmissibility, host range, immune evasion, environmental stability, or resistance to existing countermeasures. The U.S. has now moved decisively toward prohibiting federally supported dangerous GoF research while maintaining other biomedical research and strengthening oversight. That decision can reduce certain categories of domestic risk, but its strategic success should be measured by whether the nation becomes safer without becoming blinder.

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