Background on the Reviews of the Federal Select Agent Program

CDC 90-Day Internal Review

In summer 2015, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden ordered an internal 90-day review of the Division of Select Agents and Toxins to examine the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) and make recommendations to improve the program.

The resulting report produced recommendations in three main areas – addressing inspections, incident reporting, and transparency and public understanding.

White House Reports

Two other federal-level reports analyzing the oversight of laboratory work involving select agents and toxins were ordered by the White House to identify ways to strengthen policies and practices both at a national level and as a part of the FSAP, and included the following:

• A report and recommendations developed by a federal advisory panel, the Report of the Federal Experts Security Advisory Panel, or FESAP
• A report and recommendations informed by external stakeholder input, the Fast Track Action Committee Report on Select Agent Regulations, or FTAC-SAR

Each of these reports offered recommendations for improvement of the FSAP, and a federal implementation plan for the full set of recommendations was also issued by the White House.

Recommendations for program improvement from each of these three reviews overlap in many areas, and program initiatives to address the recommendations are described in detail here.