# NYT-Fauci ****[NYT, Feb 4, 2002: ](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/04/us/nation-challenged-bioterrorism-bush-request-major-increase-bioterror-funds.html)** *Spending to protect the United States against germ weapons began increasing under President Bill* *Clinton, .. but many of Mr. Clinton's requests were cut by his own Office of Management and Budget or the Congress, which remained skeptical.*** ***Spurred** by the spate of anthrax-filled letters that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has decided to seek $11 billion over two years to **protect** the nation against biological terrorism, a far larger amount than even bio defense experts had expected. * *Dr. Anthony S. **Fauci**, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said the huge infusion of federal aid for basic and **applied** research was likely to be **''transforming**.''* **[Dr. Fauci:](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/04/us/nation-challenged-bioterrorism-bush-request-major-increase-bioterror-funds.html)** *The $1.75 billion request for the National Institutes of Health alone is the biggest single-year request for any discipline or institute in the history of the N.I.H. This is the first time that an extraordinary amount of money is being increased **expressly for bioterrorism** rather than for the general enhancement of capabilities.* ***[NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/04/us/nation-challenged-bioterrorism-bush-request-major-increase-bioterror-funds.html)**: The budget also calls for increasing the national supply of **''push packs''** -- the preassembled packages containing life-saving antidotes, drugs and other medical supplies that can be sent to the sites of terrorist attacks or **mysterious infectious outbreaks*** *Dr. Fauci is expected to travel with President Bush to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to announce details of the administration's biodefense plans.* **[Dr. Fauci:](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/04/us/nation-challenged-bioterrorism-bush-request-major-increase-bioterror-funds.html)** *You need appropriate facilities to **work on dangerous microbes** that can be used for **weapons**, and we must **jump-start** our efforts to get new facilities and expertise into existing centers of biological excellence* **[NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/04/us/nation-challenged-bioterrorism-bush-request-major-increase-bioterror-funds.html)**: *Dr. Fauci said he was putting the **final touches** on a strategic plan for spending the new money at his institute, which is scheduled to receive a 61 percent increase.* *He said he would spend about $441 million of the $1.75 billion budget on basic research, some $592 million on **drug** and **vaccine** discovery and development, $194 million on **trials of new drugs**, and $522 million on new research **laboratories** at federal, university and **industry** facilities.* *Some $600 million will go to the **Pentagon**, .. much of it at the United States Army laboratory at **Fort Detrick, Md.**, which **conducted biological weapons research** before such weapons were **banned** in **1969**, and now develops antidotes to and **defenses** against such pathogens. **The laboratory** has been **heavily involved** in trying **to analyze the origins** and source of the anthrax letters sent to the Senate and to media outlets in New York and Florida.\** *The budget also devotes $10 million to creating a **team of epidemiological scientists** .. who will work with their **foreign counterparts** *(on) .. ***mysterious disease outbreaks** and **share** news about promising new **drugs** and **antidotes**. * *It earmarks another $20 million for the centers' **Epidemiological Intelligence** Service, established in 1951 as an early-warning system against **biological warfare**. \** [**Dr Fauci, 2011, 10-year anniversary:**](https://www.rwjf.org/en/blog/2011/10/anthony-s-fauci-reflects-on-the-2001-anthrax-attacks.html)[ ](https://www.rwjf.org/en/blog/2011/10/anthony-s-fauci-reflects-on-the-2001-anthrax-attacks.html) *What stands out most to me about the 2001 anthrax attacks is the notion that from that point on, **bioterror was a reality and no longer an abstract concept**. .. (T)he attacks really were a wake-up call.* *Through the anthrax response, we built both a **physical** and an **intellectual infrastructure** that can be used to respond to a **broad range** of emerging health **threats**.* ***The result** is that today we are in a **much better** position — from the perspective of both the research **pipeline** and public health preparedness.* \* Fort Detrick, Md., *was* the laboratory heavily involved in the origin of the anthrax letters. \* Seeding money for the Prox-O-5, EcoHealth