U.S. Department of Defense Chemical and Biological Defense Program Overall Strategy

Key Chapter Title List

1. Remarks by the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Deputy Under Secretary)
2. Strategic Environment
3. Core Objectives
4. Strategic Priority Goals
5. Goal 1: Create Chemical and Biological Defense Advantage
6. Goal 2: Deliver Capabilities with Speed and Scale
7. Goal 3: Optimize the Planning System
8. Goal 4: Leverage Partnerships
9. Future Outlook
10. Appendix A: Terminology Definitions
11. Appendix B: Reference Documents

Document Introduction

This strategy serves as the guiding document for the U.S. Department of Defense Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) as it enters its fourth decade, outlining the development direction and action framework for 2024 to 2040. In a geopolitical environment dominated by strategic competition, the plan identifies China as a pacing challenge and Russia as an acute threat, emphasizing the critical importance of Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) for sustaining U.S. military power, breaking through traditional limitations to achieve coverage across the entire force.

The document systematically analyzes core changes in the strategic environment: Geopolitically, near-peer nations possess cross-domain, large-scale capabilities for employing chemical and biological weapons, necessitating routine large-scale joint operations across the entire force. Technologically, the convergence of bioengineering, artificial intelligence, synthetic chemistry, and other technologies has given rise to more covert, difficult-to-trace novel threats, expanding defense requirements across all phases of competition, confrontation, and conflict. Simultaneously, this strategy aligns with top-level documents such as the 2022 National Security Strategy and the 2023 Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, establishing threat-driven, operationally relevant, and rapidly scalable delivery as core priorities.

The strategic framework is built around four major goals: First, to create chemical and biological defense advantage by integrating sensing, analysis, and response capabilities through three sub-goals: expanding decision space, reducing initial operational impact, and enabling rapid response and recovery. Second, to deliver capabilities with speed and scale, focusing on technology-enabled acceleration, innovation at scale, and incremental deployment to overcome supply chain and cost bottlenecks. Third, to optimize the planning system, achieving end-to-end coordination across requirements, development, and acquisition through institutional reforms, implementing capability portfolio management, and deepening warfighter integration. Fourth, to leverage partnerships by linking U.S. government agencies, international allies, and the industry-academia-research ecosystem to foster collaborative innovation and scale effects.

This strategy replaces the 2020 edition and, for the first time, establishes the integrated layered defense (ILD) against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats as its core concept, utilizing Capability Portfolio Management (CPM) to achieve cross-domain, full-cycle risk management and capability closure. The document emphasizes moving away from the traditional agent- and equipment-centric model towards a multi-capability portfolio approach, providing resilience support for U.S. forces executing missions in chemical and biological threat environments, and demonstrating the U.S. strategic resolve to maintain deterrence and defense superiority in this domain.