What Happens When a Biological Threat Escapes the Lab?

by Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich and Annie Jacobsen examine the growing threat of biological warfare, lab accidents, genetic engineering, and America’s ability to respond to a catastrophic outbreak.

Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author Annie Jacobsen has spent years investigating the threats most capable of reshaping civilization. After examining nuclear war, she turned to a danger that senior national security officials repeatedly urged her to investigate next: biological catastrophe. In her new book, Biological War: A Scenario, Jacobsen explores how an engineered pathogen, a laboratory accident, or a deliberate biological attack could spread across a globally connected world faster than governments and public health systems can respond.

On Newt’s World, Newt Gingrich and Annie Jacobsen examine the history of biological weapons, the extraordinary advances in genetic engineering, the rapid expansion of high-containment laboratories, and the lessons America failed to fully absorb from COVID-19. Their conversation also raises a larger question about preparedness. Technology may now give us the ability to identify emerging threats in near real time, but bureaucratic systems can still move far more slowly. For Jacobsen, the answer is not panic. It is using what we know to put pressure on institutions to prepare before the next crisis arrives.

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