National Biosurveillance Integration System
(NBIS)
Prepared for:
Biosurveillance Information Exchange Working Group
February 22, 2006
National Policy for Biodefense
April 2004, The National Policy for Bio-defense (HSPD-10)
directly tasks the Secretary of Homeland Security to:
“establish a National Biosurveillance Group (NBSG) that capitalizes
upon existing surveillance systems focused on, respectively, human
disease, food, agriculture, water, meteorology, and the environment.
This group will collate, integrate, and analyze the information from these
systems with relevant threat and intelligence information and disseminate
this all-source information to appropriate Federal departments and
agencies.”
NBIS Mission
The National Biosurveillance Group provides decisionmakers early recognition of biological events of potential
national significance, to include natural disease outbreaks,
accidental or intentional use of biological agents, and
emergent biohazards through the acquisition, integration,
analysis, and dissemination of information from existing
human disease, food, agriculture, water, meteorological, and
environmental surveillance systems and relevant threat and
intelligence information. The resulting improved information
sharing and enhanced situational awareness facilitates
national decision-making to enable timely response.
Key Terms
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NBIS - National Biosurveillance Integration System – the overarching
program
NBSG - National Biosurveillance Group – the DHS personnel and
Interagency SMEs that operate the National Biosurveillance Integration
Center.
NBIC - National Biosurveillance Integration Center – the DHS facility
housing the NBSG
NBIS Lite – a prototype information technology (IT) system
NBIS v2.0 – a robust IT system designed to support the comprehensive
information and knowledge requirements of the NBIS Program.
NMA - NBIS Member Agencies – those Departments, Agencies, and
Organizations internal and external to the DHS participating in the NBIS
through information sharing and analysis.
GBSE - Global Biological Security Environment – the aggregate of
biological conditions and related factors that comprise or pose an extant or
emergent hazard to the health of human, animal, and plant life particularly
with respect to the United States and its interests. Also includes nonbiological indicators that may signal a potential or emerging biological
condition that threatens such.
BCOP - Biosurveillance Common Operating Picture – the graphical
representation of the GBSE derived from the composite feeds of NBISv2
Network-centric
Approach
• Networked biosurveillance community will
greatly enhance situational awareness of all
members and supported decision-makers
• Shared situational awareness will improve
community understanding of bio-hazards, their
etiologies and their markers
• Informed network members are able to perform
their detection functions more effectively
– Develop an analytic rhythm that produces
cooperative, synergistic, system-wide surveillance
• Cross-domain analysis will improve detection
time and surveillance fidelity
NBIS IT
NBIS IT System Concept
Intelligence Community
NBIS Operating Environment
HHS
National Biosurveillance Group
VA
CDC
DoD
• Event Recognition
• Situational Awareness
• Information Sharing
DHS
FDA
USPS
Message
Broker
Layer
DOS
EPA
OiE
Fusion
USDA
FAO
Common
Operating
Picture
• Conditioning
• Fusion
• Detection
USGS
NOAA
DOE
DOT
DoD
Other
Industry
Archived
Commercial
Sources
(as submitted)
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Fused
Processed
(analyzed)
HSOC, IIMG, & Interagency Partners
WHO
Hazards of Concern
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Human Pathogens
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High Mortality
Ease of transmission
Economic Impact
Psychological Impact
Animal Pathogens
– Ease of transmission to Humans
– Ease of transmission within and between species
– Economic Impact
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Plant Pathogens
– Economic concerns
– Human / Animal Health Concerns
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Environmental, Water Pathogens
– Human/ Animal Health Concerns
– Economic Concern
– Psychological Concern
Enhanced Surveillance
Domain Detection Thresholds
(e.g. intelligence, syndromic surveillance, etc.)
Detection Time
72 hrs
48 hrs
Single domain threshold
reached informs all members
24 hrs
NBIS Detection Window
Event Progression
Multi - domain cueing can reduce detection
threshold below independent domain thresholds
NBIS Objectives
•Improved info sharing
•Reduced detection time
7
DOES NOT Involve
• Event Response
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Agency roles are defined under the National Response Plan (NRP)
• Attribution – Terrorist Act
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The FBI has this role
• Represent a parallel reporting structure outside the
NRP
• Replace the role of any interagency partner
• Include information on individuals
• Completely eliminate uncertainty in the
biosurveillance equation
Implementation Phases
• Phased approach that builds capability
• Avian disease oriented initially for current threat
• Phases
– Phase 1 – Watch center active (Nov – Dec 2005)
– Phase 2 – NBIS Lite (Dec 2005 – Jun 2006)
• Daily General Disease Reports
– Avian Flu Supplement
• Weekly AI Summary
• Bio Informational Notices
• Web based portal for the NBSG
– Phase 3 – NBIS-V2 ( Jul 2006)
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All hazards taxonomy
Robust information feeds
Limited decision support capability
Analyst chat
BCOP
NBSG Staffing
• 24/7 Watch Desk within the HSOC
• Agency representatives assigned to NBSG will:
– Assist in analysis specific to their agency’s
information
– Provide insight into the capabilities and operations of
their agency
– Facilitate coordination and 2-way information sharing
– NMA representatives should be:
• Conversant in all major operational aspects of their agency
• Possess analytic expertise in their agency’s area of focus
• Capable of working in a dynamic interagency environment
• ~40 personnel total
Current Reports
• Daily General Disease Report
– CONUS and OCONUS
– Supplemental Avian Influenza Update
• Weekly Avian Influenza SITREP
– Global
– Confirmations include OIE/WHO/EU Labs, Military Labs
and Local Government agencies
– Geographic expansion
– US Border Surveillance
• Biological Event Informational Notices
Avian Influenza SITREP
• Weekly SITREP Product is intended for the
Secretary and NBSG
• All classification levels
• Reflects global tactical tracking of both
suspected and confirmed Avian Influenza in
animals and humans
• Represents input from multiple NBSG partner
agencies and approximately one million open
source materials scanned per day
• Early indication and warning is the goal
Example Product: Avian
Influenza SITREP (2 of 3)
QUESTIONS?