Annie Jacobsen Warns 3,600 Labs Raise Bioweapons Risk in New Book
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Sep 30
Annie Jacobsen Warns 3,600 Labs Raise Bioweapons Risk in New Book
2 articles · Updated · WIRED · Sep 30
Summary
Biological War: A Scenario argues the bigger bioweapons danger is accidental release, not deliberate attack, because thousands of high-containment labs handle pathogens that can be made more virulent or transmissible.
Jacobsen says the low barrier to biological weapons makes them a broader threat than nuclear arms, while Pentagon war-gaming veterans told her there is no true defense against a large-scale biological attack—only mitigation.
Anthropic’s recent report on five attempts to bypass Claude’s safeguards for gain-of-function queries reinforces her warning that AI could further lower the bar, though she says the threat already exists without AI.
The book also highlights preparedness gaps, including classified US “devolution” plans to reconstitute government after social breakdown, and draws on scenarios involving airborne plague-like agents with potentially catastrophic mortality.