Homeland Security's Dr. Tara O'Toole Visits Kansas, Makes the NBAF a Priority

During a visit to Kansas last month shortly after her Senate confirmation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Tara O’Toole strongly reiterated the Administration’s commitment to building the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas, while also highlighting the critical importance of the NBAF research mission.

Dr. O’Toole traveled to the state for an NBAF in Kansas Task Force meeting in Topeka and an NBAF site visit at Kansas State University. She took multiple opportunities along the way to note President Barack Obama’s commitment to the NBAF and the lab’s importance to national security, with Manhattan as “a prime site” because of its “breadth of intellectual firepower.”

Gov. Mark Parkinson chaired the NBAF in Kansas Task Force meeting, and task force honorary chairman U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and co-chairman Dan Glickman participated by phone from Washington. Approximately 25 other task force members representing producer groups, the legislature, and industry attended, along with the Kansas secretaries of agriculture and health and human services.

Following the task force meeting, Dr. O’Toole went to Manhattan, where she conferred with K-State president Kirk Schulz, Manhattan city manager Ron Fehr, and other key stakeholders about accelerating research to protect the food supply. While there, she toured K-State’s Biosecurity Research Institute.

Also in December, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce featured the importance of the NBAF at a Corridor Conversations event focused on trends and issues in the animal health industry. KBA CEO Tom Thornton and Kansas State University vice president Ron Trewyn reviewed progress on the NBAF and spoke to the unique capabilities of the KC Animal Health Corridor to address national bioscience challenges.