Katherine Eban

Katherine Eban, a former New York Times reporter, is an investigative journalist who covers medical and health issues. In the following viewpoint, she argues that the best way for the United States to prepare for a possible bioterrorist attack is to spend more on general improvements to the nation’s health-care system. Years of funding cutbacks and managed care have left the nation’s hospitals and emergency rooms without the capacity to handle the large-scale emergencies that biological warfare would create. Spending millions of dollars on high-tech defenses against biological weapons while neglecting the basic infrastructure of America’s public health system makes little sense, she concludes.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What happened to the nation&rsquo...