The scenario based interactive meeting attracted academics including epidemiologists, infectious disease experts, immunologists, vaccinologists, public health experts, pathologists, and political scientists, emergency clinicians, senior planners from health authorities, leaders from defence, law enforcement and other first responder organisations, industry representatives and cybersecurity experts. ...the meeting had a very substantial virtual component. Jurisdictions where there is vacillating, ineffective or obstructive political support for evidence based responses have failed dismally and will fail to control future threats of highly infectious pathogens, whether they are released on purpose as part of a bioterrorism threat or are naturally occurring pathogens.Declaration of Competing Interest The author declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Acknowledgements ADK receives funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, the Federal Department of Health and the Ministry of Health NSW, in Australia as well as through the NIH USA.