Departments now working without good coordination include the health dept, dept. of agriculture, boarder patrol, homeland security, & state and local governments. One agency should be given the responsibility, authority and resources to lead the effort to protect the public from microbial threats that originate abroad. This agency should work with all departments involved in the problem, and all aspects - prevention, detection, screening, and responding to threats. A strategy should assure that each partner's roles and responsibilities are clearly delineated in each aspect of the problem.