Dr. James R. Swearengen, following retirement from the U.S. Army after 21 years of service, served for 4 years as the senior director at the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International before joining the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center as their comparative medicine veterinarian in 2009. Since 2007, Dr. Swearengen has served on the National Academies of Science National Research Council Standing Committee on Biodefense for the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Academies of Science Institute for Laboratory Animal Research Committee on Animal Models for Assessing Countermeasures to Bioterrorism Agents.