The final BW IRP Team included participants from Federal, State, and local agencies. The U.S. Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM), which developed the program, then defined the parameters of the overall process. The process first provided a forum to educate and inform the interdisciplinary and multiagency team about the offensive and defensive aspects of BW's and bioterrorism. Second, the process yielded an initial set of integrated response activities designed to manage and mitigate the full spectrum of consequences that would emerge from a large-scale domestic bioterrorist event. The BW IRP Team has formulated a generic bioresponse template that embodies the concepts and work breakdown a city needs to respond effectively to a bioterrorist event. This template is a useful starting point for cities and States in preparing their own local plans to respond to a bioterrorist attack. SBCCOM plans to validate and improve selected components of the response template through tests and exercises; and it is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop and test an appropriate public health surveillance system.