In May 2017, several faculty at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the loss of the NBACC would make the impact of a bioterror attack "far more dire." They said, "In the first moments after the attack is identified, we'd want to know the identity of the pathogen used in the attack, whether it could spread from person to person and what drugs and vaccines would work to treat and protect people. But with ... complete elimination the NBACC ... the delay before these and other facts are known would increase, costing many lives."