Ashish Jha
American physicianWikipedia
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50
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Search complete. 62 mentions across 50 episodes found for "Ashish Jha".
Oct 9, 2026
Derek ThompsonHOST
[drum music] Today, a Russian plague mystery and the future of bioweapons.
Derek ThompsonHOST
In January 2023, Ashish Jha, a scientist who served as Joe Biden's COVID czar, was approached after a meeting in the White House Situation Room.
Derek ThompsonHOST
The situation, officials told him, was grave.
Derek ThompsonHOST
American intelligence officials were seeing bioweapons research explode around the world, especially among our geopolitical adversaries, including Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea.
Derek ThompsonHOST
Seen in this framework, if the biological breakthroughs of the last few decades become agents of war in the next few decades, that would not be an abnormal break from history.
Derek ThompsonHOST
It would be the continuation of history, and of course, that is the scariest part.
Derek ThompsonHOST
Today's guest is Ashish Jha.
Derek ThompsonHOST
We talk about the Russian plague, the state of bioweapons research around the world, how and why AI makes this work more dangerous by making the science of manipulating biology more democratic, the optimistic argument that bioweapons might not be as dangerous as many people think, and what we should do now, not only at the level of states and societies, but the level of families.
Stefan MolyneuxHOST
Mario Norwell runs a large ex-account that posts round-the-clock news briefs, essentially a news aggregator.
Stefan MolyneuxHOST
Ashish Jha cites the FSB report and Srlovsk, the 1979 anthrax leak that officials denied for years and worries about an accidental release from a military program.
Stefan MolyneuxHOST
That history is real.
Stefan MolyneuxHOST
They certainly did.
Seena GhaznaviHOST
The virologist Angela Rasmussen told CNN it takes a high dose of bacteria to get sick.
Seena GhaznaviHOST
Ashish Jha, who ran the White House COVID response team, love that guy, told NBC the chance this becomes a larger outbreak, quote, let alone a global pandemic, is exceedingly low.
Seena GhaznaviHOST
Well, listen, bud, you should get another job title for them to
Travis IrvineHOST
cite.
Leland VittertHOST
And of course, radiation exposure is not contagious like the plague.
Leland VittertHOST
Dr. Ashish Jha, senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School is with us, former CIA operations officer in the Soviet states.
Leland VittertHOST
Lindsay Moran is with us.
Leland VittertHOST
Nice to see both of you.
speaker_1SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Treatment with antibiotics within 24 hours helps patients avoid severe pneumonia.
speaker_1SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Health experts like former COVID response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha say Russia needs to be more open about what happened in the lab.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
We know, given Russia's history of biological weapons development, that this could be something else.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And we just...
ZhenfeiHOST
It is the direct successor to the KGB, and Putin himself once served as its director.
ZhenfeiHOST
Although this piece of news has not yet been officially confirmed by Russia, it was specifically highlighted on X by Ashish Jha, the former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator and former Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
ZhenfeiHOST
His logic is that if this news is true, then this is definitely not the way one would handle a typical natural epidemic, nor is it even the way one would handle a standard laboratory accident.
ZhenfeiHOST
In Russia, counter-terrorism falls under the jurisdiction of the FSB, and so does bioterrorism.
Katie PavlichHOST
So I want to hear your thoughts on this.
Katie PavlichHOST
Dr. Ashish Jha spoke today on the Hill.
Katie PavlichHOST
Let's listen to what he had to say.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
When they say everything is under control, that worries me.
Karen MoskowHOST
However, Russian authorities say no case of the plague has been detected and describe the worker's severe pneumonia as being of unknown origin.
Karen MoskowHOST
Dr. Ashish Jha, the former COVID-19 response coordinator, says it's suspicious that quarantine and contact tracing is occurring.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
If it was a simple, a vial broke, somebody got infected, it's, would be unlikely that it would lead to, uh, quarantining and monitoring of 200 people.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So, that makes me concerned that there might be something else happening.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Obviously, we all hope that it isn't, it's just simply a case of pneumonic plague.
Karen MoskowHOST
And Dr. Ashish Jha there.
Karen MoskowHOST
President Trump has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the suspected plague case.
Nathan HagerHOST
Let's turn to markets now, Karen.
Karen MoscowHOST
However, Russian authorities say no case of the plague has been detected and described the worker's severe pneumonia as being of unknown origin.
Karen MoscowHOST
Dr. Ashish Jha, the former COVID-19 response coordinator, says it's suspicious that quarantine and contact tracing is occurring.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
If it was a simple, a vial broke, somebody got infected, it's, it would be unlikely that it would lead to, uh, quarantining and monitoring of two hundred people.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So that makes me concerned that there might be something else happening.
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Obviously, we all hope that it isn't, it's just simply a case of pneumonic plague.
Karen MoscowHOST
Dr. Ashish Jha and President Trump has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the suspected plague case.
Nathan HagerHOST
Turning to the markets now, Karen, stocks begin today in record territory.
Nathan HagerHOST
Both the S&P five hundred and the NASDAQ closed at all-time highs yesterday.
speaker_7CORRESPONDENT
At least one hospital is under quarantine and nearly 200 people under medical observation, according to Russian officials.
speaker_7CORRESPONDENT
The lack of reliable information tonight concerns some medical experts, including Dr. Ashish Jha.
speaker_7CORRESPONDENT
What kind of information are you looking for?
Ashish JhaSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Well, we know Russia's had a long-standing biological weapons program.
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