Surveying the Threat of Agroterrorism | House Committee on Homeland Security Hearing

“Surveying the Threat of Agroterrorism, Part II: Assessing Federal Government Efforts” from the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology, 11 February 2026.

This hearing examines how DHS and USDA characterize agroterrorism as a national security threat targeting farms, supply chains, and research ecosystems. Witnesses throughout the testimony describe a layered federal approach that emphasizes border interdiction, risk assessment, intelligence integration, training and exercises, and stronger research security. Witness testimony from the hearing also highlighted interdictions, targeting tools, and programs that focus on biological materials moving through ports of entry.

This past summer, the department launched the National Farm Security Action Plan, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive strategy to acknowledge agriculture as a key pillar of national security… The plan focuses on protecting US farmland from foreign adversaries, strengthening food supply chains… safeguarding plant and animal health, and bolstering research security…The risks to the food and agricultural sector and supply chain are varied and serious…Advances in biotechnology as well as artificial intelligence have made it easier for nefarious actors to develop and deploy biological agents that could devastate our crops, livestock, and food production.

Alicia Ellis, an Assistant Teaching Professor and the Director of the MA in Global Security program, advances a complementary argument in her Small Wars Journal article, “Harvest of Power: Food as the New Frontier in Hybrid Warfare.” Ellis explains how food systems function as instruments of hybrid warfare and how adversaries can weaponize supply chains, fertilizer dependencies, and commodity markets to exert geopolitical leverage. Read alongside the House hearing, her analysis broadens the discussion from border interdiction and biodefense preparedness to the structural vulnerabilities embedded in the global food system.

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