DARPA Prepares Simulated Pandemic Scenarios For ‘Natural Or Man-Made Infectious Agent’
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The U.S. military is preparing to simulate disease outbreaks with the explicit goal of modeling the spread of a “natural or a man-made infectious agent,” according to a new Request for Information (RFI) released by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on May 27, 2025.
The planned simulations come as the Trump administration launches a $500 million “next-generation” pandemic vaccine platform targeting bird flu—while the government continues funding gain-of-function experiments on avian influenza, the very virus it now claims to be preparing to stop.
Before simulating future pandemics, DARPA had already partnered with Moderna on mRNA coronavirus vaccine development as early as 2013, received EcoHealth Alliance’s 2018 DEFUSE proposal to spray aerosolized spike proteins and self-spreading vaccines over “animals/humans” via drone, and now stands tied to a patented genetic sequence with a 1-in-3-billion match to the COVID-19 virus.
With this history in mind, we can justifiably ask whether DARPA is simulating a pandemic or planning an operation under the guise of “preparedness.”
The new government document, titled “Advanced Disease Outbreak Simulation Capabilities” and listed under notice DARPA-SN-25-72, opens with this bombshell:
“The emergence of natural or a man-made infectious agents pose a significant threat to the homeland and to deployed warfighters globally.”
DARPA frames the project as a biosafety measure.
But the language in the RFI raises serious red flags about the extent and potential application of the program—especially its timing and the kinds of technologies it seeks to test.
Responses are due June 23, 2025, at 4:00 PM ET. If typical timelines follow, funding and execution could begin as soon as late summer or fall 2025.
New Simulation Framework for Synthetic Pandemics
DARPA says it needs “accurate tunable models and simulation toolsets” to prepare for future pandemics, warning that current models fail to “exquisitely model disease, transmission, and end-stage health effects” across different populations and scales.
The agency wants to simulate person-to-person, local, regional, and global outbreaks using tools that go well beyond standard epidemiological techniques. According to the RFI:
“While sophisticated epidemiological modeling approaches have been developed, gaps in technical capabilities still exist to be able to exquisitely model disease, transmission, and end-stage health effects within and between individuals at the person-to-person, local, regional, and global levels comprehensively.”
DARPA is not only calling for simulations of natural epidemics but for scenarios that might involve “non-replicating disease causing agents”—a phrase suggesting synthetic or engineered pathogens.
“How effectively can your models represent key disease characteristics such as mode of transmission, incubation period, infectious period, and the impact of viral evolution or antigenic shift, or unique characteristics of non-replicating disease causing agents?”
It also asks participants to simulate outbreaks caused by multiple co-circulating strains, as well as “disparate disease-causing agents”.
“Does your modeling allow for effect associated with multiple co-circulating strains or disparate disease-causing agents?”
Targeting Human Behavior & Demographics
DARPA wants models capable of simulating superspreaders and demographic-based infection differences.
“Can the models account for superspreading events or variations in transmission based on demographic factors?”
Even more alarming, the agency explicitly encourages the integration of behavioral science into pandemic simulations—blending outbreak modeling with predictive social control.
“Please describe any novel technical approaches—or applications of diverse technical fields (e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, complex systems theory, behavioral science)—that you believe would significantly enhance the state-of-the-art capabilities in this field or simulation of biological systems wholistically.”
Real-Time Surveillance: Genomics, Demographics, Biosensors
The RFI calls for integration of real-world data across multiple surveillance vectors:
“Describe your capabilities for integrating diverse data sources, including (but not limited to) demographic data, mobility data, epidemiological data, healthcare utilization data, and genomic data.”
DARPA also makes clear it is interested in modeling real-time response capabilities using biosensor deployment:
“Identification of optimal timelines and capabilities to detect, identify, attribute, and respond to disease outbreaks, including but not limited to biosensor density deployment achieving optimal detection timelines, are of interest.”
In other words, they’re preparing for a world in which biosensor saturation across cities and populations can be simulated to determine how quickly an outbreak can be detected and suppressed.
Immunity, Fatality, & Vaccine Modeling
DARPA wants to test how simulated outbreaks behave under different immunity scenarios, including post-infection and post-vaccination immunity.
“How are fatality rates and varying levels of population immunity (natural or vaccine-induced) incorporated into your simulations?”
They also want models that simulate the deployment and efficacy of “medical countermeasures” (MCMs)—a term often used to refer to vaccines, drugs, and biologics under federal emergency programs.
“Use should be expected to include ability to quickly and efficiently tune key parameters of the model and run multiple simulations to understand the effects of agent characteristics as well as the effects of medical countermeasure (MCM) deployment.”
They require platforms to simulate the effects of:
DARPA expects the final system to be usable by non-specialists:
“Cost estimates should assume the end-stage use of a software platform with a user-friendly dashboard able to be used by a range of non-epidemiologist technical experts.”
Simulating Lockdowns, Vaccines, & Social Messaging
The agency wants to simulate everything from vaccine rollouts to media campaigns.
The RFI specifically requests:
“Detail the range of intervention strategies that can be modeled, including (but not limited to) vaccination campaigns, social distancing measures, quarantine protocols, treatments, and public health communication strategies.”
And most importantly:
“Specifically, describe the ability to model early intervention and its impact on outbreak trajectory.”
DARPA’s Past & Present: Gain-of-Function Proximity
DARPA’s history in this space cannot be ignored.
The agency previously helped fund early mRNA vaccine work, backed the Insect Allies program (a now-criticized project to spread genetically modified viruses via insects), and was named in EcoHealth Alliance’s failed DEFUSE proposal, which sought to insert furin cleavage sites into bat coronaviruses.
Now, under DARPA-SN-25-72, the agency is returning to the pandemic scenario simulation space—and this time it’s explicitly modeling synthetic or engineered outbreaks with AI and biosurveillance overlay.
“We are committed to developing advanced modeling capabilities to optimize response strategies and inform the next generation of (bio)technology innovations to protect the population from biological threats.”
What makes this program different from previous modeling projects is not just the technical complexity or military backing—it’s the acknowledgment that “man-made infectious agents” are a threat significant enough to simulate.
If the last pandemic was the rehearsal, DARPA’s latest project may be the blueprint for the next one—this time with full-spectrum control, from synthetic pathogen to simulated response.
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