“Back from 2001 to 2003, I wrote multiple editorials for The Washington Post about biological warfare and pandemic preparedness - issues that were at the top of everyone's agenda in the wake of 9/11 and the brief anthrax scare. At the time, some very big investments were made into precisely those issues, especially into scientific research.”

American journalist, historian and foreign-policy commentator

Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is an American journalist, historian, and foreign-policy commentator. She has worked on the politics and history of Europe, and in 2013 became a Polish citizen. She is known for writing about Communism and the growth of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. Her work often focuses on the region’s political changes and the ideas that shaped them.