The House Committee on Homeland Security (OTCBB:HSCC) heard testimony Wednesday from officials at the Office of Health Affairs who discussed the implementation of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive biodefense strategy.

According to a joint statement released by Robert Hooks, Eric Myers and Jeffrey Stiefel from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Health Affairs, the United States is under a constant risk of a major biological event that could lead to massive loss of life and a crippling of infrastructure and resources, the DHS reported.

Officials say it is unlikely security authorities would have any warning prior to an impending bioterrorist attack and that constructing a biological weapon does not require a lot of technical know-how.

"As such, it is incredibly difficult to predict and prevent a biological attack from taking place," the statement said.

Officials say the focus of counter-bioterrorism efforts have been through the BioWatch program and the development of technologies capable of early detection if an event should occur. Additional focus has been on the National Bio-surveillance Integration Center, which enables an effective response to an attack in order to reduce its impact.

"The challenge of detecting an invisible footprint of an impending bio-terrorist plot and preventing an attack or the emergence of a pandemic is daunting. That is why DHS is taking the approach of enhancing early detection systems and building a national bio-surveillance capability for situational awareness," the statement said.