GARY LOCKE AND PATRICK McHENRY JOIN ABI AS SENIOR ADVISORS
America's medicine supply is a national security asset, and the surest way to protect it is a stronger America, built at home and extended through trusted allies. The American Biosecurity Initiative has named two people to help make that case. Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke and former Congressman Patrick McHenry join ABI as Senior Advisors, where they will help guide the work of making America's ability to discover, develop, and manufacture medicines a core national security priority.
"Gary Locke and Patrick McHenry bring extraordinary experience in economic competitiveness, national security, and U.S.-China policy," said ABI Executive Director Jennifer Crook. "Medicine is a national security asset. America cannot wait for the next crisis to secure the scientific and manufacturing capacity we depend on."
Locke served as Governor of Washington from 1997 to 2005, as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2009 to 2011, and as U.S. Ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014.
"I saw firsthand how seriously China takes biotechnology and medicine," said Locke. "The United States needs to be just as serious. We should be strengthening what America does best — discovering new medicines, bringing them to patients, and making more of them here at home."
The United States remains heavily reliant on overseas supply chains for critical parts of its medicine supply. ABI is working to strengthen U.S. biopharmaceutical capabilities, build more secure supply chains with trusted allies, and protect America's leadership in biotechnology. Domestic capability is the foundation, and allied networks are what make it durable.
McHenry represented North Carolina's 10th District in Congress from 2005 to 2025 and served as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at Georgetown University's Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy.
"America leads the world in discovering medicines because our system lets capital and science find each other," said McHenry. "That advantage took decades to build, and protecting it requires a strategy that lasts longer than any one Congress or administration. I'm joining ABI to help build that bipartisan consensus."
ABI is assembling leaders from government, finance, health care, intelligence, trade, manufacturing, and national security to help shape a durable U.S. biotechnology strategy.
"America cannot defend itself or compete economically without the ability to discover, develop, and manufacture the medicines its citizens and armed forces need," Crook added. "Locke and McHenry understand how economic strength and national security reinforce each other. Their experience and voices will make ABI stronger."