Bioterrorism and other high consequence biological events can result in mass casualties, epidemic illness, healthcare worker illness, environmental contamination, legal issues, and cause unease within the medical community and the community at large. In addition to agents of concern due to their possible use in a bioterrorist attack, this Topic Collection (TC) contains information on other potential high consequence threats from emerging diseases, accidental releases, and scientific advances, such as dual use research and synthetic biology. Biological incidents call for collaboration between multiple disciplines including healthcare, public health, emergency management, and law enforcement and require specific planning and response interventions. The resources in this TC highlight recent research, promising practices, and model procedures for preparing for, responding to, and recovering from an act of bioterror or widespread illness caused by a high consequence biological agent. This TC is intended as a contemporary annotated bibliography of articles and resources and is not intended to present a comprehensive review of the literature. It provides information about biodefense and bioterrorism and selected specific agents. Medical countermeasure distribution information is found in a separate TC.