Biosecurity is a well-established field outside of EA, and there are many excellent upskilling opportunities outside the movement (e.g. pursuing George Mason Global Biodefense Masters, joining professional societies like ABSA, engaging with the UN and WHO)
While there are people in the broader biosecurity field doing good work, my impression is this is the exception. There’s a ton of work done without a threat model or with what I (and I think most people who thought about it for a bit from an EA perspective) would say is a threat model that neglects the ways the world has been changing and is likely to continue to change. I don’t see EAs preferring to join EA biosecurity groups over other groups in the biosecurity field as something that commonly puts them in less impactful roles.
While there are people in the broader biosecurity field doing good work, my impression is this is the exception. There’s a ton of work done without a threat model or with what I (and I think most people who thought about it for a bit from an EA perspective) would say is a threat model that neglects the ways the world has been changing and is likely to continue to change. I don’t see EAs preferring to join EA biosecurity groups over other groups in the biosecurity field as something that commonly puts them in less impactful roles.