The NIE on the global infectious disease threat provides unsettling but enlightening reading. It strongly suggests that unless the United States helps to contain the spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in the developing and former communist worlds, the resulting socioeconomic collapse could require massive infusions of emergency aid and perhaps even the deployment of US troops to restore order. The Bush administration, which unlike its predecessor has shown little interest in nontraditional threats, would do well to heed this warning.