Health and environmental issues will heavily impact global security in the coming decades and pose important challenges for international cooperation. The relationship between the environment and international security is attracting increased interest among scholars and policymakers alike. CISAC's co-director, Dr. David Relman, is a Stanford microbiologist and professor of infectious diseases and has advised the U.S. government on pathogen diversity, dual-use technology and biosecurity. He is the current president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Chris Chyba, a former CISAC co-director, has done seminal work on bioterror and biosecurity and how deterrence theory might be applicable to defense against bioweapons. Kate Marvel has developed new methods to understand the localized effects of climate change, including the potential implications on security issues.

Other research in this burgeoning area includes work done by Dean Wilkening and Lawrence Wein on biosecurity and bioterrorism, Herbert Abrams on the dangers of radiation, and several researchers on the connections between food production, environmental resources, and international security.