Question - What is the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), who manages this program, and who is empowered to request assets of the SNS?
Answer - The SNS is a national repository of antibiotics, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, life-support medications, IV administration, airway maintenance supplies, and medical/surgical items. Federal agencies, primarily CDC, are responsible for maintenance and delivery of SNS assets, but state and local authorities must plan to receive, store, stage, distribute, and dispense the assets. SNS assets can be requested by State departments of health, usually in conjunction with the state governor. National agencies e.g., FEMA, FBI, in certain circumstances may request these assets. To receive SNS assets, the affected state's governor's office would directly request the deployment of the SNS assets from CDC or HHS. (https://chemm.nlm.nih.gov/sns.htm; assessed December 2018)