State leaders are smart to pull out all the stops in an attempt to attract a $451 million national defense lab to Kansas. The competition for this facility will be intense, and Kansas seems to have a reasonable chance to be selected.

Leavenworth and Manhattan both are among 18 sites being reviewed by the federal Department of Homeland Security as the location for a new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. The work done at the lab would focus on protecting the nation from diseases that infect animals, such as foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, and from infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, such as bird flu, anthrax and mad cow disease.

And it is an area in which Kansas already has a lot to offer. Thomas Thornton, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Biosciences Authority, told the Kansas Senate Commerce Committee Thursday that both Manhattan and Leavenworth have strengths. Leavenworth is close to an urban core and already has a federal facility, and Manhattan and Kansas State University already have research relationships and biosecurity capabilities.

Working to promote bioscience research in agriculture-related fields at Kansas State has been a goal of the Kansas Biosciences Authority since its inception. The university has a notable reputation in the area of animal health that could be expanded to meet the Homeland Security needs. Perhaps Leavenworth and Manhattan could find a way to collaborate and pool their strengths to present an even more attractive package for federal decision-makers.

The effort to build the new Bio and Agro-Defense Facility obviously is at least partially a response to the current threat of international terrorism, but the research envisioned for the facility also would be important to managing infectious agents that can spread through natural channels. Maintaining a safe food supply is important to all Americans, but is a special concern to an agricultural state like Kansas.

A veritable who’s who of Kansas political heavyweights is being assembled to support the state’s bid to attract this facility. Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and former Gov. John Carlin have signed on to help push the effort along with current officials, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda.

The state is fortunate to already have the Kansas Bioscience Authority in place to help lead this effort. This is just the type of opportunity the state was hoping to take advantage of when it formed the bioscience group.

Kansas has a lot to offer to this project, but so do other potential locations. The lab is expected to be a 500,000-square-foot facility that would employ 250 scientists. Whatever state attracts the facility instantly will become a major player in an important bioscience research field. Kansas should make every effort to try to put Leavenworth, Manhattan or a combination of the two at the top of Homeland Security’s list.