Topeka ? State officials said Tuesday that the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility is needed to patch a dangerous hole in national security.

The $725 million(new estimate) federal lab, proposed to be built in Manhattan, will help protect the U.S. food supply from either the accidental or planned release of deadly and contagious animal diseases, said Tom Thornton, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

“Our nation is unprepared for these biological events,” Thornton told the House-Senate Kansas Security Committee.

Thornton said federal experts have determined that the United States is more susceptible to a biological threat than a nuclear attack.

Members of the committee asked if there were ways Kansas could increase security of NBAF or hurry up federal funding of the facility.

As it is, the 500,000-square-foot facility is not expected to be completed until 2015.

“Sounds like there is not enough emphasis on this,” said state Sen. Tim Owens, R-Overland Park.

But Thornton said Congress and the Obama administration have made the project a priority.

Congress recently approved $32 million for site, design and initial construction work.

State Sen. Janis Lee, D-Kensington, asked who would be liable if a pathogen escaped the facility.

Thornton said the federal government would be, but he said a “containment violation” would be extremely unlikely.

“That’s just not going to happen at NBAF,” he said.