Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov (or Americanized Ken Alibek) was born in Kazakhstan. After earning his medical degree, he joined the field of bioweapons, and eventually became the First Deputy Director of Biopreparat in the Soviet Union. During his years of developing the world's deadliest biological agents, Alibekov and his colleages worked under the assumption that the U.S. was developing the same types of weapons. After a trip to inspect U.S. facilities for signs of bioweapon development, he discovered that the U.S., unlike the Soviet Union, was abiding by an agreement not to develop biological weapons. Following this realization, and knowing no English, Alibekov defected to the United States in 1992, and provided the U.S. with details of the Soviet Union's weapons programs. His current research in Manassass, Virginia focuses on enhancing the power of the general immune system to better respond to bioweapons exposure.

Before entering the United States, Kazakhstan attempted to employ Dr. Alibekov in a top role in their own biowarfare program—which does not officially exist—but he refused.

Writing as Ken Alibek in the United States, he authored Biohazard, a history of the Soviet bioweapons program (particularly, but not exclusively, Biopreparat).