Strategic Firepower in the Hands of Many? (From Countering Biological Terrorism in the U.S.: An Understanding of Issues and Status, P 47-52, 1999, David W. Siegrist, Janice M. Graham, et al., -- See NCJ-191561)

• NCJ Number: 191564
• Author(s): Robert Kupperman; David Siegrist
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 6 pages
• Corporate Author: Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
• Sale Source: Oceana Publications, Inc
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter looks at why biological weapons are attractive to terrorist groups and illustrates how they have been used or sought after recently.

Abstract

With the end of the Cold War, the United States needs to reexamine its national defense needs to account for the possible use of chemical and biological weapons. Biological weapons are seen by many as a great equalizer among powers. They are among the most lethal substances on earth. They are easier to make, with elements more available than nuclear weapons. Weather can affect their dispersal rates, indicating why terrorists prefer to use them in closed environments such as a subway. Terrorist can use them and escape the scene without being detected because symptoms do not appear immediately. Medicines and antibodies may have only limited effects against adaptive, reactive agents. Because illnesses from biological agents are hard to confirm, conviction of perpetrators is difficult because of a possible lack of evidence. It is close to impossible to protect all targets from being attacked. Instead, the new era of terrorism requires a proactive approach to make attacks harder to accomplish. If detected early, biological warfare agents are relatively easy to counter. In January 1998, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh testified that the agency had opened more than 100 cases in 1997 investigating the threat of the use of weapons of mass destruction, including biological agents. The agency is concerned that Middle Eastern terrorist groups are using the United States as an attractive staging ground and refuge area. Fewer terrorist attacks are occurring in the United States, but when they do occur they are more deadly. A group dispensed salmonella in restaurants in Oregon in 1984; 715 people were sickened. An extremist group in Minnesota in 1991 manufactured ricin. In May 1995, a U.S. citizen illegally obtained three vials of bubonic plague. In February 1998, two men were arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of possessing anthrax.