NCJ Number
191225
Journal
Journal of the American Medical Association Volume: 278 Issue: 5 Dated: August 6, 1997 Pages: 431-432
Date Published
1997
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This paper calls for enhanced cooperation between the Defense Department and civilian agencies to increase the country's ability to respond to biological weapons attacks.
Abstract
Only by planning and investing in the right training and defensive measures can we diminish the risks, disruption, and casualties in the event that biological weapons are used. Significant improvements can be made in our defensive posture at relatively modest levels of investment, and both the Department of Defense and the medical community can play a substantial role in this regard. Small amounts of biological agents can kill hundreds of thousands in a large metropolitan area, and they can be dispersed by aerosols or weapons. They can affect civilian populations and limit troop movements. Biological weapons have been low on our priority list because defense is unfamiliar, there is a belief that because they have never been used, they never will, and some planners believe that a regime will not use biological weapons for fear of nuclear retaliation. Those modes of thinking are inappropriate. If non-state actors used biological weapons, a nuclear deterrent may be ineffective. History is replete with examples in which biological weapons were used, such as during the Middle Ages when infected cadavers were catapulted over walls. In recent years, individuals and groups in the United States have obtained biological agents. With information from a defector, inspections in Iraq revealed large-scale biological production of biological weapons. The Defense Department has embarked on a program to defend against biological warfare, such as development of biodetectors and in-field decontamination. The relationship between the Defense Department and agencies charged with protecting the civilian population needs to be enhanced. If an incident occurred with biological weapons, the Defense Department would be called in to assist local and Federal law enforcement and health agencies. Likewise, if a biological incident occurred in a military context, the department would need assistance from civilian agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Civilian-defense cooperation is likely to pay big dividends. Congress enacted the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996, which enhances our domestic preparedness in fundamental ways, such as by strengthening the Federal Government's ability to prevent and respond to terrorist incidents, and enabling the Department of Defense and other Federal supports to state and local prevention and response efforts.