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The threat of terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens and property both at home and abroad has been an issue of growing national concern. This report provides information on national policy and strategy to combat terrorism and federal agencies' roles and responsibilities in implementing them. Specifically, the report discusses agencies' programs and activities to: (1) prevent and deter terrorism; (2) respond to terrorist threats or incidents; and (3) manage the consequences of a terrorist act, especially involving weapons of mass destruction. The report also provides information on interagency coordination mechanisms intended to facilitate information sharing and enhance operational links. Charts and tables.
There is a wide spectrum of potential threats to the U.S. homeland that do not involve overt attacks by states using long-range missiles or conventional military forces. Such threats include covert attacks by state actors, state use of proxies, independent terrorist and extremist attacks by foreign groups or individuals, and independent terrorist and extremist attacks by residents of the United States. These threats are currently limited in scope and frequency, but are emerging as potentially significant issues for future U.S. security. In this comprehensive work, Cordesman argues that new threats require new thinking, and offers a range of recommendations, from expanding the understanding of what constitutes a threat and bolstering Homeland defense measures, to bettering resource allocation and improving intelligence gathering and analysis. No pattern of actual attacks on U.S. territory has yet emerged that provides a clear basis for predicting how serious any given form of attack might be in the future, what means of attack might be used, or how lethal new forms of attack might be. As a result, there is a major ongoing debate over the seriousness of the threat and how the U.S. government should react. This work is an invaluable contribution to that debate.
With the increasing availability of biological and chemical materials, the threat of terrorism grows daily. Innocent bystanders -the major targets of terrorists because they gain the most publicity - create a vast number of potential victims. In our changing world, horrendous violence has become commonplace. The growth of incidences involving chemical and biological agents has created a need for local response teams to be aware of the dangers they face. Emergency Response to Chemical and Biological Agents serves as a training manual for emergency responders who handle incidents involving biological and chemical hazardous materials. The author covers poisons such as nerve, blood, blister, and choking gases and biological agents such as anthrax, typhus, and cholera. Using examples ripped from the headlines, he explains what is and is not a terrorist act, and the difference in handling each incident. In addition the author explains the standard operating procedures of Hazardous Materials Teams before, during, and after an incident. Whether terrorist act or chemical spill, local responders usually reach the scene first. As these incidents multiply - and they will - these teams will need a blueprint for dealing with chemical and biological materials. Emergency Response to Chemical and Biological Agents provides a clear, concise plan of action for responding to these incidents.
Chemical and biological experts and intelligence agency officials believe that the ease or difficulty for terrorists to cause mass casualties with an improvised chemical or biological weapon or device depends on the chemical or biological agent selected. Experts from the scientific, intelligence, and law enforcement communities told us that terrorists do not need sophisticated knowledge or dissemination methods to use toxic industrial chemicals such as chlorine. In contrast, terrorists would need a relatively high degree of sophistication to successfully cause mass casualties with some other chemical and most biological agents. Specialized knowledge would be needed to acquire the right biological agent or precursor chemicals,3 process the chemical or biological agent, improvise a weapon or device, and effectively disseminate the agent to cause mass casualties. Throughout the different stages of the process, terrorists would run the risk of hurting themselves and of being detected and would have to overcome technical and operational challenges. Some virulent biological agents and precursor chemicals are difficult to obtain, and others are difficult to process or produce, especially in the quantities needed to cause mass casualties. In addition, effective dissemination of chemical and biological agents can be disrupted by environmental and meteorological factors. Terrorists with less sophistication could make a chemical or biological weapon and disseminate agents, but these would be less likely to cause mass casualties.