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This report is an unclassified summary of the Feb. 1999 report to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services on interagency counterterrorist operations. Specifically, it examines how agencies work together in counterterrorist operations & special events; strengths & weaknesses of international & domestic counterterrorist exercises; & agency & interagency processes to capture & share lessons learned. The report includes a statement on growth in federal counterterrorism programs delivered by Mark E. Gebicke, Director, National Security Preparedness Issues, National Security & International Affairs Division, GAO.
A terrorist act involving a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agent or weapon presents an array of complex issues to state and local responders. The responders, who may Include firefighters, emergency medical service personnel, and hazardous materials technicians, must identify the agent used in rapidly decontaminated victims and apply appropriate medical treatments. They must determine whether the agent has spread beyond the incident site and what actions should be taken to protect other people. They must also be concerned about damage to the physical infrastructure and about coordinating efforts with law enforcement personnel as they conduct their investigation. If the incident overwhelms the capabilities of state and local responders, they may turn to the federal government for assistance. Federal agencies may provide assistance by deploying various response teams. In response to your request, we reviewed federal agency teams that can respond to and help manage the consequences of a domestic terrorist Incident involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents or weapons. This report discusses (1) the characteristics of federal response teams, (2) whether duplication among teams belonging to different agencies exists, (3) the budget requirements process for teams and how the budgets are linked to a national strategy; and (4) initiatives to improve the operational coordination of federal response teams across agency lines.
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.
The most comprehensive account to date of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and aftermath, this volume includes unprecedented details on the impact on the Pentagon building and personnel and the scope of the rescue, recovery, and caregiving effort. It features 32 pages of photographs and more than a dozen diagrams and illustrations not previously available.
This accessible and deeply informed book examines the threat that Muslim extremists pose to America and suggest steps that will facilitate U.S. efforts to defeat them.