Is the White House Really Neglecting Bioterror?
Hundreds of experts? Thousands of pages! Were these former congressmen asleep during history class? They neglected to mention how many millions of taxpayer dollars were spent drawing the conclusion, which could have been identified back in 1998 when Osama bin Laden declared war against the United States. “Biotechnology Is Not Rocket Science,” the former senators say in headline. Yes, and neither is the basic premise of war: He who declares war against an enemy uses any means necessary to win that war and generally does not stop until he wins or is forced to surrender.
Still, the former senators, pitching from the podium so as to make headlines at USA Today, tell us:
First, there is the accessibility of the weapons material: highly enriched plutonium and uranium do not exist in nature, but anthrax and many other biological agents do, in almost every part of the world. Second, there is the diversity of potential weapons: there are only so many ways to build an improvised nuclear device, but there is an almost limitless array of disease-causing organisms and scenarios for their nefarious use. A third difference is the accessibility of weapons technology: engineering a nuclear weapon is a closely guarded skill, whereas every crop-dusting farmer knows the process for spraying live biological materials.
This might sound scary if you’ve been asleep for the past eleven years. But if you’ve been reading headlines ever since Osama bin Laden’s original fatwa — beginning with al-Qaeda’s twin terrorist attacks at the U.S. embassies in East Africa — then neither the threat of bioweapons, nor the ease with which they can be dispersed, comes as news.
As with any of the WMD debates involving al-Qaeda, no one threat poses any greater threat than another. That’s because, in theory, at the end of the day al-Qaeda will use whatever practical means it can to achieve its goal. Chemical, biological, and nuclear WMD plans have all been identified by intelligence agencies around the world as being in al-Qaeda’s pipeline. One could interview hundreds of experts and review thousands of pages of documents to make any number of strong cases that the White House is ill-prepared to deal with the repercussions of any WMD attack.
The focus of former and present congressmen and their committees — be they bipartisan, right, left, or center — should be finishing the war that al-Qaeda started.
Is there anything about terrorism that the Obama administration ISN’T neglecting?
Let’s look at the facts. Earlier this year when Swine Flu was largely relegated to Mexico the Obama Administration proclaimed that we HAD to confirm Sebelius as HHS head, pronto to combat the spread.
They got what they wanted. Now my local high school has huge double digit absences from Swine Flu as does my workplace.
This administration faced A FLU VIRUS. Not aimed, not strategically placed, just a flu virus and they can’t handle it. They would much rather keep trying to force Nationalized Health Care down our throats than actually DO something useful.
Appointing a pay czar has higher priority than sending requested troops to a hot war in Afghanistan. We sold out our allies on some vague promise that Russia would bring pressure upon Iran’s attempt to go nuclear. Did we GET that action from Russia? Nope. Obama sold out our allies FOR NOTHING.
Dear Annie Jacobsen,
In the New World Order, AQ wants to commit crime not war, and will be dealt with in the court system after being read their rights.
Does your gas mask fit well?
Maybe our Senators and Representatives should read the New York Times less, and science fiction a bit more. Tom Clancy, John Ringo, and others have written novels regarding the potential problems of biowar agents in the hands of radicals with agendas, ranging from Islamists (“Executive Orders”- Clancy, “A Deeper Blue”- Ringo) to environmental extremists(“Rainbow Six”- Clancy, and don’t confuse the novel with the computer games).
The point that everyone who has bothered to think about it agrees on is exactly the point mentioned in passing here. Bioweapons are easily developed and deployed because;
1. The raw material is widely available, and basically free if the would-be attacker is wiling to do a bit of work. As a “bonus” for our most determined enemies, the Islamists, the primary sources of some of the potentially most destructive agents, such as Ebola, are in their “backyard”- namely Sub-Saharan Africa, plus (in the case of some of the nastier avian influenza strains) Asia, specifically Mainland China.
2. Unlike nuclear weapons production, bioweapons production can be carried out without obvious (and expensive)facilities. If you’re not terribly concerned with the prospect of something being released by accident (and those who worship martyrdom generally don’t care about such things), you can build a primitive “hot lab” (known in the trade as a “hell kitchen”) in a basement anywhere. Detecting it before the weapon is used is much more difficult than, say, finding a uranium-enrichment plant. It doesn’t even necessarily require highly-trained personnel; in one real-life case, anthrax was cultured here in the U.S. in a highly infectious strain by a disgruntled ex-government employee (not a bioweapon expert, even) in his garage. (Fortunately, he was arrested before he could do anything with it.)
3. Once cultured, a bioweapon is easy to deliver- unfortunately. Especially in a highly mobile culture like our present one. Consider the rapidity with which H1N1 has spread worldwide; now imagine that it was the Marburg strain of Ebola, instead. This is especially true if a bioagent with a long (two to three week) gestation period is “deployed” by a group devoted to martyrdom; a few volunteers can become the “delivery system”. The potential for destruction is much greater than a homicide bomber, not least because the “bomber” is much harder to detect.
As far back as the 1960s, it was recognized in military intelligence circles that, like chemical weapons, bioweapons were “the poor man’s H-bomb”. I find it interesting that today, we have political leaders who still haven’t gotten the memo.
clear ether
eon
No mention of the Anthrax attack immediately after 911..??
Weaponized anthrax was mailed to US politicians. An attack on US soil, by US individuals. this should at least receive mention, This particular type of Anthrax was milled by high end laboratories and traced back to US military research. A fascinating story to read.
Senators know full well what BW consist of, and all modern nations have counter espionage in this field investigating all possible. But as the posts and article mention, it is incredibly difficult to find and prevent. All it takes is rudimentary cooking skills and cheap equipment to fashion toxic and deadly cocktails.
as far as Al Qaeda, the strategy should be to find and neutralize the organization. Then we wont need to worry about Al Qaeda and BW any longer.
It seems to me that a religious empire that came to power in the middle ages and wants to return the world to the middle ages would take great delight in using the same weapon that nearly killed off Europe in the middle ages – “the black death”, the plague. Or is “poetic justice” only a western concept?
MOPP level 4.
Actually, I’m given to understand that it was the battle of Midway that caused the two bomber carrying ships to turn back from the bubonic plague infected flea bombing mission to San Francisco.
Thank you for writing this article.
Here’s another thing they’re wasting money on–Cancer Research! We all know that it kills people. Why are they wasting money on that! And why waste money on fighting Al Qaeda, its obvious that they’ll only attack us again anyways! Dam gubament.
Of course Obama is neglecting bioterror, just as he is neglecting the defense of the nation in every other way.
Under another article we find this:
“Now and Then:
66. layer of baal:
“I was absolutely disgusted by her[Palin's] performance in the interviews with couric, and yes I know there was unfair editing . . . ”
Really? Document, please. Not sure how you can edit, “What magazines and newspapers do you read?” . . . “All of them.” So, show me how that was cut unfairly.
Oct 24, 2009 – 4:05 pm”
Now and Then, Obama has stated there were 57 United States of America, that there is an Austrian language, and that there is such a thing as a typical white person. NAT, show how this doesn’t indicate an abysmal education and racist tainted world view. (And don’t bother to Harvard me, it didn’t impress you in favor of Bush. Harvard me no Harvards and Yale me no Yales.)
No wonder Obama needs a commission to tell him even the simplest reality, like this one from Annie: “…at the end of the day al-Qaeda will use whatever practical means[including bioterror] it can to achieve its goal.”
Bio and Chemical agents are the poor mans atomic bomb.
Moho at #7: “Here’s another thing they’re wasting money on–Cancer Research! We all know that it kills people.”
Before the socialized medicine threat hung over us, there was a profit motive for companies researching new drugs. While the new sickcare looms, it may not pay private researchers to spend trying to find new cancer cures; the government will have to do it and then the death panels will refuse to administer the cures to those who need it most. What a great Utopia it will be!
Yeah, and what about all the graffiti?
9. Fred Beloit
Odd, I wasn’t talking about Obama. I was referring to Palin’s comical tour de dunce with Katie Couric, and how it was edited unfairly. Perhaps you have a thought or even some proof about that. Until then I’m quite confident Obama knows how many states there are. Goy, don’t you have some lecture material on straw men available or maybe a “moral adolescent” link you could provide Señor Beloit?
Lucky 13
Not at all, gNAT. You need to prove that Obama knows how many states there are, because by voting for him for POTUS you indicated he was qualified, which happens to have turned out to be untrue. He is on record and video as saying there are 57, an error of 14%, if I am not mistaken. I haven’t heard him correct that, have I? Perhaps he has his eye on portions of Canada and Mexico, who knows.
14. Fred Beloit:
OK, Senõr Benwah, I’ll be happy to prove that, just as soon as you prove the first matter at issue . . . that the Katie Couric interview where Palin said she reads “all” of the newspapers and magazine was falsely edited.
Here’s a little something to help you focus:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/the-odd-lies-of-sarah-palin-a-roundup.html
Happy hunting.
5. I’d find that really hilarious. Why? Because the only people the terrorists would manage to kill with the plague would be themselves. The plague killed a large chunk of Europe in the 13th century because they didn’t have antibiotics back then.
Actually myth buster: has made an excellant point.
Bio-weapons are extremely difficult to handle without contaminating the surroundings and then there is the problem of the infection being inadvertantly introduced into their societies by modern air-transport…..societies with primitive hygene and medical infrastructure.
If such weapons were weaponized by primitive clandestine hot labs in Waziristan the likely prospect is for a major pandemic in Pakistan/Afghanistan.
They would literally be hoisted on their own petard.
“The plague killed a large chunk of Europe in the 13th century because they didn’t have antibiotics back then.”
And making a drug resistent strain is not only plausible its actually dead easy if you have the mind to do it. The incorrect assumption is that AQ is only working in caves in Pakistan… a very poor assumption to make, underestimating your enemy that way. Many of the people we are fighting are intelligent and educated.
Obama is negelecting America. Period! He doesn’t care about the country or the Americans and LEGAL immigrants who live here.
We have plague in this country right now and it isn’t N1H1. They go by Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Oh, and let’s throw in Schumer for good measure.