Terrorism Defense

U.S. officials fear another domestic terror attack is likely, as activity by "homegrown" cells is increasing. “The next attack here, officials predict, may bear no resemblance to Sept. 11.”

Is Osama bin Laden planning to strike again inside the U.S.? It’s a scary question with a scarier answer. CBS News Correspondent Bob Simon talked to the man who served as one of bin Laden’s top aides. Abu Jandal spent years by his side as his personal bodyguard. "When Sheik Osama promises something, he does it," Abu Jandal says. "So I believe Osama bin Laden is planning a new attack inside the United States, this is certain." Jandal told Simon first-hand information about the world’s most wanted man.

HOMELAND SECURITY -- STUDY FINDS U.S. UNPREPARED FOR HEALTH DISASTER:

December 25, 2006

A recent study by Trust for America's Health found, "The nation's public health system -- the first line of defense against pandemic flu, a bioterrorism attack or other widespread health emergency -- remains woefully unprepared to protect the American public." Five years after 9/11, "the nation is nowhere near as prepared as we should be for bioterrorism, bird flu and other health disasters," said Jeff Levi, director of the trust. "We continue to make progress each year, but it is limited. As a whole, Americans face unnecessary and unacceptable levels of risk." The report ranked the 50 states and Washington, D.C., on a 10-point system that assessed key indicators, such as whether each state is capable of distributing drugs and antidotes from a national stockpile, whether there are enough hospital beds and nurses to handle a patient surge, and whether states have enough labs and scientists to test for biological threats and other outbreaks. Oklahoma topped the list, while California, Iowa, Maryland, and New Jersey scored lowest. The Century Foundation Working Group on Bioterrorism Preparedness has issued a number of recommendations to improve bioterrorism preparedness, including the development of minimum national standards and the modernization of laws governing how responses to public health emergencies and public health investigations are conducted.

Click here to view the full report: http://healthyamericans.org/reports/bioterror06/BioTerrorReport2006.pdf

LACK OF STATE AND CITY EMERGENCY PLANNING A CAUSE FOR 'SIGNIFICANT NATIONAL CONCERN':

June 19, 2006

Nearly five years after the 9/11 attacks and 10 months after Hurricane Katrina," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report  last week that declared most American cities and states "remain unprepared for catastrophes". While ten states have "sufficient" disaster response plans in place, "the vast majority of America’s states, cities and territories still are far from ready for terror attacks, huge natural disasters or other wide-reaching emergencies". "Frankly", one DHS official said, "In this country, we just have not  put the premium on our level of catastrophe planning that is necessary to be ready for those wide-scale events".

Hopkins Doctor takes on Bioterrorism

Doctor who helped wipe out smallpox now heads fight against biological attacks

September 24, 2007


 
Dr. Donald A. Henderson

Dr. Donald A. Henderson
Principal Science Advisor
Federal Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness.

Dr. Henderson directed the World Health Organization's successful global smallpox eradication campaign (1966-1977) and helped initiate WHO's global program of immunization in 1974.

Dr. Henderson says, "We need to plan, not panic."

If a biological, chemical, or radiological attack occurs in the U.S. the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may instruct you to "Shelter in Place" until the pollutants have dissipated. If you live in a typical leaky home then the Department of Homeland Security currently recommends that you seal yourself in a room by using duct tape and plastic sheets. Moderate, or comprehensive, sealing of the exterior can help. One of the Dual-Benefit Solutions recommended by the Department of Homeland Security is to make your home's outer shell very tight so you will save energy and have all of the rooms available if it becomes necessary to "Shelter in Place".

Dr. Henderson recommends preparing your home to be a safer shelter by comprehensively sealing the air leaks in your home's outer shell and installing a mechanical air supply system that can effectively filter the air coming into your home. He said this is a much better method than using duct tape and plastic sheets to seal yourself in one room after dangerous substances fill the air around your home.

Here is a partial list of the advantages of preparing your entire home so that you can quickly "Shelter in Place":

Even if you never have to "Shelter in Place",  you can benefit in many ways throughout your life:

Suggested Actions

Project BioShield, the $5.6 billion program to expand medical stockpiles in case of a biological attack, "has largely failed to deliver." Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) calls it a "torturous labyrinth of federal fiefdoms into which billions disappear."

Biological, Chemical, and Radiological Attacks

 

According to a recent poll, 63% of Americans believe we're equally or even more vulnerable to a major terrorist attack than we were before the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

Since 9/11, The government erected air-sniffing sensors in dozens of cities to detect a chemical attack. The feds have committed $5.6 billion over the next decade to encourage drug companies to develop antidotes to bioterrorism attacks.

The country's hospital system remains unprepared for a sudden surge of patients in the event of a mass-casualty attack involving biological weapons.

The 9/11 Commission Report makes clear one of the gravest dangers faced by the United States is a "catastrophic attack" by terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction. There is evidence that terrorists are after nuclear weapon capabilities: Osama bin Laden has attempted to buy uranium, and two dozen other terrorist organizations are "pursing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials."

HOMELAND SECURITY -- FIVE YEARS AFTER CREATION, DEPARTMENT RECEIVES POOR GRADES IN DEALING WITH THREATS:

The Environmental Protection Agency says that poisonous clouds of ammonia, chorine, or carbon disulfide could be released by terrorists over densely populated areas. There are more than 15,000 chemical plants in the USA. More than 16 million cargo containers enter the USA each year, yet only 5 percent of them are inspected.

Council on Foreign Relations homeland security expert Stephen Flynn, a retired commander in the U.S. Coast Guard, issued a report card assessing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) five years after its creation. ABC News writes they're "not grades you'd want to bring home to your mother." Overall, the administration’s efforts receive two B’s, four C’s, two D’s, and one D-/F. While nuclear plant security and air defense rank among the best protected areas, chemical plant security rests at the bottom. For the first time, a recent budget appropriation distributed a small amount of money to help the department build a capacity to police what has been recognized as about 15,000 chemical facilities that have the means to injure or threaten the lives of up to 100,000 people around them. Flynn writes, "This is totally unsatisfactory in light of the threat that some very deadly chemicals can pose." Flynn also ranks the DHS's public relations effort near the bottom, arguing that "the department has sort of oscillated back and forth between generating fear, as in raising alert systems... [and] giving recommendations about how to secure yourself that most people didn’t act on or didn’t think were very credible."

Truckers’ Licensing Rules Tighten Against Terrorism  

“Starting in May, all of the country’s 2.7 million truckers certified to haul loads that might blow up, irradiate or corrode property and people will be required to submit fingerprints to the Department of Motor Vehicles when their licenses are up for renewal,” according to Contra Costa [CA] Times. “… Law enforcement and emergency response officials acknowledge [that] the new rules won’t prove 100 percent effective for keeping determined terrorists away from the nation’s roughly 800,000 daily hazmat shipments, but welcome the background checks as another weapon in their anti-terror arsenal.” [View article]

Security of Nuclear Power Plants Uncertain

A report issued September 15, 2004 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) "is not yet in a position to provide an independent determination that each plant has taken reasonable and appropriate steps" to protect against security threats. Safety plans that have been provided to the NRC by nuclear power plant operators do not yet contain basic information "such as where responding guards are stationed." Nevertheless, the NRC "does not plan to make some improvements in its inspection program that GAO previously recommended and still believes are needed." This includes recommendations such as "following up to verify that all violations of security requirements have been corrected." Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security continue to warn that "al Qaeda remains interested in targeting nuclear plants to spread radioactive materials into America's air."

Anti-U.S. Jihadists

February 21, 2005

Porter Goss, the C.I.A. director, said, "Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists." He added, "These jihadists who survive will leave Iraq experienced and focus on acts of urban terrorism."

The Iraq war, said Mr. Goss, "has become a cause for extremists." In his view, "It may only be a matter of time before Al Qaeda or another group attempts to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons."

Numbers Don't Lie

By objective measures, the problem of international terrorism is worse now than it was in 2001. According to State Department data, the number of international terrorist attacks tripled to 650 in 2004. (The number of international terrorist attacks in 2003, 175, was a 20-year high.) This week, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) – which is a government agency – revealed that those numbers dramatically understate the scope of the problem. Broadening the definition to include attacks that "deliberately hit civilians or non-combatants" the NCTC found that 3,192 incidents of international terrorism occurred last year, resulting in the "deaths, injury or kidnapping of almost 28,500 people." For more information, check out the NCTC's new website, the Terrorism Knowledge Base.

HOMELAND SECURITY -- U.S. CHEMICAL PLANTS ARE NOT SECURE

 On March 21st, 2006,  Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff gave a long-overdue speech outlining new steps to safeguard chemical plants, considered to be top targets for terrorist attacks. Currently, the nation's 15,000 privately operated chemical facilities are responsible for regulating themselves, but many "small chemical firms and plants have largely ignored adding safeguards to avoid having to pay for them." In 2005, the Congressional Research Service found that "600 U.S. chemical facilities have vulnerability zones where more than 100,000 people could be affected in the event of a 'worst-case' attack." Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who has introduced chemical plant security legislation, noted, "A successful strike on a chemical plant would require much less sophistication and fewer participants than the 9/11 terrorist plot and could cause a thousand times more devastation." Legislation by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) is also pending in the Senate to authorize Homeland Security "to shut down facilities that do not comply with minimum safety standards," but the bill would largely let the chemical industry draw up its own security plans for the federal government to approve or reject.

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