NCJ Number
191561
Date Published
1999
Length
430 pages
Annotation
The book is a final report of a study conducted by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and aims to clarify and promote knowledge of the destructive forces of biological agents.
Abstract
America is unprepared to prevent the proliferation and deployment of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The United States does not adequately collect and share intelligence, which is not properly structured for preventing WMD terrorism. Conventional ways of deterring terrorism do not work today. Many papers in the book put forth the viewpoint that the use of WMD is a serious possibility. The institute strongly believes a fundamental shift is necessary if the United States is to prevent the threat. Some of the preparedness concerns are: counter biological terrorism policies (at the international, national, and local levels), organizational interfaces, intelligence and detection, crisis and consequence management, information infrastructure, and technology research and development. Terrorism events are on the decline, but when they occur they are more severe. Terrorists today want to kill as many people as possible, rather than influencing society. Homeland defense involves every sector of government, Federal, State and local, and civil and military. More developments in technology are needed, as they will have the potential to prevent every aspect of biological terrorism. One hundred countries signed the 1975 Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons Convention, but biological weapons continually are developed. Since pathogens are small and are easily produced, biological weapons programs exist throughout the world. Presidential Decision Directive 62 -- Combating Terrorism Directive and Presidential Decision Directive 63 -- Critical Infrastructure Protection Directive issued in 1998 help form the strategic underpinnings of the Domestic Preparedness Program by providing focus and a concentration of resources. The chapters in the book are: 1) Terrorist Organizations and the Potential Use of Biological Weapons; 2) the Case for a Special Operations Response to Biological Terrorism; 3) Strategic Firepower in the Hands of Many?; 4) Defeating Terrorist Organizations: Lessons Learned from Two Incidents; 5) Bioterrorist Attack Pathways and Social/Civil Infrastructure; 6) Countering Biological Terrorism: Local Threats and Responses; 7) Countering Biological Terrorism: Federal Cooperation; 8) Countering Biological Terrorism: DOD Assistance: 9) Medical Response to Biological Terrorist Attack; 10) Likely Threat Pathogens in Biological Terrorism; 11) Technology and Counter Biological Terrorism; 12) Combating Terrorism: Report from the DARPA Tiger Team; and 13) New Approaches to Countering Biological Terrorism with Electrotechnologies.