Bioterrorism in America

The word bioterrorism brings thoughts filled with fear and anxiety to the American people. Images of skin infections, gas masks and anthrax flood our perception of this heavily-used concept. Mary Cooper says that infections and diseases make up some of the most significant health and security challenges in the world (88). If large amounts of people became infected it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to treat certain types of pathogens that could potentially be released into our population (82). A recent assessment by the CIA teamed with other agencies in the United States shows that America is very likely to sustain a biological or chemical attack at the hand of terrorists (201).

The security community in general agrees that there will be an attack on an American city at some point, “the puzzle is why it hasn’t happened yet, especially since the means and motives are readily available” (Rose 1). Complicating issues even more is the fact that most forms of bioterrorism can be difficult to differentiate from common diseases, and victims may be far from the site of their exposure before becoming ill (Busko 1). There are a wide array of reports and studies alerting us about U.S. vulnerabilities (”Our Unnecessary Insecurity”). “U.S. cities aren’t close to being ready to deal with a weapon of mass destruction in their midst,” (Rose 1). With words like anthrax becoming common part of our vocabulary it’s necessary to take some appropriate precautions.

It’s common knowledge that after September 11th, 2001 the world looked at matters of national security completely differently. Shortly after the attacks the Bush administration said that protecting America from weapons of mass destruction was one of its top priorities (Cooper 197). “The whole idea of emergency planning in public health didn’t really exist before 9/11,” said Virginia’s deputy commissioner of health, Lisa Kaplowitz (Hsu 2). September 11th helped reveal weaknesses in the country’s ability to deal with terrorism (Prah 994).

In response to the disaster in New York City President George Bush created the office of homeland security. Its purpose was to coordinate 45 different agencies against terrorism. The office included the CIA, FBI, FEMA, fire-fighters, health workers and other types of “first responders” (Cooper 202). The incidents in September of 2001 did a lot in changing the way both governmental and private organizations thought about security.
Biological and chemical weapons have always been relatively easy to obtain. Until recently many potential weapons materials were available legally. In 1995 an Ohio man, Larry Harris, a former member of the white supremacist group Aryan Nations, ordered three vials of Yersina pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic plague, legally from a laboratory supply house. Fortunately a laboratory employee became suspicious of the order and contacted the authorities. The FBI apprehended Harris and stopped him from carrying out his plan to create a biological weapon (Cooper 82).