AFF/TERRORISM/BIOTERRORISM

BIOTERRORISM IS A HUGE AND DANGEROUS THREAT

BIOTERRORISTS WILL PICK A HIGH PROFILE AND CROWDED TARGET SO THE DAMAGE WILL SPREAD

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 71

Some crowds appear to be better than others in a terrorist's eyes; the higher the profile of the attack site, the more the attraction, the FBI stated in its 1996 report on terrorism. Transportation centers are a perennial security concern, wrote the FBI, because "their very nature and design" present an attractive target to terrorists, 11 where the objective for inflicting mass casualties can be obtained." With biological terrorism, an additional factor comes into play: the fact that the victims are on the move, dispersing around the country or even around the world. The effects of a biological attack will be amplified by the spread around the world; an airport attack using a highly contagious agent such as smallpox will create multiple outbreaks worldwide.

TERRORIST WMD ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN "ROGUE STATE" WMD

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 49

A weapon of mass destruction is fundamentally more dangerous in the hands of a terrorist group than in the hands of even a rogue nation. A nation may produce such weapons as a threat, a bargaining chip, or simply for the sense that the strategic balance can be equalized in case of confrontation with a more powerful foe. A terrorist group has no need for such nuances and contingencies: the groups make their statements not by threatening, but by doing. -

BIOTERRORISM IS MUCH MORE OF A RISK TODAY THAN BIOWARFARE

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 70

While the prospect of biological warfare is still a concern, it has been surpassed by the fear of biological terrorism against unsuspecting civilians. A bioterrorist has no end of rich, vulnerable targets in today's world; one could even say that our society has evolved in ways that enhance the probable success of a biological attack. Any place can be a target, although some common characteristics make some places more likely than others.

TERRORISTS TODAY ARE MORE LIKELY TO USE WEAPONS WHICH KILL HUGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, School of Public Health, Univ. of Minnesota, 2000; LIVING TERRORS: What America needs to know to survive the coming bioterrorist catastrophe //VT2002acs p. 32

And, increasingly, these killers will consider using weapons that can do catastrophic harm. Of course, most terrorist groups will continue to rely on conventional weapons and conventional numbers of casualties, since bombs and guns are simply easier to procure than anthrax or sarin. But Mike Reynolds, who tracks hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, explains that today's terrorists may be more likely to use cataclysmic weapons such as biological or chemical agents than classic groups like a national liberation movement. The liberation rebels, he says, hope to run their nation after the battle is over and would be afraid of turning their people against them with a horrific act. Circumstances are different, Reynolds says, if a group is not hoping to govern, but simply to destabilize and destroy -if "what you're looking for is to wipe out the infidel, the Great Satan, the Jews [and not] looking at any great result like sharing the table at the U.N.... You simply want to wipe them out."