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High-Impact Terrorism Proceedings of a Russian-American Workshop (2002) / Chapter Skim
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Bioterrorism: Threat and Response
Pages 102-105

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From page 102...
... However, neither argument, as publicly articulated, is all that helpful for decision makers who confront hard choices about planning, programming, and allocating resources to address the biological weapons threat. Emphasizing the potential impact of biological agents that might be weaponized produces vulnerability assessments that suggest virtually limitless dangers.
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From page 103...
... Genetic modification, biomolecular engineering, and enhanced bioproduction technologies may make it easier for terrorists to overcome barriers that have inhibited acquisition of biological weapons in the past. Terrorism of the future will be in response to broad trends such as globalization, accelerating interconnectedness, and population dynamics, but it is also likely to entail narrow psychological elements from marginalization to "technorage" to revenge for real or imagined wrongs.
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From page 104...
... Traditional agents capable of inflicting mass casualties are difficult either to acquire, cultivate, and produce or to disseminate effectively. Likely targets do not necessarily facilitate mass casualty outcomes given the other requirements for conducting an effective attack against them, including technical knowledge (e.g., of airflows in large arenas)
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From page 105...
... The United States has a number of its leading public health assets focused on enhancing capabilities in this area, such as the Department of Health and Human Services (National Medical Response Teams for WMD and the Metropolitan Medical Response Systems) ; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a focus on the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program; and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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Key Terms

  • effective response
  • mass casualties
  • civil support
  • national guard
  • support teams

  • medical response
  • scant evidence
  • support role
  • weaponized produces
  • political concessions

  • psychological elements
  • weapons threat
  • wmd civil
  • enhancing capabilities
  • national medical

  • inhibited acquisition
  • analysis tends
  • views combined
  • severe psychological
  • actors inspired

  • psychologies interact
  • covering vulnerabilities
  • set priorities
  • health infrastructure
  • exclude actors

  • neither argument
  • generate fear
  • terrorist seeks
  • political goals
  • bioproduction technologies


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