October 5, 2001
UPI Science News
SCOTT R. BURNELL
Witnesses before a House committee Friday said the country's ability
to cope with a biological attack has improved since Sept. 11, but more
training, equipment and better coordination is needed.
The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial
Management and Intergovernmental Relations held the hearing to gauge U.S.
capabilities for dealing with biological or chemical attacks. Committee
members, especially Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., were not satisfied with
recent reassurances by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.
"If anyone can convince me by the end of this hearing that we have the
infrastructure in place to react to such an attack and prevent mass carnage,
I will be pleasantly surprised," Maloney said. U.S. intelligence officials
said the probability of imminent terror attacks was high -- and "100 percent"
should military strikes occur against Osama bin Laden and his Afghan protectors,
The Washington Post reported Friday. The newspaper, quoting unidentified
sources close to congressional intelligence committees, said the assessment
was based on intelligence sources in Afghanistan, Pakistan, England and
Germany. Elements of bin Laden's al Qaida network were believed involved,
but additional details were not made public.
Despite this warning, witnesses said some media reports have exaggerated
the threat U.S. citizens face. Amy Smithson, director of the Chemical and
Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at the Henry L. Stimson Center
in Washington, said rumors about crop dusters possibly delivering biological
agents cannot be substantiated.
"Having spent quite some time with people who fly these aircraft, they
assure me this is not as easily done as is portrayed today," Smithson said.
Microbes such as anthrax are too small to disperse properly from a cropdusting
system, she said.
Responding to questions from Rep. Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill., Smithson
said such planes could spray chemical agents, but the heights at which
a cropduster would have to fly over an urban area would dilute the chemical's
potency.
People buying gas masks and stockpiling antibiotics in response to media
reports are overreacting, Smithson said. They also could be giving themselves
a false sense of security, she said, since training and technical know-how
are necessary for using such items properly. Smithson said such activities
can be stopped by giving the public more accurate, official information.
Smithson also pointed out the difficulties in manufacturing such weapons.
The Aum Shinrikyo cult, which killed dozens of Tokyo residents with the
nerve gas sarin in 1995, used very large budgets and skilled technical
staffs to create a biological weapon, but failed. The cult could not even
create as much sarin as they had hoped, Smithson said.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley told the committee the city's experience
during this summer's train wreck and chemical spill helped improve Baltimore's
response plans. In particular, the city has created a computer network
among area hospitals, he said, forming an early warning system to detect
widespread symptoms of biological or chemical attacks.
Lt. Gen. James Peake, the Army's surgeon general, told the committee
military health facilities are increasing their laboratory capability to
detect and diagnose chemical and biological agents. The Army's labs also
are networking with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
to increase the nation's overall testing capabilities, he said.
There are, however, a great many things the federal government can do
to further enhance U.S. capabilities, witnesses said. Many said more federal
funding needs to reach local emergency agencies, both for training and
the equipment needed to deal with an incident. O'Malley said public access
to the nation's rail system needs to be limited, since trains regularly
carry hazardous cargo.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward Norris said the FBI, CIA and other
agencies would have a huge ally in local police forces if they simply would
share more information about ongoing terrorist-related investigations.
"The FBI has a total of 11,533 agents. There are nearly 650,000 local
law enforcement officers in this country," Norris told the committee. "We
have to know more about what there is to look for in our own communities
so we can better protect our own people and be more effective gatherers
of intelligence for the FBI."
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