Project Bioshild

The first major bioterror event in the United States--the anthrax attacks in October 2001--was a clarion call for scientists who work with "hot" agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.

I believe these are fair assessments, there are politicians at the top of our government that need a “Wake up call”. The book though well written became very difficult to follow. There was quite a bit of jumping around in time throughout the book. I did understand they were trying to follow a particular subject. There were many names of scientists, foreign and American, politicians, foreign and American, with the names of foreign countries, with their current and previous names. Reading Germs was a bit of a history lesson for me. I’ve thought the US government is supposed to protect its citizens. Germs reveals some significant misgivings our US government has. Though given abundant information and data from leading scientists and researchers, the government still made no head way in the development of mass production of vaccines that would save American citizens if biological attacks did happen. Critical decisions were made based on the amount of money that would be needed to front the production of vaccines, protective gear or even education to the medical community on the front lines of any impending attacks. Germs, gives a revealing look at the biological weapons programs that have existed in the US, Russia and Iraq in the past and that likely still exists

“Bioterrorism remains a major threat for the United States despite more than $65 billion spent on protecting the country from myriad dangers, the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center said in its latest report Wednesday. The center's Bio-Response Report Card evaluated U.S. preparedness for countering threats from bioterrorism and found the country remains vulnerable to multiple threats and "largely unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorist attack."”(UPI.com, 2011). There have been over a dozen leading U.S. bio-defense experts that have taken part in figuring out where we are exactly as a county and what the effects of a terroristic attack

Following the 9/11 and anthrax terrorist attacks, studies focused on the mental state of the nation were performed. While these events occurred over a decade ago, they are not a danger of the past. With increasingly advanced technology, anthrax is relatively easy to produce in large quantities (Inglesby). Additionally, many countries such as China, Israel, and North Korea have nuclear weapons (The Biological Threat). Although biological weapons were forbidden during the Geneva Convention, it would be foolish for America to believe that a bioterrorist attack is out of the picture, especially at a time where large terrorist attacks are increasingly common. Thus, it is important to consider whether bioterrorism’s psychological ramifications,

Welcome to week 4! This week we are discussing what consequences face the Nation if our chosen threat isn’t adequately addressed and whether we believe that it is being addressed adequately now. Of the six security challenges that are mentioned in the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, I have chosen to discuss biological threats. Biological terrorism is a scary prospect that should be a growing concern for the country. The reason for this is the ease at which a bio attack can be put into action. Depending on the level of intricacy of the attack, the effects could be isolated to one area or become a pandemic that spreads across the United States. Bioterrorism comes in many forms but as a general explanation biological

One of the world’s most dreaded plagues for centuries, smallpox is now eradicated. Vaccination programs were pushed worldwide by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the disease was eliminated from the world. This push resulted in the last naturally occurring case in the world being almost 40 years ago. Once eradicated the once routine or mandatory vaccinations were stopped for the general public and it was deemed no longer necessary to prevent the disease. Although currently eradicated worldwide, two medical laboratory stockpiles still remain in Russia and the United States. With these stockpiles in existence the possibility of bio terrorism emerges and fear of these stockpiles getting into the wrong hands and being weaponized for

The fear of a Chemical or Biological attack has been a concern to many governments. These attacks, either by state agencies or individuals, have caused loss of life and the United States has not been spared in this forms of attacks.

Everyday, people all over the world are suffering from life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and chicken pox. Diseases may not seem like that big of a problem to us, but that is only because we rarely have to deal with such problems due to our blessing of herd immunity inside American borders. If you are a citizen of the United States, you probably know about the safety and protection we are provided by living here. Consequently, you may attribute our security to government and troops, the protection of our health provided to United States’ citizens is the backbone of what continues to grow our population, better our country, and prevent epidemic outbreaks. Scientists and doctors play a

Project Bioshield was signed into law on July 21, 2004, by President George W. Bush after he proposed this project at the 2003 State of the Union address in response to the 2001 anthrax attacks. “Project BioShield is a comprehensive effort overseen

The US right now is taking military and counterterrorism actions, but it is not enough to stop them. Bioterrorism is harder to stop because you won't know whether it is a deliberate outbreak by terrorist group or a natural outbreak of disease (Okoth 2). Bio Attacks are not only deadly to people but also the environment according to Naftali Okoth “dual threats of emerging infections and bioterrorism would pose a major conceptual and technical challenges for a regions intelligence

Bioterrorism has been on the forefront of consideration since the bombing of the twin towers in New York City, on September 11, 2001. Specifically smallpox a considered biological weapon may be used to cause mass destruction. The last naturally acquired case of smallpox in the world occurred in 1977, consequentially we have stopped vaccination and those under 30 have little immunity to smallpox (Ford, 2003). Initial symptoms include high fever, fatigue, head and backaches, death which may occur in up to 30% of cases and an incubation period in about 12 days (range: 7 to 17 days) following exposure (Ford, 2003). Military regard smallpox as a means for enemies to use an unconventional tactic to gain advantage having been used most likely

Biological threats to the homeland are one of six strategic challenges outlined in The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. Biological threats are sometimes viewed as underrated threat to homeland security compared to the threat of terrorism and nuclear weapons. The following will explain the nature the threat of biological weapons pose on the homeland and the ongoing steps the federal government is implementing to meet this challenge.

What I gathered from this week’s lesson is that agroterrorism is a cause for concern in the United States and ranges in the audience, much like every other issue, from those who believe it is a very real possibility, like Tommy Thompson, to those who feel like there is nothing to really worry about. The potential effects of agroterrorism in the United States could be a serious enough to affect a large number of people. It seems to be an effective and low-key technique to induce biological pathogens at one location, by only one individual, which in turn could affect thousands, if not more.

If you were to hear the words biological weapons, you almost certainly hear how they are extremely dangerous and how a terrorist could use them at almost any moment. If you were to hear the words bioweapons you would hear it used interchangeably with WMD and compared to nuclear bombs but is this the actual truth? Are biological weapons truly that devastating and should we be afraid? The answer is it depends on a couple variables. There three different types of biological weapons including toxins, non-contagious and contagious. What separates them from chemical weapons, is the fact that bio-weapons are alive or derived from living things like snake venom. Bio-weapons could be a pretty good terrorist weapon if a terrorist could figure out

“Only yesterday mankind lived in fear of the scourges of smallpox, cholera, and plague………….. Today we are concerned with a different kind of hazard that lurks in our environment—a hazard we ourselves have introduced into our world as our modern way of life has evolved.”