The Rajneeshee Bioterrorism Attack

The BW attack by the group was one of the most serious in the U.S. during the 1980s. Salmonella typhimurium is a biological agent that can cause severe food poisoning when ingested. In 1984 the group used the bacterium to infect salad bars in restaurants within the town of The Dalles, Oregon. The attack ultimately infected at least 750 people (Rajneeshpuram: An Experiment to Provoke God 1995). This successful salmonella attack was not the only attack attempted by the Rashneeshpuram cult.

“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

These biological agents could be viruses, toxins, bacteria, etc. Agents could be used in war or terrorist attacks. Also, they could be modified to cause extreme diseases and disorders, according to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It makes bioterrorism even more tempting to use as it is easy and inexpensive to produce, disseminate and can cause a more widespread panic than other acts of terrorism (1).

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

The smallpox bioterrorism attack was made more successful when the FBI did not inform the local authorities and health agencies of the potential for an attack. This lack of information caused a delay in the medical community being able to respond quickly and effectively by isolating those exposed and assessing an immediate vaccination plan. People who were infected at the venue went about their lives and would later expose many others to smallpox. Since hospitals were not informed about a potential large-scale smallpox exposure they were not aware to be cautious for any symptoms associated with smallpox. This caused the first few smallpox patients to be misdiagnosed patients with things such as the flu and dengue fever instead. This time lapse

In 1984 a group, known as the Rajneeshees, used Salmonella enterica Typhimurium to poison about 700 people by contaminating salad bars in The Dalles in Oregon. This group had a charismatic leader in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, an apocalyptic ideology, was a loner group with a sense of paranoia and aggressive (Tucker, 1999). The attack was due to the resistance from the Wasco County to allow the Rajneeshees to build their own utopia world. The plot was to take over the county by electing their own representatives by suppressing voter turnout in elections by making them sick. This group not only prepared and weaponized its own Salmonella, they also engaged in assassination attempts and intimidation, not only outside their group but also within its ranks.

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 presents a very unique threat to the United States. A biological attack can be hard to immediately detect and poses many collection challenges to the Intelligence Community. A small vial of anthrax can go undetected in the pocket of an individual through an airport, government facility, or one of the many other areas that usually have significant security designed to prevent conventional terrorist attacks. A small amount of a biological agent can do a significant amount of damage. How can the Intelligence Community counter bioterrorism threats? This is the question this research paper aims to answer.

After events such as 9/11, terrorism still instills fear into America’s population. Why? Simply because it is the one danger the American people cannot control. Biological terrorism is not always feared or worried about, but it is a genuine possibility and a lethal surprise that causes devastation. If not prepared, these deadly pathogens could easily kill large amounts of people. With tensions on the rise, what will the government or citizens do to defend themselves? If something happens, how will Americans be able to care for themselves and families? Bioterrorism is becoming a serious threat that needs to be eradicated to gain biosecurity and to ensure the safety of Americans.

Imagine this: you wake up hours before your alarm sounds to find your entire neighborhood in chaos; people running, robbing banks and stores, and bodies are littering the once calm streets. Over the night, a government-run biological experiment dealing with germ weapons had been released, infecting, destroying, and causing panic across the globe. As a single, globalized society, we need to heighten our security against biological weapons and biological terror to prevent the endangerment of mankind. It would be most beneficial to our species if we did not try to use or experiment with biological weapons, seeing as they are engineered specifically to create social, economic, governmental, military, and general fear and disruption. Bioterror

Bioterrorism did not begin with 2001 anthrax attacks; it has occurred throughout history and its threat to

Bioterrorism is directly focused on the livestock and crops, which are valuable sources of food. The agroterrorism attack in the U.S. has started an economic warfare, which can turn fatal to most Americans. Economic warfare has calculated of being damaging to the

In fact, the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director James Woolsey has stated that creating a biological weapon is as easy as producing beer and that even a good chemistry high school student is capable of creating a biological weapon (Gerstein, 2010). Moreover, with the increase of natural viruses such as Ebola, terrorists could carry out a biological attack without the need of having to use any technology (Cenciarelli et al., 2015). They could simply travel to the country where a transmittable natural virus is occurring and they could get infected on purpose; then, all they have to do is travel back to their target location and intentionally spread the transmittable virus among large crowds of people (Cenciarelli et al.,

A death by a biological agent is not a quick one; in most instances it is a slow and very painful death. A fear such a death would definitely incite panic, making it much more difficult for rescue crews and medical personnel to respond, causing the problem to grow out of control (Eitzen 445) With nuclear terrorism, most deaths are immediate due to the sheer force of the explosion of a bomb. This may be startling to think about but death would be swift with possibly very little suffering if any at all. Another possible effect of bioterrorism is the possible lowering of one’s immune system due to lack of sleep caused by fear or by sickness itself, therefore making the disease much harder to fight off. Nuclear terrorism is archaic and unlikely yet it is still in the public eye so often we no longer realize it, yet Bioterrorism is hardly ever mentioned and it much more likely a dirty bomb going off in the middle of a city is not as likely as a weaponized strain of ebola being realeased into the air in this day and age. The inexpensiveness of production, easy distribution and mental toll Bioterrorism takes; it is a very real and very potent threat to our society as a whole. And it is high time it was recognized as

The Rajneeshee used a biological weapon in the form of salmonella. The commune actually created the salmonella in a laboratory. The Rajneeshee were to use this on the people of the town in order to make them sick enough so they would not be able to vote and their own members could take political roles. (Thuras 2014)