What Is Bioterrorism?

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).

The modern day suicide bomber is effective in the sense that they do cause fear and death but is greatly overused that they rarely become news worthy. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, the suicide bomber became all the rage and the ultimate fear of Americans. After ten years of war in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, the suicide bomber is cliché to the terrorist ideology and borderline boring and expected. Terrorists want to cause fear in a sense that causes a domino effect of destruction. Though the suicide bomber is effective, there is nothing more effective than the use of a biological attack in a crowded area. It is quiet, lethal and takes a long time to detect the source and even longer time to trace it back to a suspect. Within

Chemical terrorism is the use of natural or synthetic substances such as mustard gas to kill a group of civilians (Freedmen 1). There is also such thing as bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is the use of a biological weapon against a civilian population such as smallpox and fungus (Hoyel 1). Chemical and biological terrorism is very dangerous because it intends to kill a lot of people at a time. Terrorists can get their hands on chemicals but it is much easier for them to get biologics (biological agents) because they are harder to detect and are cheaper to make.

The 1995 Sarin subway attack in Tokyo and the Anthrax letters scare along with multiple attempts by terrorists both at home and abroad have illustrated the fact that terrorists are not objected to using chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

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.

Bioterrorism can easily target citizens by poisoning food and water supplies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration a.k.a. OSHA stated that there’s over 250 different foodborne diseases and illnesses, and are often mislabeled as food poisoning. These diseases can be potentially fatal to those inflicted. In the article “A Discussion of Findings and Their Possible Implications from a Workshop on Bioterrorism Threat Assessment and Risk Management”, Bruce Hope states that it’s possible to analyze the agricultural and food industries by making fake scenarios of potential threats. This analysis of America’s system can allow for professionals to better secure food supplies and ensure that bioterrorism is less likely of impacting the population. Defense measures can make these buildings invulnerable, or nearly so (Zilinskas, 906). Another method of defense against bioterrorism is vaccination. According to Rebecca Katz in “Public Health Preparedness: The Best Defense Against Biological Weapons” she argues that vaccination is a plausible method of defense against bioterrorism if necessary. She also states “[vaccines] are part of a preattack defense and a postattack containment” (Katz, 177). These vaccinations can aid people in case of smallpox and anthrax, both of which are viable threats to biosecurity. The article also states that while more research is necessary to improve the currently available vaccines, it’s a necessary component of preparing for bioterrorism. Katz states “In order to avoid chaos during an event, development and dissemination prior to an attack of vaccine priority and distribution plans is essential. These plans should incorporate the best methods for controlling the spread of disease, saving the most lives, and ensuring the utility of

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

The Rajneeshee bioterrorism attack is the perfect example of terrorist or an extremist group taking matters in their own hands. It seems that the purpose and method of delivery was well thought out and was not irrational, Diseases have always been the enemy to man and animals, using viruses as weapons clearly presents a threat to the public and to national security.

Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death in people, livestock, or crops. These agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Bacillus anthracis is one of the most popular agents to be used in a bioterrorism attack. Anthrax could be used in many forms, for example, it can be placed into letters and mailed, much like the 2001 anthrax attack, anthrax can be released into the air where the spores can be easily blown by the wind and inhaled or can be carried around on objects such as people’s clothes to which it has

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

According to Powerpoint on Select Agents and Toxins in Module 2, a select agent is a biological agent that has the potential to pose a severe threat to animal health and safety, plant health and safety, or to the safety of animal or plant products. Biosecurity is a set of procedures intended to protect humans or animals against disease or harmful biological agents, according to Module 1, Biosecurity and the Importance of Invasive Species. According to the CDC video, "History of Bioterrorism" in Module 2, bioterrorism is the use of weapons of viruses, bacteria, and other germs for an attack. Ricin is a poison found naturally in beans (Select Agents and Toxins Module 2 Powerpoint). It prevents cells from making protein. If inhaled, it can cause

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

Biological weapons cannot, without explosive components, destroy structures. Nuclear weapons can level entire parts of a city. Nuclear weapons however cannot target specific groups of people within the impact zone whereas biological agents can be deployed in an enclosed space, reducing the number of deaths but targeting only a specific group. This may be important when considering the terrorists constituents. Do they want targeted attacks against only government or military personnel? Would they rather see a high death toll? Terrorist organizations are not typically simply causing death, they are advancing a political or religious ideal that may have limitations that shy away from indiscriminant

In simpler terms, meaning that the state is using and supporting its terrorist groups to gain knowledge about something that could help or protect their political agenda. In example, it is believed that a lot of state-sponsored terrorism actively played a role in the Iran government when it was accused of supporting Shia militias in Iraq during its recent war with the United States under George W. Bush’s presidency. The United States was also accused of state-sponsored terrorism when they were in support of Cuban

For example, if a large city such as Chicago was to be exposed to a Category A pathogen such as smallpox, an extraordinary demand would be placed upon the medical institutions and their staffs. If a large enough area was to be affected, it would require some sort of quarantine by the military, in order to control the spread of the virus. This action in itself may cause a rise in fear and lead to an overwhelming panic from the people in the area. A complete population terror could arise quickly; causing people to do things such as overgeneralize symptoms and act irrationally in the time of distress. So not only is there a physical stressor present with the use of bio-agents, there is a psychological one as well. It is very difficult to determine when these so called bioterrorism attacks will occur, as they are very hard to predict. However, with all the advancement in research and the number of nations jumping on the bandwagon, it can be assumed more will occur. This means that there should be some type pre-planning done in order to handle a bio-attack