U.S.: Terrorists building biological arsenals for domestic targets
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, January 20, 2000
WASHINGTON -- Militants are searching for anthrax and other
biological-based weapons for terrorist attacks in the United States,
officials said.
The officials said the attempts are being organized by both enemy
governments of the United States as well as freelancers with a beef. They
said U.S. authorities in 1999 responded to more than 200 hoaxes involving
chemical-biological agents such as anthrax that turned out to be hoaxes.
But they said authorities have also faced credible threats.
"We've seen loners, free-lancers and militia organizations trying to get
their hands on bubonic plague and other toxins," said Pam Berkowsky, the
Pentagon's civil support liaison to the National Security Council. "The
technology is out there; it's on the Internet. It's in people's minds, and
many people have the capability to do these things."
Ms. Berkowsky said terrorists have concluded that the most vulnerable
part of the United States is civilian centers. This includes an effort to
poison U.S. food and water.
"It's difficult to talk about specific scenarios," she said. "You walk a
fine line in not wanting to give ideas to terrorists and potential
adversaries about the kinds of things that you're considering. Suffice it to
say that we are necessarily thinking about biological scenarios -- using
both infectious and noninfectious agents -- and radiological and chemical
scenarios."
U.S. officials have drafted plans to have the military respond quickly
to any attack by weapons of mass destruction. U.S. troops would support
federal, state and local government agencies during such incidents.
Last year, the Defense Department a task force to prepare a response to
any attack by weapons of mass destruction. The department has set up 10
National Guard teams to rapidly deploy to contingency sites to assist local
authorities.