GZ,
As a chemist, I had the priveledge to work for a company receiving DARPA funding to develop countermeasures for biological weapons.
What I can tell you is that technologically, it is a very viable threat. But as a weapon, it is a very difficult one to employ, even in a terroristic manner--I'm not going to go into much detail here, but you can imagine if you get very ill, it's not easy to go out walking amongst the public.
Chemical weapons on the other hand, although we have seen examples of their use, in countries like Japan, are susceptible to much more stringent controls in the USA, due in part to our nations anti drug effort.
The take home message that I want to say here, isn't that it's not possible, but from my perspective, I would be much more worried about things like small explosive devices, that anybody can build by reading the internet.
That said, I didn't realize until I moved to CA, what an incredible job our local law enforcement does at combating terrorism. In recent months, I know of several pipe bombs that have been discovered by LA and San Diego Authorities. In addition, I can count a number of times that buildings like post offices have closed because of suspicious packages.
I had a friend who is now a senior oncologist in Ireland. When he was here, I asked him how he lived with terrorism. The answer, "you just do". What he also said is that people learn to keep an eye out for each other. You don't let packages go unattended and you watch for those that are.
The other thing he said is, he doesn't live in fear.
Wow, the open wasn't as bad as I thought.
V |
