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Politics : Homeland Security -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Snowshoe who wrote (257)	10/31/2001 8:21:57 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 827

Anti-Terrorist Venture Launched to Guard Shipping dailynews.yahoo.com By Pete Harrison Wednesday October 31 3:08 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - A new international security group was launched on Wednesday to protect shipping, spurred by growing fears that terrorists could use fuel-laden tankers as floating missiles against coastal cities. After hijackers used passenger aircraft as missiles to such deadly effect on the World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites) on September 11, security experts see shipping as a possible vehicle for a similar attack on the U.S. ``Three companies have formed a unique joint venture to address the challenges to marine security in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.,'' said a statement by Global Maritime Security Systems. The three companies are the U.S.-based tanker operator Energy Transportation Group, the London-based security firm Hart Group and London-based shipping financier Tufton Oceanic. ``The catastrophic scenario is an LNG (liquefied natural gas) ship just coming into harbor and an aircraft flown into it, or an LNG ship taken over by the crew and crashed into a terminal in a mass suicide,'' Hart Group director Richard Bethell told Reuters. Bethell said the joint venture would act as an adviser on port security, crew vetting and international route planning but would try to avoid using armed guards. On Monday U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said the administration had ``credible'' information of an upcoming attack on U.S. interests this week. A federal judge threw out a lawsuit on Monday filed by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who sought to block LNG ships from entering the harbor on fears that they were not adequately prepared for an explosion in the densely populated region. The vulnerability of shipping to attack was illustrated on Tuesday, when the oil tanker Silk Pride exploded off Sri Lanka during a Tamil Tiger suicide attack, killing seven. FORMIDABLE WEAPON ``One of the biggest risks to shipping is the crew themselves,'' said Bethell. ``The senior officers are well vetted, but a lot of the crew come from areas where potentially terrorists could get stooges on board.'' The Philippines -- home of the militant group Abu Sayyaf -- is the world's biggest crew supplier, while Indonesia is home to numerous radical Muslim groups and is the world's second biggest crew supplier. Bethell said port security and ship routing were also key issues, but if possible they would try to avoid putting armed guards on ships. ``It doesn't reduce the threat significantly and causes complications in port,'' he said. While an LNG explosion is not considered especially deadly on its own, explosives experts say a booster charge could turn one ship into a formidable weapon. ``It's a question of how you prime it,'' said Bethell. ``You can create anything if you get the right level of combustion.'' Two U.S. LNG accidents, one in 1944 and the other during the 1970s, killed a total of 166 people and added to fears about the fuel. Bethell also highlighted the threat to passenger ships. ``If terrorists start getting caught and tried, then a cruise ship would be the perfect platform from which others could gain leverage,'' he said. In 1985 an Italian cruise liner, the Achille Lauro, was hijacked by the Palestine Liberation Front. One of the passengers, Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound Jewish American, was murdered. In June, Spanish police said they had foiled a plan by the armed Basque separatist group ETA to sink a ferry out of Santander using a car bomb.

To: Snowshoe who wrote (257)	11/1/2001 7:15:51 AM
From: RocketMan	Respond to of 827

Looks like the 8-10,000 number is up for grabs again: The anthrax crisis has forced scientists and health officials to reconsider other verities as well, including the number of spores it takes to cause inhalation anthrax. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the Senate's only physician, who has steeped himself in bioterrorism, said no case has so alarmed him as the death of Nguyen. And he suggested that scientists discard the existing assumption that it takes 8,000 to 10,000 spores to infect someone. "I'd throw it out the window," Frist said. Scientists and public health officials have said in recent days that they believe that age, health and even how deeply a person breathes could affect whether they become infected. A 1993 study by the Office of Technology Assessment concluded that "1,000 spores or less can produce fatal pulmonary anthrax in some" people. washingtonpost.com