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 The
anthrax attacks in the United States have so far killed five people,
far fewer than the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon and the
World Trade Center, which used commercial airplanes rather than
WMD. Similarly, the chemical nerve agent attack on the Tokyo subway
killed far fewer people than the April 1995 bombing of the federal
building in Oklahoma City. Therefore, some experts have argued that
conventional weapons are of greater concern than WMD. Although explosives
are less deadly pound-for-pound than some CBRN weapons, they are
generally easier to acquire and use effectively. It is technically
quite difficult to use chemical or biological agents to cause large
numbers of casualties. For example, despite Aum Shinrikyo's substantial
financial resources and scientific knowledge, it was still unable
to kill large numbers of people.
Nevertheless, the potential consequences from WMD use are serious.
The likelihood of terrorists using WMD is low, but the successful
use of WMD could cause massive casualties. With this in mind, the
U.S. government has started a major program of preparedness for
WMD terrorism. Its efforts include both prevention, such as increasing
the resources of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to counter
and detect WMD terrorism resources, as well as consequence management,
such as training and equipping first responders to limit the harm
caused by a WMD attack.
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Further Reading:
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WMD 411 Bibliography, WMD
Terrorism |
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WMD 411, Anthrax Attacks
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WMD 411, Nuclear Terrorism
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CNS, Jason Pate, "Better
Plan Needed to Curb Epidemics" |
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Henry L. Stimson Center, Amy Smithson, Ataxia:
The Chemical and Biological Terrorism Threat and the US Response
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Jonathan B. Tucker and Amy Sands, "An Unlikely Threat" |
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CNS, Jean Pascal Zanders, "Assessing
the Risks of Chemical and Biological Weapons Proliferation to Terrorists" |
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CNS, Bruce Hoffman, "Terrorism
and WMD: Some Preliminary Hypotheses" |
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CNS, John Parachini, "Combating
Terrorism: Assessing Threats, Risk Management, and Establishing Priorities" |
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CNS, Ray Zilinskas, "Assessing
the Threat of Bioterrorism" |
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CNS, Terrorism
Page
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CNS, Jonathan Tucker, "The
Proliferation of Chemical and Biological Weapons Materials
and Technologies to State and Sub-State Actors
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