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Biological Attack

Biological Attack

In Living Terrors by Michael T. Osterholm and John Schwartz, the threat of biological attack on the United States is introduced to the public. Using Living Terrors and a number of sources that are extremely knowledgeable on the question of preparedness of the United States to a biological attack, I will argue that the United States is in no way prepared to handle a biological attack on its soil.
Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are all considered weapons of mass destruction. However, unlike chemical or nuclear weapons, biological weapons combine maximum destructiveness and easy availability. According to Richard Betts, "nuclear arms have great killing capacity but are hard to get; chemical weapons are easy to get but lack such killing capacity; biological agents have both qualities" (9). In 1993, a study by the Office of Technology Assessment concluded that "a single airplane delivering 100 kilograms of anthrax spores by aerosol on a clear, calm night over Washington D.C., could kill up to 1 to 3 million people in a three hundred square mile area surrounding Washington D.C." (Osterholm and Schwartz 9).
Biological weapons are a dangerous threat to the United States. According to Eric Noji, associate director of bioterrorism preparedness for the Center for Disease Control, "the threat of chemical and biological intentional releases is a clear and present danger" (Fialka et al B1). However, there is evidence that the United States is not taking the threat of a biological attack seriously. The investigating branch of Congress named the General Accounting Office or GAO, "charged that the government has failed to properly manage the medical stockpiles developed to protect the public from the scourge of potentially devastating biological weapons" (Cohen M2).
Lack of Government funding against a biological attack is also evidence that the United States is not taking the threat of bioterrorism seriously. Mohammad N. Akhter, who...