Bioterrorism Threat Still Top Terror Risk

So what has the U.S. learned since anthrax was sent through the mail in 2001?

It is cheap to do. It is easy to pull off. It is tough to respond to. And for all of those reasons, it remains one of the top concerns of security officials across the country, and one of their greatest frustrations.

New York City is at the forefront of confronting the bioterror threat, with one of the most advanced detection and response systems in the country. But the problem “is not fixed in New York or anywhere else,” says Richard Falkenrath, the city’s counterterror chief and a former senior White House security aide.

The federal government has spent nearly $50 billion on programs to fight bioterrorism since 2001. Still, experience in New York City and elsewhere underscores the enduring difficulty of contending with this type of terror attack. Experts in the field say that the nation’s ability to detect biological weapons is still inadequate in most locales, as is its ability to distribute drugs to the population once the lethal agent is identified. Hospitals warn that the volume of casualties from an effective attack could simply overwhelm facilities.

Read Article – WSJ.com