CBR Weapons and WMD Terrorism News- October 4, 2006

Detectors hunt anthrax [Bacillus anthracis]

5 years after deadly attack “More than 1,000 biological detectors are sniffing mail across the country for dangerous contamination as the hunt goes on for whoever put anthrax [Bacillus anthracis spores] in letters and killed five persons just after the September 11 attacks. The U.S. Postal Service has taken action to prevent a repeat [of the attacks]. ‘We have fully deployed the fleet of bio-detection systems’ on canceling machines at 271 mail-processing locations, Postal Vice President Tom Day said. A modified version for larger, flat mail items will be put into service next year, he said.~Installation of the current system cost $800 million, provided by Congress, and the post office is spending about $70 million to operate it.
That annual cost is expected to climb to $120 million.” (The Washington Times; 04Oct06; Randolph E. Schmid and Michael J. Sniffen, AP) http://washingtontimes.com
/functions/print.php?StoryID
=20061003-103956-5418r

Complexity of N.J.’s [New Jersey’s] public health structure raises questions about its ability to respond

“New Jersey has one of the most complex local public health infrastructures in the nation. There are 115 local health departments and more than 500 local boards of health -- a third of all the local boards of health in the entire nation. ‘You have an incredibly intense, piecemeal infrastructure that is incredibly dysfunctional,’ said Laura Kahn, author of a recent two-year study of the public health systems in four states, including New Jersey. In her study, Kahn asked physicians whether they felt prepared to recognize unusual infectious diseases. Only half of the 155 respondents indicated they were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ prepared.” (The Star-Ledger, 04Oct06, Amy Ellis Nutt)
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger
/index.ssf?/base/news-9/11599
37280298970.xml&coll=1

Strategy combats weaponized anthrax

“U.S. scientists say they've developed a countermeasure to combat weaponized anthrax, a biological agent used in 2001 to kill five people. ‘For anthrax to be effective, it has to be made into a fine powder that can easily enter the lungs when inhaled,’ said Clemson University chemist Ya-Ping Sun. ‘What we have done is come up with an agent that clings to the anthrax spores to make their inhalation into the lungs difficult.’ Anthrax spores are covered with carbohydrates, or simple sugars, that are used to communicate with or attract other biological species. The Clemson team used carbon nanotubes as a platform or scaffolding for displaying sugar molecules that would attract the anthrax spores.” (Science Daily, 03Oct06, UPI)
http://www.sciencedaily.com
/upi/index.php?feed=Science&a
rticle=UPI-1-20061003-1601150
0-bc-us-anthrax.xml

Anthrax probe update sought

“Five years after anthrax-tainted mail thrust a local post office to the forefront of a national bioterrorism attack, Rep. Rush Holt has called on federal investigators to meet with postal employees and update them on the status of their investigation into the deadly attacks. In a letter sent to the FBI yesterday, Holt, D-Hopewell Township [New Jersey], demanded answers for employees at the Hamilton post office that processed the tainted mail that killed five people nationally. Holt demanded the local meeting five days after the FBI rebuffed his request to share classified information on the investigation with a congressional intelligence panel.”
(The Times, 03Oct06, Lisa Coryell)
http://www.nj.com/news
/times/index.ssf?/base/new
s-2/1159848336284030.xml&coll=5

Water utilities granted chemical exemption

“Water utilities using chemicals such as chlorine will no longer have to repeat vulnerability assessments and emergency response planning previously required by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, according to a September 29 report in the American Water Works Association's (AWWA) WaterWeek. Congressional leaders agreed on a measure to exempt water and wastewater utilities from interim chemical security requirements authorized in the 2007 spending bill for the US Department of Homeland Security, the story said.” (Water Technology Online, 02Oct06)
http://www.watertechonline.com
/NewsPrint.asp?print=1&mode=
4&N_ID=63995&UniqueURL=
683774613-2006-10-4-1-5-7

Police need terror gear: Oslo police warn that they do not have vital equipment needed to cope with a terrorist attack on the capital

“Norway's terrorism readiness will be tested in one of the biggest catastrophe scenarios ever, dubbed ‘Exercise Oslo’. At the same time police and rescue teams warn of deficiencies that limit their ability to intervene. Sigve Bolstad, head of the Oslo Police Union, believes the exercise will uncover an extremely poor state of readiness, especially if there is a mock chemical attack, for example on the underground trains or the Norwegian State Railways tunnels during rush hour.” (Afterposten,
04Oct06)
http://www.aftenposten.no/
english/local/article1482294.ece

‘Chemical bomb’ raid that found nothing cost £2.2m

“The anti-terrorist raid on a house in east London, which failed to find a suspected chemical bomb being hunted by police, cost more than £2.2 million. The bill for the raid in Forest Gate in early June, which caused deep friction between the Metropolitan Police and some Muslims, includes slightly more than £90,000 in hotel charges to put up the two families whose homes were virtually dismantled in a fruitless forensic search.”
(The Daily Telegraph, 03Oct06, John Steele)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/200
6/10/03/nterr03.xml

OPCW’s [Orgainsation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] Seventh Associate Programme Concludes

“The Seventh Associate Programme organised by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded on 29 September 2006. The ten-week programme was attended by twenty-four participants from the following OPCW Member States: Algeria, Belarus, Brazil, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay and Zambia. The training course facilitates the application of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in chemical industry. National capacity in the peaceful uses of chemistry is enhanced by improving the skills of qualified chemists and chemical engineers from Member States whose economies are in transition or development. The programme also increases the pool of experienced personnel that National Authorities and the OPCW can call upon in the future.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 04Oct06) http://www.opcw.org/
pressreleases/2006/PR65_2006.html

[Radioactive] Source recovery pinched by success

“A program to secure radioactive sources around the country has been almost too successful, said Patrick Moss, a general engineer, who has managed the project for the federal government. ‘The program exceeded the congressional mark on sources recovered,’ he said by phone from the Los Alamos National Laboratory site office of the National Nuclear Security Administration. __Moss responded this morning to an Inspector General audit following up on LANL's Off-Site Recover Project. The project has become increasingly important in proportion to concerns about terrorist threats and especially the availability of materials that might be used in a radiological dispersal device, also known as a ‘dirty bomb.’” (Los Alamos Monitor, 04Oct06, Roger Snodgrass)
http://www.lamonitor.com
/articles/2006/10/04/headline_news/news02.txt

Congress Doubts Value of New Radiation Detectors

“U.S. lawmakers have withheld all funding for deployment of next-generation radiation detectors until the Homeland Security Department proves the new monitors are a significant improvement over those currently in place. Questions about the new technology, known as the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitor, are nothing new.~ The Government Accountability Office in March noted the considerable cost of the detectors, up to $500,000 per machine compared to $180,000 for the monitors now being used, while questioning the improvements offered by the new technology. The congressional doubts, however, come just as lawmakers passed a sweeping port security measure that authorizes $3.4 billion in spending over five years and requires all containers at the nation’s 22 busiest seaports to be scanned for radioactive material by the end of 2007.” (Global Security Newswire, 03Oct06, John Fox)
http://www.nti.org/d_
newswire/issues/2006_10_
3.html#C5E5B104

Russia ratifies international nuclear anti-terror treaty

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill officially ratifying the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Kremlin announced Tuesday. The convention, proposed by Russia, was initially signed by Putin on behalf of Russia in September 2005 after several years of negotiations between nuclear and non-nuclear nations. The Russian parliament passed the bill to ratify it earlier this month. Already 107 states have signed the treaty and six other countries have ratified it; it will enter into force after it is ratified by at least 22 countries.” (Jurist, 03Oct06, Gabriel Habouti)
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu
/paperchase/2006/10/russia-ratif
ies-international-nuclear.php

7-year term for trying to make ricin

“A Phoenix man who was convicted of trying to manufacture the deadly biological toxin known as ricin was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison. Denys Ray Hughes, 59, was convicted by a federal jury in June on the ricin charge and possession of explosives and a silencer. U.S. District Judge Earl Carroll, who sentenced Hughes to 87 months in prison, said the case was among the most serious he had ever tried, according to prosecutors.” (The Arizona Republic, 03Oct06, Dennis Wagner) http://www.azcentral.com
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ferer=http://www.azcentral.c
om/community/phoenix/article
s/1003ricin1003.html

Terrorism drill today to test emergency crews, military [in South Carolina]

“A mock terrorism exercise involving soldiers from Fort Jackson and hundreds of emergency responders from around the state is planned for today in Rock Hill [South Carolina]. The drill, to be held in the Winthrop Coliseum and parts of the surrounding Winthrop Farm, will simulate a terrorist attack that includes the use of chemical or biological weapons.”
(Rock Hill Herald, 04Oct06, Matt Garfield)
http://www.heraldonline.com
/109/story/7462.html

Anti-terror insurance expands for U.S. firms

“Insurance coverage for a terrorist attack like the one on Sept. 11, 2001, has expanded significantly in the past five years as a result of a U.S. government program that pays for the bulk of the damage, a Bush administration report has said. But the report, released late Monday, said there was virtually no coverage available for most of the damage that would come from a nuclear attack or one carried out with chemical or biological weapons.” (International Herald Tribune, 03Oct06, Bloomberg News)
http://www.iht.com/articles
/2006/10/03/business/ibrief.php

California man charged with threatening Bush, Cheney

“An engineer at a nuclear power plant near Sacramento has been charged with sending threatening letters containing a powdery substance to the same Sierra foothills country club where President Bush will appear Tuesday for a Republican campaign event. Michael Lee Braun, 51, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on two federal charges of sending threats through the mail. The FBI said he also is a suspect in mailing dozens of similar threats since shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks. ‘Each of the letters contained a written threat, usually death by some kind of WMD agent (anthrax, toxic chemical poison, radioactive dust or improvised explosives) and some unknown, white, powdery substance, or items simulating a possible letter/package improvised explosive device,’
according to the affidavit by Special Agent Timothy Lester.” (North County Times; 03Oct06; Don Thompson, AP)
http://www.nctimes.com
/articles/2006/10/03/news/
state/17_01_0010_2_06.txt