Chemical and Biological Agents essay
Among the weapons of mass destruction that may be used by the terrorist groups, nuclear terrorism is the most discussed threat. But it has to be mentioned that the threat of using chemical or biological agents by the terrorist groups in reality is higher because these kinds of attacks are much easier to be implemented in practice.
Despite the obvious probability of the threat, the public has started to pay the attention to this phenomenon relatively recently. Previously, the usage of chemical or biological agents was avoided by the terrorist groups because of several reasons. One of these reasons is the possibility of alienation of the terrorist’s constituencies and another is the necessity of excellent technical expertise that is clearly required for the preparation of chemical or biological agents in order to make them effective weapons and implementation of the attack itself. Nowadays the components for these attacks are easier to access. In addition, it has to be pointed out that the major threat presented by the chemical or biological terrorist attack is the psychological effect on the public rather than the physical effect (chemical or biological attacks are likely to happen on a small scale but are able to make a very negative influence over the people’s minds).
Chemical and biological weapons are two contrasting categories of the weapons of mass destruction therefore they should be considered separately in order to evaluate the risk of their usage by the terrorists correctly. Each category has its own characteristics.
According to a number of researches, for instance, Mauroni (2000), chemical weapons may be defined as the most studied and also produced category of weapons of mass destruction. Specialists claim that these agents are relatively safe for the terrorists themselves and are convenient to use. The technologies applied to the production of chemical weapons are taken from the other weapon systems, so it is comparatively accessible to the terrorist groups. It is clear now that the possible use of the chemical agents is a real danger for any society. The delivery of the chemical agents is a relatively easy operation to implement in comparison for example with the delivery of the nuclear elements. This easiness makes chemical weapon a very appealing tool for the terrorists. But at the same time the chemical agents has a substantial disadvantage: its lethality is decreased with the processes of dispersion and dilution. But still the psychological effects of chemical weapons attack are tremendous and they stretch far beyond the number of actual casualties or obvious damage.
Davis et al (2003) describes the possible scenarios of chemical attack. First case includes the spreading of aerosolized sarin and the consequent formation of the cloud that potentially is able to harm thousands of local citizens. Another case is the usage of hydrogen cyanide: terrorists may spread the gas into the building’s air ventilation system and the occupants of this building will receive lethal concentrations of the cyanide. Both scenarios are possible. The danger of the event is almost immediate but the effects of such attack will not last long (the approximate duration for both cases is one to four hours).
The second type of weapons of mass destruction that are going to be discussed in the present paper is the biological agents. Biological agents are extremely dangerous weapons of infectious nature that may include pathogenic microbes, toxins, bacteria or viruses. (Preparing for Preparing for Chemical and Biological Terrorist Attacks”, 1999) According to Mauroni (2000), this type of weapon involves special infectious elements that are used intentionally by the terrorists to harm people. Hsin (2003) indicates that elements for biological weapon’s production can be easily obtained, and that their purchase is often made under the guise of legitimate research. (Hsin, 2003) Of course there are some issues such as fragility of the biological agents that make their production more complicated process and require serious technical expertise but still the advantages of choosing biological agents for the terrorists are clear. These advantages include the following aspects: less complex techniques and in addition less of a health risk for the people who are involved in the production of the biological agents (by contract to the nuclear weapons production).
The major difference between the chemical or biological attacks is that the speed and lethality of destruction in the case of biological attack can vary widely depending on the type of agent and the physical environment in which the agent is released. (Hsin, 2003) The action of the biological pollution isn’t that immediate as in the case of the usage of the chemicals because of the incubation interval of the biological attacks. The public will probably know about the attack not immediately after the exposure but when emergency responders come to the scene. By contrast to the chemical attack, the extent of biological pollution is much harder to determine straight away. The appearance of symptoms may be delayed. Therefore the process of detection will take longer time. (“Preparing for Preparing for Chemical and Biological Terrorist Attacks”, 1999)
The uniqueness of biological attack is that it involves the nurses, physicians and emergency responders as the representatives of the first line of defense by contrast to the usual involvement of the military stuff. (Hsin, 2003) Taking into consideration these arguments, an emphasis in prevention policies should be made in the effective public health surveillance. It may serve as the major force that will help first to recognize the attack and then prepare an appropriate respond to it. The detection, diagnosis of the biological weapons and the possible courses of action are three important aspects of the prevention policies measures. As for the vaccination, it is a disputable tool, because it is proven to be effective only for the healthy individuals before the appearance of the symptoms of containment while it may be harmful or even lead to death of the patients with the weak immune systems.
A conclusion could be made that the risk of use of biological and chemical agents by the terrorists is very high, and tits important to note that biological weapons monitoring is a serious challenge for the special state institutions. Among the chemical and biological technologies, I would indicate the use of chemical attack as the most probable. First of all because of its immediate effects – this kind of immediate action will help terrorists to spread terror more effectively (which is by the way their ultimate goal). But the advantages of biological technology should also be taken into account, because its usage is also probably and this method has endless possibilities. In the context of biological and chemical attacks, prevention strategy should be the major focus of attention for the state institutions.
