CBRN TERRORISM
(left) Vital medical isotopes produced from research reactors are also a serious proliferation risk. Iliut/IAEA (right) Suspicious materials at the Illinois Department of Public Health laboratory await testing for anthrax. CDC (opposite) Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) viewed through an electron microscope. CDC
To attempt to answer these questions it is
customary to examine threat analyses from many institutes and government organisations, and to review precedents to guide us to future response preparation, and to try to see if terrorists will repeat previous M.O. But they may not. When the IRA perfected radio- controlled IEDs, and the signals were jammed by British forces, they simply reverted to command-wire IEDs. The Taliban do the same. Terrorists can overcome expensive
countermeasures (CM) with simple weapons – the very nature of today’s asymmetric conflicts. But some CM can deter or stop them in their tracks, so increasingly sophisticated means of detection and protection and training are vital to help us stop CBRN terrorism. As for al-Qaeda, which is a franchise and not a tangible group with a discernible chain of command, while several leaders have been killed, and it continues to fragment, this
could make it potentially more dangerous, with attacks becoming more sporadic and widespread. The atrocities committed in France by a single gunman who reportedly claimed AQ affiliation before he was shot dead by French police in late March was a chilling example of its encouragement of random attacks on civilians by lone wolves or self- starter cells. And AQ doctrine still encourages use of CBRN weapons.
The terrorists next door Many substances used in improvised CBRN devices are traded legally and can be acquired by self-starter terrorist cells in the local hardware store or off the Internet. Several cases involving the home manufacture of ricin included the conviction in January of a
British citizen of Pakistani origin, Asim Kausar, of possessing instructions for producing the ricin and directions for building crude devices, having “scoured the Internet” for information on Islamic extremist groups. However, others have gone beyond
research to actually making ricin. In May 2010 Ian Davison and his son were convicted in Newcastle of manufacturing enough to kill nine people if injected or inhaled, and of storing it in jars for two years in his home. Again, the Internet was researched for recipes on how to make the toxin – to which there is no antidote – and for purchase of the raw ingredient, castor beans. Only one month later a Canadian was convicted on 11 charges of attempted murder for sending bottles of water laced with ricin, disguised as gifts, in 2004 to talent scouts who had rejected his efforts. The judge said he was a “narcissistic, self-aggrandizing person who has blown the
Poisoning of food It emerged during the Newcastle ricin trial that the Davison duo had discussed posting cockroaches through letterboxes of Asian restaurants and shops in order to get them closed down. The judge in this case expressed surprise that the Anarchist’s Cookbook, many copies of which Davison had amassed, was available to buy on readily accessible websites. Poisoning food is a basic, easy form of
bioterrorism. In December 2012 a plot to poison food in restaurants and hotels in the US over one weekend was uncovered. A group associated with AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula) was suspected. AQAP targeted cargo aircraft in that same year as part of its ‘Operation Haemorrhage’ – AQAP’s programme of “smaller-scale attacks to damage already faltering western economies.” Sodium cyanide (of which only 250 mg are needed for a fatal dose) and ricin was to be put into salad
Terrorists can overcome expensive countermeasures (CM) with simple weapons – the very nature of today’s asymmetric conflicts
‘wrongs’ he has suffered in his own mind completely out of proportion.” The Davisons were not jihadi-inspired
or individuals with a specific grudge but as members of a far-right extreme group, ‘Aryan Strike Force’, constituted a growing threat in Europe and the US. They had run a training camp in Cumbria and made propaganda videos. Such groups, as well as right-wing militias in the US – often in remote parts – attract all manner of oddballs, rejects and lone wolves who may amass large stores of guns and explosives as well as chemicals and toxins, as did William Krar and his partner, convicted in 2004 for amassing stocks of precursor chemicals to make enough hydrogen cyanide to gas several thousand people.
24 | CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR WARFARE | 2012/02
bars and buffets, which would produce severe food poisoning symptoms at first and multiple organ collapse only hours later. The US DHS informed hotel sector security officers first of the threat, and alerted health officials to watch for poisoning clusters where victims had eaten at specific restaurants. As food poisoning is so common, only epidemiological assessment or prior intelligence will tell a common bout apart from a bioterrorist attack. In the UK, the CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure) asked the food sector to tighten security at plants and depots and to spot weaknesses in supply chains, following 18 deaths from
E.coli poisoning in Germany in mid-2011. This may be a long way from weapons of mass destruction, but nevertheless
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84