homeland security forum response

I believe that the most probable threat from a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) would be the use of biological agents. "A few kilos of an effectively disseminated BW agent can potentially cause tens to hundreds of thousands of casualties" (Cole, 2010, 73). Many of the biological agents available for FTOs to use require little to no experience handling the agent. If FTOs were to successfully conduct a biological attack, it could cause mass panic within the community, uncertainty, and economic disruption. I believe that it is not because of a lack of trying that a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) has not successfully carried out a biological attack within the country but the technological challenges the organizations face. The effects of a biological attack may not be immediately noticed. Local health care facilities or emergency rooms might be the first to realize there is a biological attack. A biological weapon will definitely be a force multiplier in the psychological on the targeted societies.

The pursuit of WMD by FTO and states that sponsor terrorism pose a great threat to our national security and global security. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a treaty that bans chemical weapons and calls for their destruction within a certain timeline. The goal of the treat is to "eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction by prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons" (OPCW 2016). The treaty also explains that states can posses a small quantity for research, medical or defensive use. FTO could easily exploit fragile or failed states and acquire the materials and resources needed to create a WMD to use in a terrorist attack.

Federal government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, the National Response Framework (NFR) and The National Incident Management System (NIMS) gives guidance for response and organization of agencies conducting the emergency management. I believe that it is going to take actual events for us to further refine our preparedness. We will never be 100 percent prepared but we need to be more prepared than we are now.

Michael

Cole, Benjamin. (2010). Changing Face of Terrorism, The: How Real is the Threat from Biological, Chemical and Nuclear Weapons? (1). London, US: I.B.Tauris, 2010. ProQuest ebrary. Web. (accessed 28 Dec 2016).

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. (2016). Chemical Weapons Convention. https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/. (accessed 28 Dec 2016) .