Homeland Defense: Is the nation ready for a ‘dirty bomb?’

The Energy Department is about to create a $450 million program to go out internationally and collect more spent reactor fuel and other radioactive materials that could be used for a ‘dirty’ bomb, and bring them back to the US for disposal. This in addition to major efforts it’s already undertaken in Russia. All in an effort to ensure that such materials don’t fall into the hands of terrorists.

Will it be in time?

The federal government has announced that further terrorist attacks are likely this summer. Several new reports say a major concern is that terrorists may acquire and use a chemical, biological or radiological enhanced weapon.

In the opinion of at least one expert, a ‘dirty bomb’ is the most dangerous terrorist scenario we face.

 “I think an explosive is by far the most likely scenario,’ says Dr. Carl Schultz[i], professor of emergency medicine at U of C, Irvine. “ That’s what they (the terrorists) do best and it’s very hard to stop. It doesn’t have to be particularly deadly radioactive material, because ANY radioactivity would take an entire area right off the map in the public’s mind.”

A dirty bomb would use conventional explosives to spread radioactive materials. It would have no atomic chain reaction and would likely be made without highly enriched uranium or plutonium, which tend to be well guarded and difficult to move or handle.

“It would be incredibly hard to ever get people to go back to Disneyland, for example, after any radioactive release. Because the public ‘knows’ that radioactivity lasts forever, even though that isn’t true,” says Dr. Schultz.

There is disturbing evidence that Al-Qaida may be trying to attain weapons of mass destruction in its continuing efforts to inflict pain on the United States. The respected International Institute of Strategic Studies, in its just released annual survey, says Al-Qaida is probably working on plans for major attacks on the United States and Europe.

The Institute says that although almost half of al-Qaida's top 30 leaders have been killed or captured, it appears to have effective leadership, with bin Laden possibly still playing a key role. And the war in Iraq has been a major boost to its membership, according to other sources.

So what will happen if Al-Qaida does manage to pull off an attack?

Dr. Schultz, who has published several papers on hospital preparedness, says there are lots of similarities between responses to earthquakes and a large-scale terrorist attack, and the biggest lesson the country has learned to date is the key to an effective response is a very robust public health infrastructure. He says that infrastructure has been badly neglected, and the government is finally moving to update it. Recent announcements suggest he’s right.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson just announced $498 million in awards to states, territories and the cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, to strengthen the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters.

Also, HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon announce its latest round of grants, estimated at over three quarters of a billion dollars, bringing the total HHS investment to aiding state preparedness to more than $3.7 billion since the Sept. 11^th attacks.

The new federal money is likely to be good news for many companies in the bioterror and homeland defense fields. Companies like Vical Inc., Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuiticals, Roaming Messenger, VaxGen, Dor BioPharma, Markland Technologies, RAE Systems, Cepheid Biodefense, Aethlon Medical, and Genencor International, to name a few.

Are we, then, UNprepared for a major attack?

No, says Dr. Schultz. “It’s a moving target. Each year that goes by we are getting better at it. By ‘06 or ‘07 we’ll be better at it than we are now.”

“We need better detection equipment, granted, and we need more vaccines,” but the system is moving in the right direction.

In fact, the administration has just released parts of its strategy paper “Biodefense for the 21st Century,” which makes specific assignments of responsibilities in the event of a bioterror attack. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says the new initiative “will fully integrate our current bioterrorism efforts across the public health, medical, law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security community."

Under the initiative, HHS would take the lead responsibility for anticipating biological threats and coordinate development of medical countermeasures.

“It’s never THE cure for cancer. It’s lots of little cures. It’s a whole bunch of technologies and techniques that are making things better,” concludes Dr. Schultz.

Making sure that all responders to a threat have the right information at hand is another major element that requires new resources. The 9-11 Commission has identified a lack of communications ability as being one of the major problems faced by first responders on that fateful day. As is being done in the bioterror detection field, much work is also being done in tech upgrades and new types of communications integration to ensure that good information is shared during the crucial first hours of response to an attack.

And getting useful information out to the public is also critical. The Center for Disease Control learned many valuable lessons during the Anthrax situation, says Dr. Schultz, and now have a full-time spokesperson to ensure that credible information is given out. The agency’s performance during the Sars crisis, he notes, was an example of how to do it right.

We can only hope that there will not be more opportunities to put the lessons into practice as we head into a worrisome summer for domestic terror responders. 

[1] Dr. Carl Schultz, professor of emergency medicine at U of C, Irvine, serves on two national task forces on terrorism and is a consultant to the national ANSER Institute for Homeland Security.

Allen R. Gibson 

Allen R. Gibson has over twenty-five years of experience in media and corporate communications. He has been a reporter, television producer, and marketing communications consultant for public companies in both the US and Canada. 

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