Wednesday, July 14, 1999
EmergencyNet Exclusive: Questions and Answers On Bio-Warfare/Bio-Terrorism (Q & A) with Dr. Ken Alibek
By: C. L. Staten
This is an interview with former Soviet Colonel and doctor Kanatjan Alibekov, now known as Ken Alibek. Dr. Alibek was the 1st Deputy Chief of the secret Soviet germ warfare program, Biopreparat, from 1988 to 1992.
In 1992, Dr. Alibek defected to the United States and has since spent his time briefing U.S. military, intelligence,
and medical officials about biological weapons and defenses. Dr. Alibek
holds both M.D. and PhD. degrees.Dr. Alibek is now the co-author of a best-selling book, "Biohazard," (Random House) which thoroughly discusses the inside story of the development of bio-warfare agents in the former Soviet Union. According to the New York Times, quoting William C. Patrick, a former U.S. government bio-war expert who helped debrief him, Dr. Alibek has provided information that is "critical" to America's understanding of the Soviet biological warfare programs.
EmergencyNet: What Weapons of Mass Destruction (Chem/Bio/Nuke) agent do you see as the greatest threat to U.S. security at the present time?
Alibek: Plague, Smallpox, Anthrax, Glanders, Melioidosis, Marburg and Ebola infections, Lassa infection, Machupo infection, many other hemorrhagic fevers and various encephalitis and many others.
EmergencyNet: To your knowledge, did the former Soviet work on genetic engineering or altering of the properties of "standard" biological agents used for weapons?
Alibek: The Soviet Union has developed genetically altered antibiotic resistant strains of anthrax, plague, tularemia, and glanders. New biological weapons (lab prototypes and pilot-plant techniques) have been developed on a basis of genetically altered plague, anthrax and tularemia. This country was intensively researching way to genetically alter some viruses. For example, for years it was researching the ways to genetically alter variola major (smallpox virus) by inserting some new genes in this virus genome.
EmergencyNet: To your knowledge, were strains of SmallPox/Variola exported to former Soviet allies? Other agents?
Alibek: I'm afraid I don't know anything about the specifics of this.
EmergencyNet: Do you believe that former Soviet scientists, unpaid for many months and familiar with bio-weapon technology, are currently working in the so-called "rogue states" such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Yemen, Africa, etc.??
Alibek: Yes, I do. There is some information about this.
EmergencyNet: Do you believe that non-state actors (terrorists) could/have attained possession of former Soviet chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons?
Alibek: It is highly probable.
EmergencyNet: Here's a hypothetical -- if you were a terrorist and wanted to attack the U.S. -- what chemical/biological/nuclear agent would you chose to cause the greatest mortality and morbidity?
Alibek: Marburg and ebola infections, plague, smallpox, anthrax and (unfortunately) many others.
EmergencyNet: If you had to pick one (1) bio-weapon for an terrorist attack on the USA, based on former Soviet doctrine, which one would you chose?
Alibek: Smallpox or Plague.
EmergencyNet: Did the former Soviet Union develop effective methods for non-explosive dispersal of biological agents?
Alibek: Yes, it did. It was a spray technique based the use of spray tanks installed on medium range bombers. In the late 80s, this country started to develop a new type of application based on use of "a low flying, high-speed object" for BW application. Clearly, it was a research work to use "cruise missiles" for BW application.
EmergencyNet: Theoretically, how would a terrorist operative disperse a bio-agent in a large city? Obviously, they don't have access to medium bombers or cruise missile technology. Could a man-portable system might be used by an individual or small group of persons to spread an agent? If so, how?
Alibek: The most probable situations are these: contamination of food in restaurants', aerosolization in metro-systems, shopping malls, administrative and commercial buildings, etc.
EmergencyNet: What do you see as the potentially most vulnerable targets to attack by WMD within the continental United States? Which/what would have potentially been targeted by the former Soviet Union?
Alibek: For a military application of BW, these are cities, sea ports, military bases and so on. For terrorist application, these are mostly shopping malls, commercial and administrative buildings, metro-systems and so on.
EmergencyNet: What defensive measures would be of the greatest assistance to the United States in order to effective defend against WMD?
Alibek: We need to stop deceiving people that vaccines are the most effective protection and start developing new therapeutic and preventive approaches and means based on a broad-spectrum protection.
EmergencyNet: How effective do you feel that vaccination or inoculation programs could be against potential WMD attacks on a civilian population within the United States? Vaccinations for military/emergency responders?
Alibek: It is not a way to solve this problem.
EmergencyNet: A follow-up...If vaccines aren't the answer, in your opinion, what is a better approach for protecting civilian populations/emergency responders from the threat of bio-attack?
Alibek: There are too many biological agents that could be used in biological weapons. It is impossible to imagine how to develop this number of vaccines, and moreover how to vaccinate the entire population against all these diseases. The best approach is to develop a broad spectrum medical defense. It is quite a long research (it can take up to 3-5 years), but we are coming close to the possible solutions. I am working in this area now and I hope I will succeed.
EmergencyNet: Given limited federal government training and funding, what steps can local emergency response agencies best take to improve their preparedness for the potential of an attack using bio-agents??
Alibek: What we need to do is to develop a new handbook to train first responders in this area. The problem is that everything we have now is absolutely inapplicable. I have been proposing my help for years, but haven't gotten a positive response. It is possible to accumulate funding from different sources (and different state and federal agencies) to have a contemporary and comprehensive manual for training first responders.
EmergencyNet: In your view, what is the current level of preparedness in the United States to respond to a "soviet-style" attack using (Weapons of Mass Destruction) WMD's?
Alibek: I'm afraid it is very low.
The former Soviet Union was probably one of the world's foremost developers of biological weapons. As best described by Dr. Alibek in his book, "Biohazard," germ warfare programs there were highly developed and of the "highest priority" to the former military leadership of the Rodina. Dr. Alibek's book and the above interview give a startling and troubling view of the scope of the problem that may face American military and emergency service forces in the future.