The Terrorist threat of Chemical Attack

The Terrorist Threat of Chemical Attack

27 Apr 2005
By C. L. Staten
EmergencyNet News

Graphic Source: "World-Wide Terrorism Predictive Analysis: April, 2005"
© Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI)

"...In any number of parts of the United States, an innovative terrorist would not even have to build a complicated chemical release device. He/she could simply wait for favorable weather conditions and then sabotage or bomb an already existing chemical plant and allow the resulting toxic cloud to drift into a populated area. The end result could be just as dangerous as having placed a smaller chemical device in a more confined space. Certainly, such an incident could be expected to cause the maximum amount of fear, trepidation, and potential panic among the civilian population...and thus achieve a major terrorist objective." --Source: Emergency Response to Chemical/ Biological Terrorist Incidents (Lesson-On-Line), Emergency Response & Research Institute, 08/07/97, Can be found at: http://www.emergency.com/cbwlesn1.htm

Experts: US Chemical Plants Vulnerable to Attack
By Jim Malone, VOANews Washington
27 April 2005

Security experts warned members of Congress that the United States must do more to protect chemical plants from terrorist attack.

The experts come from both the government and the private sector and are concerned about the vulnerability of chemical plants across the country.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine chairs the Senate committee that reviews U.S. homeland security efforts.

"To us, those facilities are vital parts of our economy that create jobs and improve our lives,” she said. “To our enemies, they are weapons waiting to be used against an unsuspecting population."

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says there are 123 chemical plants in 24 states where a release of dangerous chemicals could threaten more than one million people.

Richard Falkenrath is a security expert with the Brookings Institution in Washington. He contends that relatively little has been done since the 2001 terrorist attacks to safeguard chemical facilities from terrorist attack.

"The chemicals that we are talking about today are in many cases identical to those used on the battlefields of WWI,” he noted. “They are enormously dangerous. They are produced in truly massive quantities, shipped and stored in many cases next to very dense urban populations and present, in my opinion, the single greatest danger of a potential terrorist attack in our country today."

Some members of Congress from both major political parties are now pushing to enact new federal laws that would tighten security at chemical plants, especially those located in large population areas.

The Department of Homeland Security is devising a plan, but some lawmakers say it is not being done with the urgency that is required.

Senator John Corzine, a Democrat from New Jersey, comes from a state where 11 major chemical plants are located.

"This is an issue where I think lives are at stake,” he said. “We would not tolerate this kind of site security oversight at our nuclear power plants. The public knows that."

In addition to the security concerns, experts urged the government to do much more to prepare for the aftermath of a potential terrorist attack on a chemical plant.

Carolyn Merritt chairs the government board that investigates accidents at chemical plants around the country.

"Many incidents that the Chemical Safety Board has investigated reveal serious gaps in how well companies, emergency responders, government authorities and the public are prepared for a major chemical release. These gaps in preparedness leave Americans vulnerable," she added.

Experts and lawmakers generally agreed that some form of federal legislation is needed to require chemical plants to strengthen their security. At the current time, that responsibility is largely left to the companies themselves.

A federally-funded report last year found that nearly 75 percent of the chemical plants surveyed had taken some steps to improve security since the 2001 terrorist attacks. But the report also found that less than half of the facilities had done much to improve communications or emergency training in preparation for a possible attack. -- Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-04-27-voa52.cfm

Zarqawi planning chemical attack in Europe: German press
30 March 2005

Iraq's most wanted man, the fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been planning a chemical weapons attack in Europe, a German magazine said on Wednesday, citing intelligence sources.

"We in Europe have been afraid that a big bang is coming sometime and that Zarqawi is planning it," an official at Germany's BND federal intelligence service told the April edition of the political monthly "Cicero".

According to the magazine, the Jordanian extremist and his supporters, who are linked to the Al-Qaeda network, have been trying to get hold of arms components in Russia's volatile north Caucasus region and in Georgia.

Another BND source said that it was unclear whether Zarqawi's attempts had been successful. "We only know that he is working on it," the source said. Can be found at: http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050330103318.mtprfsnv

Responding to Chemical Attack
2004

Could a chemical spill kill large numbers of people?

It could, depending on the amount of toxic chemical released, the atmospheric and weather conditions, and the spill’s proximity to a densely populated area. One notorious precedent is the 1984 release of methyl isocyanate gas from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, that killed almost 4,000 people—the worst industrial accident ever. A recently disclosed U.S. Army study warned that as many as 2.4 million deaths and injuries could result from a terrorist attack on a chemical plant that resulted in a release of deadly vapors over a city.

Is the United States prepared for chemical attacks?

Despite recent efforts to improve domestic preparedness and public awareness, many experts say U.S. training, equipment, and field-tested response plans remain inadequate. Moreover, few systems are in place to equip U.S. hospitals to cope with massive influxes of casualties; enable police, firefighters, and paramedics to communicate and share information; and establish clear lines of authority among federal, state, local, and health-care bodies. Readiness varies greatly from city to city and state to state, and many smaller municipalities have conducted no practice drills at all. Experts say disaster preparedness should be central to hospital and emergency-service planning.

Jordan says major al Qaeda plot disrupted
Authorities: Chemical cloud would have been released in Amman
Posted: 3:54 PM EDT (1954 GMT), April 26, 2004

Jordanian officials seized tons of chemicals in what they say was an Al Qaeda chemical attack plot.

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Jordanian authorities said Monday they have broken up an alleged al Qaeda plot that would have unleashed a deadly cloud of chemicals in the heart of Jordan's capital, Amman.

The plot would have been more deadly than anything al Qaeda has done before, including the September 11 attacks, according to the Jordanian government.

Among the alleged targets were the U.S. Embassy, the Jordanian prime minister's office and the headquarters of Jordanian intelligence.

U.S. intelligence officials expressed caution about whether the chemicals captured by Jordanian authorities were intended to create a "toxic cloud" chemical weapon, but they said the large quantities involved were at a minimum intended to create "massive explosions."

Officials said there is debate within the CIA and other U.S. agencies over whether the plotters were planning to kill innocent people using toxic chemicals.

At issue is the presence of a large quantity of sulfuric acid among the tons of chemicals seized by Jordanian authorities. Sulfuric acid can be used as a blister agent, but it more commonly can increase the size of conventional explosions, according to U.S. officials.

On a confession shown on state-run Jordanian television, Jayyousi said he took orders from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a suspected terrorist leader who has been linked to al Qaeda and whom U.S. officials have said is behind some attacks in Iraq.

"I took explosives courses, poisons high level, then I pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to obey him without any questioning," Jayyousi said.

-- Source: Cable News Network (CNN) Monday, April 26, 2004 The entire article can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/26/jordan.terror/

April 23, 1998 -- "FEDERAL OFFICIALS SAY U.S. CITIES AND TOWNS STILL VULNERABLE TO TERRORIST CHEM/BIO ATTACK," can be found at:
http://www.emergency.com/chmbio10.htm

08/27/96 - 14:00CDT: "THE THREAT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ATTACK"
By Steve Macko, ENN Editor, Clark Staten, Analyst, Can be found at: http://www.emergency.com/chembio3.htm

March 30, 1996 -- "SENATE HEARINGS SAY LOCAL FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES NOT PREPARED" Can be found at:
http://www.emergency.com/chembio2.htm

May 22, 1995 -- "Chemical Attack- Are We Prepared?" Can be found at: http://www.emergency.com/chemattk.htm

March 19, 1995 -- "(Chemical) Terrorist Attack" in Tokyo," can be found at:
http://www.emergency.com/japanatk.htm

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