A Bioterrorism Prevention Initiative

ABSTRACT

The threat of terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction remains a daunting concern. Governments have undertaken several initiatives at the national and international level to prevent such illicit use, yet challenges remain. Notable is the absence of a single collaborative international forum of experts dedicated solely to bioterrorism prevention. The establishment of a Bioterrorism Prevention Initiative could be a possible solution to address this gap. This article explores possibilities for such an initiative and the ways in which it could strengthen the existing bio-nonproliferation regime.

KEYWORDS:

• Terrorism
• biological weapons
• biosecurity
• non-state actors
• bioterrorism
• al Qaeda
• international institutions
• nonproliferation
• weapons of mass destruction
• Australia Group
• export controls
• 1540 committee
• biological and toxin weapons convention

Notes

1. Michael R. Gordon, “U.S.: Al Qaeda was building lab for bioweapons,” Chicago Tribune, March 24, 2002, <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-03-24/news/0203240285_1_al-qaeda-biological-agents-camps-and-other-sites>.

2. Robert Maginnis, “Al-Qaeda and the Plague,” HumanEvents.com, January 23, 2009, <http://humanevents.com/2009/01/23/alqaeda-and-the-plague/>.

3. Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, “Qaeda Trying to Harness Toxin for Bombs, U.S. Officials Fear,” New York Times, August 12, 2011, <www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/world/middleeast/13terror.html>.

4. The 1984 incident involved the use of salmonella by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh at ten restaurants in Oregon. The bioattack sickened 751 people—the largest ever on United States soil—though there were no fatalities. See Les Zaitz, “Rajneeshees in Oregon: The Untold Story,” Oregonian, April 14, 2011, <www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/>.

One week after September 11, 2001, letters containing anthrax spores appeared in the offices of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, as well as several news organizations’ offices, infecting seventeen people—including an infant—and killing five. See “Timeline: How the Anthrax Terror Unfolded,” National Public Radio, February 15, 2011, <www.npr.org/2011/02/15/93170200/timeline-how-the-anthrax-terror-unfolded>.

5 Bob Graham and Jim Talent (Co-Chairs), “Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism Report Card: An Assessment of the U.S. Government's Progress in Protecting the United States from Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism,” Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, January 2010, p. 6 <www.pharmathene.com/WMD_Report_Card.pdf>.

6. Anthony Cordesman, The Challenge of Biological Terrorism (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005), p. 42.

7. Maginnis, “Al-Qaeda And The Plague.”

8. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2011 Report on Terrorism, National Counterterrorism Center, March 12, 2012, p. 9, <www.fas.org/irp/threat/nctc2011.pdf>.

9. Kedar Pavgi and Ben Watson, “Terrorist Attacks Have Increased By 43 Percent in the Last Year,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, May 2, 2014, <www.nti.org/gsn/article/terrorist-attacks-have-increased-43-percent-last-year>.

10. Philip Shenon and David Stout, “Rumsfeld Says Terrorists will Use Weapons of Mass Destruction,” May 21, 2002, <www.nytimes.com/2002/05/21/politics/21CND-TERROR.html>.

11. Sydney Lupkin, “French Lab Loses SARS Vials,” ABC News, April 16, 2014, <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/french-lab-loses-sars-vials/story?id=23349738>; Alex Wigglesworth, “’Dark web’ vendor allegedly sold poison to covert agent in N.J.” philly.com, January 21, 2014, <www.philly.com/philly/news/Man_allegedly_sold_poison_through_.html>.

12. Elliott Kagan, “Bioregulators as instruments of terror,” Clinics in Labaratory Medicine 21 (September, 2001), pp. 607–18. See also National Research Council, Life Sciences and Related Fields: Trends Relevant to the Biological Weapons Convention, (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011), pp. 87–90.

13. “Clinton Warns of Bio-Weapons Threat, Terrorism,” Voice of America, December 7, 2011, <www.voanews.com/content/clinton-warns-of-bio-weapons-threat-terrorism-135175433/149231.html>.

14. John Mintz, “Technical Hurdles Separate Terrorists From Biowarfare,” Washington Post, December 30, 2004, p. A1.

15. Cordesman, The Challenge of Biological Terrorism, pp. 92–93

16. UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, “Global Threat Reduction Programme: Biological Non-Proliferation Programme,” January 19, 2013, <www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/global-threat-reduction-programme-biological-non-proliferation-programme>. See also Julian Turner, “The dual-use dilemma: examining Britain's biological weapons policy,” January 29, 2013, <www.army-technology.com/features/featurebiological-weapons-warfare-dual-use-dilemma>.

17. Denise Grady, “Scientists to Pause Research on Deadly Strain of Bird Flu,” New York Times, January 20 2012, <www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/science/scientists-to-pause-research-on-deadly-strain-of-bird-flu.html>.

18. “Statement by VERTIC to the 2012 Meeting Of States Parties to the 1972 Biological And Toxin Weapons Convention,” December 10, 2012, <www.vertic.org/media/assets/Presentations/MSP_2012_Statement.pdf>.

19. Department of State, “The United States Government's Bio-transparency and Openness Initiative,” Working Paper Submitted to the Biological Weapon Convention Meeting of States Parties, December 10-14, 2012, <www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/ED3C41AE82742804C1257AC900508B90/$file/Draft-BWC_MSP_2012_WP.03+_USA_.pdf>.

20. Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Remarks at the 7th Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention Review Conference,” December 7, 2011, <http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2011/12/20111207104803su0.7202352.html#axzz2fI2Y5Zil>.

21. US Department of State, “The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism,” <www.state.gov/t/isn/c18406.htm>.

22. Dany Shoham, “Chemical And Biological Weapons In Egypt,” Nonproliferation Review 5 (Spring-Summer 1998), pp. 48–56.

23. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, “Turkey's attempts to exclude Cyprus’ membership,” February 18, 2013, <www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/mfa2006.nsf/All/826CB014C0CDE8DEC22571B100229450>.

24. See Border Management Staff College, “Designing Future,” OSCE Office in Tajikistan, March 5, 2014, <http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/tajikistan/documents/press_corner/2014/20140220/day2/4_2_presentation_osce_bmsc_en.pdf>.

25. Ryan Grenoble, “Guanarito Virus Vial Missing From Galveston National Laboratory's Secure Facility,” Huffington Post, March 25, 2013, < www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/guanarito-virus-missing-galveston-lab_n_2949271.html>.

26. “CICTE Informe 40,” Inter-American Committee against Terrorism, November 2006, <http://www.cicte.oas.org/Database/Informe%2040%20-%20ENG.doc&usg=AFQjCNHiWgxwpRTTJ01VdUOTD5GHSciEhQ&sig2=w6eRMbV5Mx8Efn_m-uv0dg>.

27. See Frank Gottron, “The Project BioShield Act: Issues for the 113th Congress,” Congressional Research Service, June 18, 2004, <http://fas.org:8080/sgp/crs/terror/R43607.pdf>.