Posted on 12/26/2008 3:21:09 PM PST by KellyM37
WASHINGTON – The terrorism threat to the United States during the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security, and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Do not underestimate terror incidents in places like shopping malls etc. They are designed to instill fear in people and this can lead to the destruction of the US economy. Imagine if people were afraid to go into stores to shop ? This is exactly why we need an armed citizenry.
http://michellemalkin.com/2006/05/11/hurray-for-illegal-aliens-with-tb/
Bio is very easy, especially with a suicide volunteer who is willing to travel to the US aboard a commercial aircraft and fly airlines internally until he becomes so sick he is no longer ambulatory.
Airliners, subways, trains simply are big petri dishes, and with our hub-and-spoke airlines system, freshly contaminated people spread it over and over again.
And if you move into the area of weaponized viruses, it gets 100 times worse.
Suggest reading “The Cobra Event.” It is fiction, but written by an expert on Ebola, Rift and other hemorrhagic diseases.
The terrorism threat to the United States during the next five years will be driven by:
An inexperienced community organizer as the leader of the free world and feckless, spineless congressional morons who would much rather hold hands with our enemies and sing koom bia ya than carry a big stick
Appeasement is not the answer and neither is planned ignoring.
The brilliance of AP writers always leaves me breathless.....
FMCDH(BITS)
We had better step up research and production of defensive anti missle technology fast. Oh, thats right, I forgot - spending all this money is just a waste... the democrats told us so. Good thing theyr'e in office now.
“Today I signed an executive order stating that any further terrorist attacks by muslims on America, will be met by the total nuclear destruction of mecca and medina... without hesitation. Any nation retaliating for such an attack will also he destroyed".
LLS
But..but...but the Commie ‘RATS said that the whole world would like us again if we elected the black guy!
There is absolutely no biological weapon ever created that is a worse threat to the US than a “killer influenza”. Since the Spanish flu terrified America in 1918, medical authorities knew it was only a matter of time before a killer flu would return again. It is usually cyclic, and we are very past due for one.
No other disease even comes close in lethality. Right now, there is a candidate for the next killer flu that is from hell itself, H5N1, the Avian flu.
Typically, a normal flu kills between 30,000 and 50,000 Americans each and every year. A bad flu could kill as many as 100,000. But that is nothing compared to a killer flu.
The Spanish flu killed between 2.5% and 5% of the world’s population. 20% of the world’s population caught the disease. All told, it may have killed more people than the black plague.
And of those 1 in 5 who caught the disease, 1 in 5 of them died. A mortality *rate* of about 20%
America had a population at the time of about 50 million people. Between 300,000 and 3,000,000 died.
If the Spanish flu had hit today, 300,000,000 people would die.
H5N1, the Avian flu, has a mortality *rate* of 60%.
If 1 in 5 people in the world caught the disease, at that mortality rate, 720,000,000 people would die in the world.
America now has a population of over 330,000,000. If 1 in 5 Americans caught the disease, almost 40,000,000 Americans will die.
40 million Americans would die.
That would be every person in America’s top 40 largest cities.
Ummm, one in five catches it, one in five of those kicks the bucket, you say?
(330,000,000 / 5) / 5 = 13,200,000
If that number included all politicians, I'd be all for it.
Fear mongering is expected to occur within the next 5 mins as well.
There is new flu vaccine that works on all influenza A flus - those with H*N* characterization - influenza B types mutate too slowly to present a problem for us.
It will only be about 5 years before we all start getting the new vaccine and human flu will no longer be a problem.
One if five catches the disease, but 60% of those die from it.
20% mortality rate (1 in 5) would be for Spanish flu.
Avian flu mortality is insanely high, and shows no signs of lessening (which is atypical). Doctors can usually diagnose if a patient will live or die based on a chest X-Ray of lung damage.
Right now, it is expanding its permanent base in Asia, where it has become endemic. Everybody is on tenterhooks waiting for “City Zero”.
Useful links:
Google Bird Flu News;
http://news.google.com/news?q=bird+flu+news&hl=en&lr=&sa=X&oi=news&ct=title
Bird Flu Breaking News;
http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/
Pandemicflu dot Gov;
Don’t bet on it. Influenza virus is an extremely adaptable and flexible pathogen.
The chief epidemologist of Vietnam discovered a herd of swine, each of which had about five different strains of H5N1 competing for dominance. Once each pig developed a dominant strain, it would compete with other pigs winners for “grand champion”, and become the primary infection for that herd.
When you imagine this same cold calculation taking place in tens of thousands of groups, herds and flocks, simultaneously, the number of possible permutations is staggering.
He described it as being like a computer, making endless trials and calculations to produce a superior virus.
The H1 influenza, in less than a year, has calculated defenses against Tamiflu, the main antiviral agent in use. Already the vast majority of North American influenza are resistant. In a single year.
“UNLIKE you, I prefer to be as prepared as possible.”
Actually I believe in being prepared, just not paranoid.
In today’s mobile world there is very very little you can do against a sophisticated biological attack. It will spread so quickly as to make any precautions useless.
Its a lot more difficult to engineer a mass attack than Tom Clancy thinks. Dispersal of most agents is difficult and takes special hardware. Further the amount of time most agents will survive when exposed to the sun is quite short.
Diseases like Ebola kill too quickly for it to spread very far.
Nuclear is far easier and just as effective.
If Obama under-reponds to terrorism, actual of threatened, he will be setting himself up for one term only.
Jimmah Carter got thumped for being a wimp with Iran, more than any other factor.
IMO.
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