Thanks for the ping, keri. As the article implies, destroying production facilities is insufficient (although necessary). It's the knowledge of how to turn easily-obtained biological agents into weapons of mass destruction that is most dangerous, and you can't put that knowledge back into the bottle again.
The focus must be on the scientists and technicians who understand weaponization processes and are capable of realizing them, and, for the long term, the destruction of research facilities in which new weaponization methods are developed. (This is in addition to the destruction of production facilities, since that is basically of short-term benefit).
However, none of these things is fool-proof. Ultimately, the only solution is the threat of certain and severe retaliation. This depends on intelligence, on being able to deduce the party responsible for any attack. Without that, there is no threat of retaliation.
The other component of this threat is having the will to carry through on such retaliation; that we have the will to do so must be obvious to everybody in advance.
It follows that we must do two things in response to the anthrax mailings:
- First, we must demonstrate our ability to identify its source -- by publicly and convincingly identifying it. (Without this, an Achilles' heel will have been revealed that will tempt others into thinking that they can carry out such an attack incognito, and never getting caught.)
- Secondly, once the power behind the anthrax is identified, we must retaliate. There can be no question that the retaliation has been carried out by the United States; it cannot be done completely behind the scenes. (It's insufficient, for instance, to foment a coup against Saddam Hussein surreptitiously, leaving the world with the impression that the Iraqi opposition rose up and overthrew him. This would leave our will to carry out deterrence in doubt.)
The upcoming engagement is not merely about stopping Saddam Hussein. Its purpose goes beyond that; it is to demonstrate to any others who may be tempted that this method of attacking us will lead to certain destruction.