Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration urged the international community Friday to view outbreaks of Ebola, MERS and other deadly diseases as global security threats that require broad and rapid responses to protect the safety of populations and economies. Top U.S. officials from the White House, Pentagon and State Department met with representatives from 44 countries and multilateral agencies, including the United Nations and World Bank, to call for implementation of 7-year-old global standards for dealing with deadly epidemics and other health dangers, including biological attacks. President Barack Obama, who this week urged members of the United Nations to do...

An Islamic State (IS) laptop captured by a "moderate Syrian rebel group" reportedly contains bubonic plague recipes and information on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Foreign Policy reports that Abu Ali, commander of the rebel group, found the laptop in January after his men closed on a building from which Islamic State militants fled. The laptop "contains a total of 35,347 files in 2,367 folders." These include "documents in French, English, and Arabic" and "videos of Osama bin Laden." There are instructions for jihad and stealing vehicles and for making bombs and disguises.

The nature of the threat the Islamic State poses to the West is a subject of much debate. Some indicate that the group is planning to execute attacks in the West at its nearest opportunity, while others say that the organization has designs only on capturing and holding territory in its neighborhood – and that’s a range of confused opinions coming from former and current administration officials. While there is a robust debate over whether ISIS is planning to execute terrorist attacks against Western targets, there should be no debate that the origination is actively seeking the capability to...

The United States government is buying enough of a new smallpox medicine to treat two million people in the event of a bioterrorism attack, and took delivery of the first shipment of it last week. But the purchase has set off a debate about the lucrative contract, with some experts saying the government is buying too much of the drug at too high a price. A small company, Siga Technologies, developed the drug in recent years. Whether the $463 million order is a boondoggle or a bargain depends on which expert is talking. The deal will transform the finances of...

Bioterrorism and All Hazards Emergency Preparedness Illinois 9/14/2012 Region VII Hazards Emergency Preparedness Committee Presents In The Midst of Chaos Printable brochure http://www.regionviiems.com/forms/Midst%20of%20Chaos%20Flyer.pdf

Air Leak Sparks Safety Fears at CDC Bioterror Lab CDC's Emerging Infectious Disease Lab has experienced repeated problems with airflow systems The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency charged with preventing the spread of infectious diseases has come under attack today for "serious" airflow problems in an Atlanta building that houses anthrax, SARS and monkeypox. Documents and emails obtained by USA Today suggest that a poorly engineered airflow system in the CDC's Building 18 could expose unprotected staff and visitors to dangerous airborne pathogens. "As the door closed a very noticeable puff of air could be felt...

This photo is making the rounds: This is part or the whole of an extensive stash of bottles recovered in the 010th District the other day. All filled with human waste and no doubt whatever extra fecal matter the ne'er-do-wells were able to pick up on the parkways. Counts range from 100 to 500 bottles recovered depending on the rumor you believe. We're sure this isn't the only stash floating around out there. How about the Department try something novel and get the media to cover what the protestors and anarchists are planning and maybe get the public overwhelmingly on...

Almost immediately after the 2008 election the VP-Elect, our SCHMOTUS (schmo of the United States) sat down with a bi-partisan panel investigating the possibility of terrorists using WMDs against Americans on our home turf. They presented and Ominous prediction to the SHMOTUS, within the next four years there will be a nuclear or biological terrorist attack on US shores. The experts said that the danger of an attack grows every day. "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday. The commission is also encouraging

In the TV Show NUMB3RS Charlie Eppes, a world-class mathematician, helps his FBI Agent brother solve many of his perplexing FBI cases through different mathematical formulas. NUMB3RS is coming to life, but in this case its not Crimes the world class mathematician is solving, but pandemics. The math whiz's at Tel Aviv University have developed a formula to predict that path of pandemics like the swine flu. This is important because it will direct authorities when to close mass transit, shut down and even how to distribute doctors and medicines. It wont prevent swine flu but it will predict the...

U.S. counterterrorism officials have authenticated a video by an al Qaeda recruiter threatening to smuggle a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the terrorist group's determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland. The video aired earlier this year as a recruitment tool makes clear that al Qaeda is looking to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border security and also is willing to ally itself with white militia groups or other anti-government entities interested in carrying out an attack inside the United States, according to counterterrorism officials interviewed by...

Too many people on the liberal side of the fence argue that illegal immigration is a racial issue. They believe that those of us who want to secure the US boarders are inspired by racism, trying to keep out Hispanics. Last year's story of the Hezbollah Mole in the CIA case (Nada Nadim Prouty) and the terrorists targeting Army base after sneaking over the borders, highlight the reasons we want true immigration reform without amnesty, it is why we want the borders secured before anything else is done. It is more difficult to launch an attack when you can't get...

"Anyone who is honest about this has to admit that if al Qaeda launches a spectacular biological attack which could cause contagious disease to be spread, no entity in the world is prepared for it," Noble said. "Not the U.S., not Europe, not Asia, not Africa." Since the WSN/33 situation in Korea provides some valuable insight into detection and reporting of bird or human flu, and wire services are carrying stories about biologic attacks by terrorists causing a contagious disease, it is worth reviewing some of the lessons learned from the swine WSN/33 infections. If pandemic flu is the contagious...

Excerpt from CDC on transmission: "In contrast, the situation with a pandemic strain of influenza A (H5) would become only too clear because no one would have any degree of immunity against such a virus, vaccines would not be available for months, and these viruses would likely be highly virulent. Even though efficient human-to-human transmission of the A (H5N1) virus has not yet been observed (by any mode), transmission of influenza A (H5N1) by aerosols from geese to quails has been demonstrated in the laboratory." "In principle, influenza viruses can be transmitted by 3 routes: aerosols, large droplets, and direct...

Although the CDC has not explained whether the current swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States is bioterrorism, influenza can be very readily manipulated and may be one of the best candidates for weaponization for several reasons: 1) Terrorists can prepare a vaccine to protect themselves and their host populations in advance of its release. 2) Influenza is airborne, it is transmitted through either solid or lipid aerosol, therefore it’s easy to spread. 3) There is a normal period of incubation during which time the carrier displays no symptoms, but can infect others. Therefore, dispersion is very efficient....

Al Qaeda terrorists have been left fearing the Black Death plague after it wiped out at least 40 insurgents at an Algerian training camp, it was reported today. The horror disease, which killed 25 million people in medieval Europe, is understood to have been found in a militant’s body dumped at a roadside. Terror group AQLIM (al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb) was forced to turn its shelter in the Yakouren forests into mass graves and flee, it has been claimed. Now al Qaeda chiefs are said to fear the plague has been passed into other cells...

Another terrorist attack could hit the United States in the next five years — and North Texas could be a key target next time. By 2013, the U.S. “more likely than not” could be hit by another deadly attack, this time using something possibly like anthrax, according to the new report, World at Risk. And some fear that North Texas, with its population, sports and entertainment venues and businesses — not to mention the fact that President George W. Bush is moving back here after he leaves office in January — could be a target next time. “Everybody should be...

WASHINGTON – The government has recommended a site in Kansas for a new $450 million laboratory to study biological threats such as anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease, officials said Wednesday.

Nuclear and biological terrorism is the emerging threat the next US President should focus on, the US security chief has told Sky News. In an exclusive interview, homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff said sources of radioactive and biological materials must be properly secured "at all costs". He warned terrorists are actively seeking to acquire such materials. Mr Chertoff said he did not think a weapon of mass destruction, like a biological or nuclear bomb, was a danger that could be just months away. But he warned: "It may be years away and we can't afford to waste this time waiting...

Hundreds of endangered African monkeys are being taken from their natural habitat and sold for scientific experiments, as well to a “secretive” biological laboratory in Iran, London's Sunday Times reported. Animal trader Nazir Manji, who has been exporting monkeys for 22 years, said Iran's Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute bought 215 vervet monkeys from him this year. The biological research institute, which has headquarters near Tehran, has been accused in the past by an Iranian opposition group of conducting biological weapons testing, it is reported, further fueling suspicions that the monkeys are being used for nefarious purposes.

‘Germ warfare’ fear over African monkeys taken to Iran Daniel Foggo Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a “secretive” laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments. An undercover inquiry by The Sunday Times has revealed that wild monkeys, which are banned from experiments in Britain, are being freely supplied in large numbers to laboratories in other parts of the world. All will undergo invasive and maybe painful experiments leading ultimately to their death. One Tanzanian dealer, Nazir Manji, who runs African Primates, an animal-supplying company based in Dar es Salaam, said that in...