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How could I conduct a search on measures to protect the public in the case of a terrorist attack using biological weapons?

When preparing a report or project on the threat of a terrorist attack utilizing biological weapons, there is a wealth of material in the public domain that any student can access. 


Because the use of germs to destroy or demoralize an enemy has been around since at least the 14th century, there is a long history of efforts by myriad governments and nongovernmental organizations to develop biological weaponry and, conversely, to protect against the use by adversaries of such weapons. From the moment a dead animal or human corpse was deliberately dropped into the water supply of an enemy village or town during medieval times for the purpose of contaminating those water supplies, biological weapons and the threat of their use has been a part of civil defense planning. In the United States, concerns about the use of biological and chemical weapons by the Soviet Union during the Cold War -- and the Soviet Union was known to maintain a massive program designed to develop biological weapons and prepare for their use -- gave way following the fall of the Berlin Wall to increased worries about the potential use of such weapons by terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and, now, the Islamic State. American worries about the use of biological and/or chemical weapons by terrorists, in fact, spurred the growth of an entirely new industry to develop and market the means of protecting populations against an attack.


The post-Cold War emphasis on preparing for what used to be called "asymmetric warfare" by hostile regimes and non-state actors like al Qaeda has provided considerable research material on efforts at protecting against biological weapons. Linked below are useful resources any student can utilize in preparing a report on measures taken or considered to prepare for such an attack. Another useful source, and one that should definitely be consulted by anybody performing research on this topic, is the homepage of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a very large federal agency established following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, was given as one of its mandates the protection of the United States against biological and chemical weapons attacks by terrorists, as well as by rogue regimes such as Iran and North Korea. [See on this point: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/prep_biological_fact_sheet.pdf]


The United States, following the end of the Cold War and the onset of the focus on countering terrorist organizations, was, and largely remains, woefully unprepared for attacks utilizing germs. During the Cold War, in marked contrast to the Soviet Union, the United States deliberately minimized what is known as "civil defense," efforts intended to protection populations and key government officials from nuclear, chemical or biological attack. Many in the U.S., primarily on the left side of the political spectrum, eschewed civil defense measures as a waste of money and, more importantly, as potentially provocative. The belief among such individuals and groups was that, by preparing to survive a war against an enemy who would use "weapons of mass destruction," the American Government would make such a war more likely. As a consequence, civil defense was relegated to a very minor place in U.S. national security planning. That failure to plan for the possibility of an attack utilizing weapons of mass destruction resulted in the U.S. being seriously vulnerable to types of weapons we know with absolute certainty are developed and possessed by potential adversaries


Any research project dedicated to the issue of protecting against biological weapons should emphasize the history of the development and use of such weapons, and the measures taken since the attacks of 9/11 to detect the presence of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and to respond to their use by terrorists. Again, following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Government became extremely concerned about the potential for the use by terrorists of biological weapons. Efforts to train and equip "first responders," such as police and fire departments, emergency medical technician teams, and hospital workers were among the first steps taken, but the U.S. remains very ill-prepared for such an attack. 


The first of the following links is to the transcripts of a public hearing on the threat of a biological weapons attack on the United States by a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Students should review this transcript as a logical introduction to the topic and the continuing concern about the lack of adequate preparedness on the part of the United States.


http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA14/20140507/102195/HHRG-113-FA14-Transcript-20140507.pdf


http://www3.nd.edu/~techrev/Archive/Spring2002/a10.html


http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/6/465.full


http://www.emedicinehealth.com/biological_warfare/page3_em.htm

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