Shock and disbelief have evolved into fear for many Americans, as the reality of the nation’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks begins to set in following last week’s attacks.
Given the unexpected nature, decisive calculation and the mass destruction inflicted upon the nation’s military nerve center and some of the tallest buildings in the world, local officials are now taking a closer look at the possibility of an attack on Memphis.
“We are just as vulnerable as any city in the nation, and we are certainly not prepared for anything like this,” said Jim Webb, director of Water System Control and Laboratories at MLGW.
Webb added that the city’s famous underground water supply would be especially vulnerable to possible terrorist attacks.
“If our water supply was attacked, then it would all be over before we knew anything about it,” Webb said.
Immediately following Tuesday’s attack, state officials placed armed guards around the 172 water wells throughout the city, fearing the possibility of terrorist injecting a “volatile and lethal biological agent,” such as anthrax, into the area’s water supply
The guards have since been withdrawn, and Webb said there are no further plans to continue monitoring the water stations, which are currently protected by a chainlink fence and a locked gate, and are checked once a month for chemical abnormalities in the water supply.
Until Tuesday, many Americans regarded terrorist attacks as distant events aimed solely at military installations.
But now it seems terrorists can strike anytime, anywhere, and attacks can be carried out in any number of ways, according to Jim Willis, a professor at The University of Memphis who reported on the terrorist attack in Oklahoma City.
“Terrorist groups, such as Osama bin Laden’s, do not differentiate between civilian and military targets,” Willis said. “And the attack Tuesday reflects the determination and resentment some groups embrace in a common objective to destroy all Americans.”
Despite the calm once again settling over the nation as Americans resume their daily activities, officials at the Center for Disease Control and National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Atlanta are requesting an improvement in response preparation and preventative measures against the possible occurrence of biological attack in America.
Biological weapons, a unique and frightening class of weapons that are largely “unpredictable and uncontrollable” once released, are believed to be capable of inflicting casualties of unprecedented proportions.
According to an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Weapons of Mass Destruction unit, 10 countries, including North Korea, Iran, China, Iraq and the U.S., are currently known to have the capability to manufacture and distribute biological agents in weapon form.
In 1995, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a mandate requiring that all enlisted military personnel be vaccinated for anthrax. As of March, nearly 550,000 military personnel have been given the controversial vaccine, and now the company that produces the vaccine has reported that only 32,000 doses remain.
Anthrax, the most commonly weaponized biological agent, and therefore the one believed most likely to be used, is believed to be in the possession of some terrorist organizations, according to FBI investigations.
However, little is known about anthrax’s use or effectiveness as an attack.
In the event of the agent infecting a water supply, there are sharply contrasting opinions on the effect the weapon could have.
For instance, some agencies report that the nation’s advanced water filtration system and the large amounts of the agent required to inflict heavy casualties would make the city’s water system an “impractical target” for terrorists.
In contrast, others said the water-borne virus could easily wipe out an entire city’s population in as little as a week.
Memphis may not seem a likely place to attack, but it is considered a major distribution hub due to its concentration of freight companies, including FedEx, as well as the Memphis International Airport.
Dave Anderson, associate director of The Ground Water Institute at The U of M, said the city’s water supply is filtered naturally by the region’s unique “sand and silt” soil composition.
In addition, Anderson said the water wells, which each pump out 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of water every minute to meet the city’s water demands, is treated with fluoride to kill bacteria in the water.
While no biological attack has ever known to have been launched against a large metropolitan area, last year’s natural outbreak of the West Nile virus and a trial run conducted by the CDC in a simulated smallpox outbreak has sparked concerns about the nation’s preparedness for such an attack.
However, several factors affect the dispersal of biological agents through the water system, said Kenneth Alibek, chief scientist at Hadron, Inc. in a statement to Congress.
According to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, anthrax is a bacteria that at first causes flu-like symptoms, progressing to severe breathing problems, ending in shock and ultimately, death. It cannot be seen, smelled or tasted, making it virtually undetectable.
However, to effectively devastate a city, anthrax must be ground into an aerosol cloud, taking the form of spores, and released into the air. A person must inhale a large number of spores, more than 1,000, to become infected.
There is no fully effective vaccine for the anthrax strain if ingested or inhaled, according to the study, and the fatality rate would likely be 99 percent in an attack.
According to the FBI in 2000, 90 out of 115 threats investigated by a special bio-unit of the FBI involved threatened use of anthrax.
Other biological weapons are suspected to have been cultivated by some countries, such as Russia, who was heavily involved in biological weapons research prior to the dissolution of the communist government.
According to a report by the former director of Russia’s biological weapons department, Russia sold off many of its collective stores to the highest bidder — and many former Soviet scientists have been hired by nations in the Middle-East.
Although the Biological Weapons Convention in 1996, which banned the production of offensive biological weapons, was signed by 137 countries, some experts remain skeptical of its effect on the collective effort to rid the globe of these weapons.
During the United Nation’s weapons inspection following the Gulf War, Iraqi officials were uncooperative, and suspicions have been raised as to the possibility of biological weapons stores in Iraq’s arsenal.
Moreover, U.S. officials have reportedly uncovered financial ties between Iraq and terrorist organizations.
