Grant L Morris

New Kind of War: Are We Prepared for Agroterrorism? Grant L Morris

Publisher Marketing: In the post 9/11 world, the U. S. must focus its security efforts on everything from airports to al-Qaeda. With resources stretched thin and priorities focused on prosecuting the Global War on Terror (GWOT), our current government structures and capabilities are not suited to manage an attack using biological warfare (BW) on humans or agriculture. The fact that the U. S. has made no arrests in connection with the September 18, 2001 anthrax attacks in Florida, New York and Washington are a stark reminder of how ill-prepared our local, state and federal agencies are in defending against BW attacks. Of the potential BW targets in the U. S. the least protected are the agricultural industry's animals. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the agricultural industry is the most likely target of a BW attack, and the pathogen which produces foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is the most likely pathogen to create significant economic and social devastation in the U. S. The American agricultural industry produces the world's safest and cheapest food, but those systems which make the industry so reliable also make it vulnerable. Individuals who desire to disrupt the U. S. economy could introduce a small quantity of plant or animal pathogens into the many unprotected nodes of the agricultural system creating the most devastating attack the U. S. has ever seen. Providing 13% of the U. S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employing 15% of the U. S. population and producing more than $50 billion yearly in exports, agriculture is one of the primary industries in the U. S. and one of the few industries with a positive trade balance. Although a single attack on the agricultural industry may not result in its destruction, an attack would result in the interruption of food supplies, disruption of interstate travel and trade embargos placed on the U. S. The psychological impacts of a major agroterrorist attack would be similar to the impact 9/11 had on the airline industry. In the event of a ma