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U.S. Homeland Security Department Report Details Possible Terrorist Attack Scenarios, Casualties
Terrorist attacks involving nuclear and biological weapons are among 12 possible strikes against the United States identified as plausible and particularly damaging in a Homeland Security Department report, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 30, 2004). The report, known as the National Planning Scenarios, also offers estimates of the probable casualties and financial damage caused by each type of strike. Possible scenarios include a nuclear detonation in a large city; a chlorine tank explosion that kills 17,500 people and injures more than 100,000; the spread of pneumonic plague in public bathrooms, killing 2,500 worldwide; and infecting cattle with foot-and-mouth disease, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. There is no credible evidence that such attacks are being planned, officials told the Times. The document was not meant to be publicized, but a draft was accidentally release on an official Hawaii Web site. The identification of potential terrorist strategies is intended boost prevention and response planning and to help determine how federal antiterrorism money is used in the future. “We live in a world of finite resources, whether they be personnel or funding,” said Matt Mayer, acting executive director of the DHS Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness. The White House is expected to approve the planning document within the next month, and state and local authorities governments will then be requested to describe their ability to respond to each scenario, officials said (Eric Lipton, New York Times, March 16).
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