Global Security Newswire

The U.S. Homeland Security Department warned in a secret 2006 document that victims of a potential WMD attack might be few in number relative to people who imagine injuries resulting from the event, United Press International reported today (see GSN, May 1).

The document states that low confidence in the leaders of an affected area could amplify public panic following a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack.

"Mass psychogenic illness (can) spread rapidly throughout a population," the document says, describing the ailment as a "phenomenon in which social trauma or anxiety combines with a suspicious event to produce psychosomatic symptoms, such as nausea, difficulty breathing and paralysis."

To make its case, the report referred to past incidents of mass panic in California and Chechnya.

Former Homeland Security Undersecretary George Foresman told UPI he was uncertain the public would "trust what the government tells them about the likelihood that they've been exposed or not been exposed to a certain pathogen or a chemical."

"The trust between the American people and those who are in positions of authority and responsibility is not as strong as it needs to be," he said, adding that panic would likely be more widespread following attacks involving biological agents or other materials "where you cannot see easily whether you've been affected or not."

"The antidote to that fear is guidance and information," Foresman said. "Government (communication) has got to be direct, it's got to be quick and it's got to be exact" (United Press International, Sept. 24).