THE 9/10/11 PROJECT- ARE WE READY FOR THE DAY BEFORE TOMORROW?: A Monograph on CBRNE

[This is a very good read, albeit, longer than I normally post; it is 6 pgs in length.  I have followed this group/project from its inception: they have done a great many works since 9/11.  Their axiom is somewhat of the proverbial "if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound" battle cry; possibly heard by only those others call 'survivalists'...I believe I heard the tree...SDF Blogger]

To read full paper go to this website.

CBRNE: Public Would Participate in Anthrax Countermeasure Release: Report

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011

A new study suggests U.S. residents would generally take part in a large-scale public health campaign to counter a deliberate release of anthrax into the air, despite concerns over potential threats to large gatherings of people and uncertainty about the government's ability to handle such an emergency, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported on Monday (seeGSN, Aug. 4).

Most respondents to a telephone questionnaire expressed openness to retrieving antibiotic tablets from distribution locations as part of a public effort to supply countermeasures to all inhabitants of an urban jurisdiction within two days, according to the abstract for the Harvard University report. Willingness to participate in a preventive campaign was largely consistent between groups of roughly 500 people surveyed in three areas affected by the 2001 anthrax mailings -- New York City, Washington and Mercer County, N.J. -- and a more widely dispersed population of 1,092 individuals.

Inaccurate beliefs regarding anthrax as well as assumptions about the availability of countermeasures from alternative sources would pose additional difficulties for a response effort, the report states. Respondents noted reservations about the government's public health response capabilities amid setbacks in distributing the H1N1 flu vaccine in 2009, the study's authors said.

The journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism published the report (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy release, Aug. 8)
.

NUCLEAR: Japan to Propose New Atomic Oversight Body

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011Japan is expected on Friday to announce a proposal for establishing a new nuclear accident prevention oversight agency in light of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 2).

photo courtesy of:
japanfocus.org

Authorities have battled to prevent radioactive contaminants from escaping the six-reactor facility following a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan. The lack of measures sufficient to prevent the crisis has been blamed in part on the energy sector's close relationship with the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the nation's current atomic oversight body, according to Reuters.

The reform proposal -- one of several being studied, according to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano -- would unite within Japan's Environment Ministry the existing agency and a separate atomic consultation entity, news reports indicated. Legal measures to adopt such reforms must clear Japan's politically split legislature, government adviser Goshi Hosono said, adding he wanted to put updates into effect next April.

Specialists said the plan was not enough on its own to guarantee sufficient supervision of Japan's atomic power companies or to shore up national confidence in the nation's energy sector.

"The key is if the new agency will not be independent just in appearance, but if it can actually secure its ability to regulate," University of Tokyo professor Hideaki Shiroyama said ahead of the latest news developments (Yoko Kubota, Reuters, Aug. 3).  Read more

BIOTERRORISM: U.S. Pushes to Standardize Collection of Biothreat Samples

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology on Tuesday said it is collaborating with the National Guard to ensure that federal, state and local emergency response personnel are trained to collect disease materials for analysis in accordance with recently adopted procedures (see GSN, Aug. 1).

photo courtesy DoD

“The aim of the operation is to provide a training lane that can help standardize the interface between initial local, state and federal responders to make sure everyone gets what they need from a collected sample of suspicious material, including providing a solid chain of custody,” NIST environmental engineer Jayne Morrow, who headed preparation of the collection protocol issued in 2010, said in a statement.

“Our goal here at NIST is to help integrate standards and training so that everyone from first responders to investigators knows they can rely on that sample,” Morrow said.

The National Guard operates 57 Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams established to back up civilian response efforts in the event a WMD attack (see GSN, Dec. 1, 2010).  Read more

TERRORISM: Norway Killer Wrote of Anthrax Attacks

Wednesday, July 27, 2011The man who confessed to carrying out last week's bombing and mass shooting in Norway wrote at length on the potential for waging biowarfare with anthrax, though specialists said there was no indication he possessed or was prepared to use the deadly pathogen, the New York Times reported on Tuesday (see GSN, May 18).

www.co.rockland.ny.us

"He obviously doesn't have any specialized knowledge," Harvard University biological weapons expert Matthew Meselson told the newspaper. "He's copied words from other places, and says himself that he doesn’t have the expertise."

Anders Breivik has admitted to carrying out the weekend bombing of a government facility in the capital of Oslo and the subsequent shooting spree on a political party youth retreat taking place at a nearby island. The two attacks killed a minimum of 76 people.

Shortly before the attacks, Breivik posted online a 1,500-page manifesto that addressed at length how to obtain and employ weapons of mass destruction including anthrax, which he described as "one of the most effective" threats. "Anthrax" was mentioned 50 times in the document and "spores" in 20 instances.   Read more

FBI WMD Central: Five Years and Building

07/26/11

Five years ago this week, the FBI established its first Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate to centralize and coordinate all WMD-related investigative activities, intelligence analysis capabilities, and technical expertise from across the Bureau. Recently, FBI.gov spoke with Dr. Vahid Majidi—the head of the WMD Directorate since its launch—on his office’s work over the past five years. Today, he talks about the current threat and specific focus of the directorate. Later this week, he’ll discuss case examples, lessons learned, and the future of the directorate.

FREE COURSE > BIOTERRORISK

[This is a really good course for any and all who have any degree of disaster response/management]

Who is responsible for protecting the public's health against a
bioterrorist threat?

Since the events of 9/11/2001 and the Anthrax outbreak in the U.S., it is now recognized that bioterrorist risk may come to attention and require "first response" from physicians, nurses, laboratory personnel, communicable disease surveillance specialists, public health officers, and environmental hazmat teams.
Bioterrorisk is a case-based, mini-course in hazard recognition, interagency communication, risk assessment, and risk communication for the public health workforce.

At the end of this course, you will be able to:
1.	Identify your role in responding to a bioterrorist event
2.	Recognize circumstances that may indicate bioterrorism
3.	Establish intra- and interagency communication
4.	Follow an appropriate protocol for responding to a bioterrorist event
5.	Communicate with the public regarding risk
6.	Assemble a list of resources available to assist in a bioterrorist event

NUCLEAR > TheThreat of Nuclear Terror

U.S. - Russian assessment says safeguards needed, and fast

image courtesy of Harvard Kennedy School

Researchers from the United States and Russia issued a joint assessment Monday (June 6) on the global threat of nuclear terrorism, warning of a persistent danger that terrorists could obtain or make a nuclear device and use it with catastrophic consequences.

The first joint threat assessment by experts from the world’s two major nuclear powers concludes: “If current approaches toward eliminating the threat are not replaced with a sense of urgency and resolve, the question will become not if but when, and on what scale, the first act of nuclear terrorism occurs.”

The study recommends measures to tighten security over existing nuclear weapons and the nuclear materials that terrorists would need to make a crude nuclear bomb, along with expanded police and intelligence cooperation to interdict nuclear smuggling and stop terrorist plots. The report also calls for improved protection of nuclear facilities that might be sabotaged, and of radiological materials that might be used in a dirty bomb.

The “The U.S.-Russia Joint Threat Assessment on Nuclear Terrorism” report, released in Cambridge and in Moscow, results from a nearly yearlong partnership by authorities on nuclear security from the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and theInstitute for U.S. and Canadian Studies in Moscow, a leading Russian research center.  Read more

RADIOLOGICAL DETECTION > Major League Baseball All Star game got radiological threat detection team

Wed, 2011-07-13 07:55 AM

By: Michael Markulec

Chase Field

As Major League Baseball’s best players took the field at the All Star Game on July 12, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) fielded its own team of experts at the event to support overall preventative radiological/nuclear detection (PRND) security measures.

The deployment to Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ was routine for NNSA. The agency deploys teams more than 100 times a year, mainly within the U.S., it said, adding that most are radiological search deployments that are based on intelligence, support of law enforcement, or planned events like the MLB’s All-Star game, presidential inaugurations or political conventions.

The agency said it provided personnel and equipment resources over a six-day period to enhance security measures at the game.

The PRND operations at Chase Field included support personnel from NNSA’s Radiological Assistance Program (RAP), the FBI Hazardous Materials Response Team (HMRT), Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, and the Phoenix Fire and Police Departments, according to NNSA.  Read more

ANTHRAX HOAX > Alabama man pleads guilty to mailing hoax Anthrax letters

Wed, 2011-07-13 09:25 AM

By: Mark Rockwell

Robert S. Vance Federal Building

A man in Alabama pleaded guilty on July 12 in a federal courthouse to mailing a series of letters containing white powder to a state legislators, judges and a county sheriff.

Clifton Lamar “Cliff” Dodd, 39 of Lincoln, AL, pleaded guilty to 23 counts of mailing letters containing white powder “that could reasonably have been perceived” as anthrax, said the FBI’s Birmingham division in a July 12 statement. Dodd also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to mail eight of the hoax letters.

A series of the hoax letters was sent through the mail in March and April of last year, said the FBI, arriving at a wide range of locations, including the offices of a U.S. senator and state senator in a federal office building in Birmingham, as well as a county sheriff’s office.

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s office in the Robert S. Vance Federal Building received one of the letters containing white powder on March 8, 2010. Dodd also admitted sending similar powder-laden letters Alabama Sen. Jim Preuitt in Talladega, two Talladega County state court judges, the county’s Sheriff Jerry Studdard, several Talladega County Jail inmates who were in the jail at the same time as Dodd, as well as police investigators from both the Lincoln and Oxford police departments who previously had interviewed Dodd.

Dodd and an accomplice, Millstead “Mickey” Darden, of Lincoln, AL, were first indicted in connection to the mailings in late April, 2010.  Darden pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy charges in the case.

“We are pleased with the defendant’s decision to plead guilty and look forward to sentencing,” U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said.

According to the FBI, Dodd acknowledged sending 15 hoax anthrax letters between March 6 and April 5, 2010. He also pleaded guilty to mailing another eight letters containing white powder on April 24, 2010, and to conspiring with another man to mail those letters.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the Federal Protective Service, and the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Whisonant prosecuted the case.

FBI > Establishes Graduate Degree in WMD Studies

image courtesy of:  topsecretwriters.com

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The FBI has established a graduate program at a Pennsylvania university for its agents to study counterterrorism and weapons of mass destruction, thePittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on Tuesday (see GSN, Feb. 17).

The multiple year program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is currently only open to FBI personnel. Other departments ultimately might be able to have students study for the master of science in strategic studies in weapons of mass destruction.

"It's not going to be open enrollment (or) traditional students," university criminologist Dennis Giever said.

"You worry about whether you might be teaching the wrong person this stuff," he said.

The degree program includes studies of of radiological "dirty bombs," strikes on the energy infrastructure and food-based bioterrorism.

The FBI three years ago began talks with the university on establishing the WMD studies program, according to bureau Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate countermeasures and preparedness chief Doug Purdue.

While several universities were approached, only Indiana University of Pennsylvania had existing programs specializing in anti-WMD efforts, Purdue said.

Thirty-four FBI agents have to date taken specialized WMD classes through the university. The bureau and other government branches anticipate spending $300,000 annually to send 15 to 20 personnel to enroll in the graduate program.

Some analysts who believe there is a low risk of a WMD strike on the United States have said such efforts are an unproductive use of government funds.

"It seemed ridiculous to some people," Federation of American Scientists Terrorism Analysis Project Director Charles Blair said. "But even if the risk is really low, it's still good to have some people looking at it in an academic sense" (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review/Pennlive.com, July 12).

NUCLEAR > Nuclear Safety Journal Launched

Published 7 July 2011

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security; a publisher of scientific journal is launching a new journal -- International Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) -- which will offer a forum for the serious discussion of nuclear power plants' safety

pThree Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security.

The 11 March Fukushima accident was especially poignant because it came during — and may well put an end to — what was correctly termed a Nuclear Renaissance: as worries about climate change and the volatility of oil prices grew, interest in nuclear power generation was rekindled.

InderScience Publishers is launching a new journal — teInternational Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) — which aims to address the growing interest in, and concern about, nuclear safety.

The publisher says that the international community must learn from these accidents in order to improve international co-operation, both in terms of crisis management and prevention of risks. IJNSS will provide an opportunity to exchange information on the implications of safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants and approaches taken by countries worldwide.   Full article

Among the topics which will be covered by the new journal:

• Strategic, managerial, organizational issues; total quality management (TQM) and environmental management
• Macroeconomics, nuclear economics and business
• Technological advances, issues, innovation, hazards; role of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
• Analysis/assessment methodologies, performance measurement
• Governance, policy strategy, assessment, review
• National/international environmental protection policy; ecosystem research
• Ecological/environmental impacts; risk assessment/legal aspects of pollution
• Waste disposal strategies; clean technologies
• Energy security and risk assessment; policy, standards and regulations
• Critical infrastructures design, protection, management
• Risk assessment, control, characterization, perception, communications, models
• Integrated risk assessment and safety management
• Nuclear systems management, transport, resource development, power quality
• Public policy, regulations, governance and nuclear use; public attitudes
• Knowledge based policies and education; knowledge transfer