Homeland_Security

There have been previous domestic anthrax attacks. Dr. Bruce E. Ivins was considered the man behind the Anthrax attacks in 2001 for several reasons. First, a scientist working with the F.B.I found a sample of Dr. Ivins Anthrax strain, and it matched the ones mailed, thus, confirming the F.B.I’s investigation. Second, the F.B.I found it unusual that Dr. Ivins was working in his laboratory after hours, especially days prior to the mailings of Anthrax. Third, Shane (2011) wrote, The F.B.I.’s account of Dr. Ivins’s eccentric and sometimes criminal secret life, including his obsession with a sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and break-ins at some of its chapter offices. It documents his preoccupation with several women, including his two laboratory technicians, his stalking behavior and his penchant for long night drives to mail or drop off packages, often under assumed names. Some believe that Dr. Ivin’s did it “to elevate his own significance” and possibly was to rescue all the years and work he dedicated to research, because the financing for the anthrax vaccine was threatened in 2001 (Shane, 2011). Lastly, “A panel of psychiatrists who studied the medical records of Bruce E. Ivin’s said Wednesday that the F.B.I.’s case that he mailed the anthrax letters in 2001 was persuasive, and that Dr. Ivins’s history of mental problems should have disqualified him from working with dangerous pathogens” (Shane, 2011). In 2001, Anthrax spores were successfully mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. Senators which killed five people and infected 17 others. This makes the domestic attacks successful. I disagree with the article that anthrax attacks do not fit the jihadist modus operandi. The modus operandi of the jihadist is to kill as many "infidels" as possible. This is to be done by any means possible, so anthrax is no way a deterrent to a jihadist or his organization. A Pakistani microbiologist “used his membership of a scientific association to travel around Europe in 1999 in a bid to obtain anthrax spores and the equipment needed to weaponise them” (Jane’s, 2006). In 1998, Zawahiri succeeded in arranging for a purchase of anthrax through the Philippine group allied with Al Qaeda. In the 9/11 Commission Report, Yazid Sufaat tried to prepare anthrax in a laboratory in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In my opinion, Homeland Security should not under estimate any Foreign or Domestic Terrorist organizations. In this case, anthrax was successfully deployed as the evidence showed four to five letters containing anthrax spores. The US Intelligence community needs to embrace the fact that anything is possible and probable. Retired General Myers, “found some of the equipment needed to manufacture anthrax at a site near Kandahar” (Jane’s, 2006). The United States must prepare for a biological attack, because this attack could be far greater than a nuclear attack. Reference Jane’s Terrorism and Security Monitor. (2006). Anthrax investigation setbacks. Retrieved from https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/attachment/150159/Forums/65759d42-9e0e-4a0f-9bb4-1193473a5e9e/Anthrax_Investigation_Setbacks.pdf Shane, S. (2011). Panel on Anthrax Inquiry Finds Case Against Ivins Persuasive. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/us/24anthrax.html