ANTHRAX ATTACK

Anthrax Attack in 2001

Name of the writer]

Abstract

In this study we try to explore “anthrax attack in 2001” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “anthrax attack” and “the incident command system”. The research also analyzes several impacts on the economy of the United States that were caused due to the “anthrax attack” and tries to gauge its correlation with the “incident command system”; in addition, the paper focuses on the different strategies that can be formulated by the national security personnel by incorporating “the incident command system” in order to cope with the anticipated “anthrax attacks”.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion5

The Symptoms of the Anthrax Attack5

The Incident Command System6

The Impact of the Anthrax Attack on the United States7

Conclusion8

References10

The Anthrax Attack in 2001

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the scenario of anthrax attack in 2001. In addition, the paper enlightens the incident command system and its application to the anthrax attack. The after-effects of 9/11 were also undoubtedly prolonged by the dissemination of anthrax through the U.S. mail the following month. While there is no evidence of a link between the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax cases, the effect was nevertheless to make many Americans feel unsafe, superimposing realization of the potential for easy dissemination of weapons of mass destruction. After the anthrax attack on the United States in 2001, the government revised their strategies in order to improve the counter-terrorism procedures. It was realized that incident command system can be successfully implemented to the anticipated terrorist attacks.

The incident command system can effectively counter the nuclear and the biological attacks; in addition, the system can also predict the future terrorist threats on the economy of the country. A biological, chemical, or nuclear attack seems to engender greater fear than conventional weapons, perhaps because of the relative lack of familiarity or the perceived randomness of victims. Moreover, dissemination through the mail, something everyone has contact with nearly every day, made an innocuous and universal life experience threatening, and the extrapolation to other similar experiences again caused ripples of distress. The fact that there only 22 cases (11 coetaneous and 11 pulmonary) of anthrax resulted grossly underestimates the economic and psychological impact of the anthrax attack.

Discussion

The first set of letters was mailed from Trenton, New Jersey on September 18, 2001, only one week after the airline attacks. Letters were sent to the National Enquirer tabloid in Florida, and ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, and the New York Post, all in New York City. Two more letters were mailed from Trenton 3 weeks after the first set, on October 9, to Senator Thomas Daschle of South Dakota and Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. When an aide in Senator Daschle's office on the 6th floor of the Hart Senate Office Building opened one of the letters on October 15, a “poof” was noted, and the subsequent investigation identified anthrax in the powder that was contained in the envelope (El-Ayouty, Galgan, Greene, Wesley, 2004). Medical personnel in the Capitol ...