Biological and Chemical Weapons

Why Terrorist prefer Biological and Chemical Weapons



Why Terrorist prefer Biological and Chemical Weapons

Introduction

The phenomenon of terrorism is not new. It has existed since the beginning of the human civilization. The use of biological or chemical agents in terrorist attacks caused great alarm. Such weapons have a means of killing and maiming an extremely large number of people. There is a host of factors influencing the notion of terrorism. They are all inter-linked and there is no fine line between them, thus, we cannot decide why people are enticed to carry out terrorist attacks. In this paper, we discuss the question why terrorist organizations prefer Biological and Chemical weapons and DHS accomplishments in strengthens America's Homeland Security against such attacks.

Discussion

The dual-use nature of much of the technology used to create and store biological weapons, coupled with the availability of this technology on open world markets, has created difficulties for United States and international regulating bodies attempting to prohibit the further expansion of this military technology to other states and possibly even to terrorist organizations (Wheelis, 2006). The tactical and strategic utility of biological warfare has evolved as a function of the capabilities of specific biological weapons, and it was not until the perfection of airborne delivery systems using aerosolized dry matter by the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the 1960s that biological weapons revealed destructive potential equal to the strategic threat of nuclear weapons.

While the "war on terror" led by the United States is approaching its twelfth year, efforts to dismantle terrorist financial networks remain an essential part of U.S. strategy. The efforts of law enforcement are being continuously marred by the fact that terrorists are able to carry out a devastating attack on relatively low cost by the use of biological and chemical weapons.

In a report, published after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Iran, Libya, and North Korea are the three big sponsors of terrorism and these countries are involved in providing biological and chemical weapons to the so called activists. The biological and chemical weapons used in terrorism are in the spotlight (Lederberg, 2001).

Biological and Chemical Weapons

The term "chemical, biological" means the uncontrolled release of chemical or biological agents, radioactive contamination of the environment that causes serious damage. Terrorists use these Chemical weapons because they possess the characteristics that make them particularly attractive because of easy handling and heavy damage. Thus, the theoretical volume / lethality of these substances are very high, which could lead to significant results with limited amounts of an agent. Terrorism Acts ranges from threats of terrorism, assassinations, kidnappings, assaults, bomb threats and cyber attacks. These involve the use of chemical and biological weapons. This feature allows one hand, reduce production costs of these agents and to provide a scientific and industrial infrastructure is too high, which reduces the risk of detection during the synthesis phase and, secondly, allows a relatively easy and safe transportation of these officers to the scene of the attack ...