ZKEA

Emerging Diseases : Biological Terrorism : Biological Warfare

Biological Terrorism

Biological terrorism refers to the use of biological agents to inflict mass casualties on civilian populations. Due to their horrific nature, many people believe that such terrible weapons would never be used. These beliefs are more grounded in hope than in reality, for history does not support this view. As the historical record shows, biological weapons have often been used in the past with devastating results. The only novel aspect about the present era is that biological weapons have so dramatically increased in potency and widespread availability. We are therefore at the cusp of seeing a very old method of warfare/terrorism updated to a new and much more potent form.

Many pathogens have been used for terrorism over the centuries, with smallpox botulinum toxin, bubonic plague and anthrax figuring most prominently. Such weapons have mainly been used in military situations, primarily to disable or terrorize the civilian populations of the enemy. However given the nature of these pathogens, the line between military use and terrorism has always been an exceedingly thin and arbitrary one.

An early case of an attempt to spread infectious disease occurred in 1346 in the Crimea. Tartar forces were besieging the town of Caffa. Plague broke out in the besieger camp. The Tartars, undeterred, turned this into an opportunity to create an early form of weaponization: they loaded the freshly dead into catapults and launched them into the city. Caffa's defenders tried to dispose of the bodies as fast as they could - throwing many into the sea - but eventually an epidemic broke out within the walls. The tactic was ultimately successful, as the defenders were forced to abandoned the city and retreat west. In fact, this retreat helped spread the plague to Italy, creating one of the first waves of the Black Death. About one third of the population of Europe died as a result.

Another early case concerned the British general Jeffrey Amherst, for whom Amherst Massachusetts is named. In 1763 the good general was in command of troops in the Ohio area. Certain native tribes in the area had become increasingly hostile. In response, the general wrote a letter to a subordinate outlining a plan to "Extirpate this Execrable Race" via the dispensation of smallpox-infected blankets. The order was carried out with military efficiency. A smallpox epidemic duly took hold amongst the tribes. Mortality was very high. Some tribal groups virtually vanished, and the rest suffered severe population losses. The virus did a very thorough job in breaking the rebellion.

A more methodical case of terrorism was "Unit 731", a special germ-warfare unit of the Japanese Army during World War II. This unit conducted germ warfare experiments on prisoners of war (who were referred to as maruta, or "blocks of wood") and launched mass terror attacks on Chinese civilians via special plague and anthrax bombs. It is impossible to verify the human losses from these attacks, although it is believed that the death toll was extremely high. After the war's end, the United States gratefully took all of Unit 731's research results. These served as an important foundation for American germ warfare research.

Indeed, as the 20th century wore on, a number of nations developed ever more potent and refined biological weapons. The scope and ambition of these efforts is a little-known story. The good news is that none of the viral super-weapons developed in these programs has yet to be used. The bad news is that much of the technology - and perhaps the weapons themselves - are now in the hands of a number of states. They may even be in the hands of terrorist groups.

It is little wonder that non-state groups became very interested in biological weapons. Easily constructed, easily hidden and quite devastating, their appeal was obvious. However, for many years most counter-terrorist experts believed that biological weapons were ill-suited for such groups. Given the usual goal of terrorists/freedom-fighters is to effect political change of some sort, and that mass death would undercut their own support, why would such groups ever use weapons that kill so indiscriminately? Better to kill just a few carefully targeted individuals and then maximize the media impact via propaganda tools. In other words, it was believed that such organizations wished to see lots of people on TV, not lots of people dead.

Beyond ignoring history, the key problem with this view is that it assumed an underlying rationality in the terrorist's mindset. While this might be an appropriate assumption for traditional secular terrorists such as the IRA, it does not fit the psychology of most religious terrorists. Since such terrorists are inspired and motivated by primal religious forces, rationality and moderation play little part in their strategy and goals. Even so, it took the events of 9/11 to awaken the world to the fact that there is such a thing as pure hatred and fanatic intent, and that there are people who would gladly commit mass-murder of innocents. Clearly modern terrorist groups - especially religious terrorist groups - will use biological weapons when they acquire them. In the age of sacred terror, the intent is to simply kill as many unbelievers as possible. For this purpose biological weapons have no peer.

Early signs of this dynamic were the Aum cult biological attacks. Aum fondly believed that the end of the world was close at hand. When this seemed slow in coming, they tried to lend a hand to the apocalypse via a number of chemical and biological attacks. Only luck and technical incompetence saved the world from horrific casualties. It is probably a bad bet to assume that other cults will always make the same kinds of mistakes.

And then, of course, there were the infamous 9/11 anthrax attacks. These were quite strangely constructed, in that they combined very sophisticated weapons with attempts to save lives (each letter contained a warning that anthrax was enclosed. Hardly the optimal tactic if mass-murder was truly the goal). As a result these attacks, while frightening, never achieved anything near the casualties that anthrax is capable of inflicting. As with the Aum attacks, we may not be so lucky next time.

What would a biological attack look like? One way to answer this question is to refer to the Dark Winter exercise. This was the code name for an American bioterror simulation conducted in 2000. The results were stark and have since driven much of United States policy.

Given the escalating potency of biological weapons, and their probable increasing availability on the open marketplace, the future threatens to repeat the past, but with much greater catastrophic impact.

Archive Keys

3 Attack Scenarios, Biological Terrorism

Al Qaeda, Aum, Religion, Biological Terrorism, Anthrax

Ancient History, Biological Terrorism

Anthrax, 9/11 Attacks, Biological Terrorism, United States

Dark Winter, Scenario, Biological Terrorism

Detection, Counter Measures, Civil Defense, Biological Terrorism

Smallpox, Native Americans, Biological Terrorism