[WestCoastGal]

More good news..................sounds more like a spy novel........................

Smugglers Enticed by Dirty Bomb Components
Radioactive Materials Are Sought Worldwide
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 30, 2003; Page A01


TBILISI, Georgia -- When police caught up with him on May 31, Tedo Makeria was headed toward Tbilisi's main rail station, his lethal cargo hidden in boxes lined with lead so thick his taxi sagged from the weight. The suspicious policeman who halted the cab had barely cracked the trunk when he noticed the boxes and the distinctive labels that warned, "Danger: Radiation."



More police arrived within minutes, and a Geiger counter was produced. As Makeria smoked nervously in the back seat, the officers flipped the instrument's "on" switch and watched the needle leap off the screen.

"At first we were just shocked," Maj. Leri Omiadze, the ranking officer at the scene, recalled later. "Then we all started backing away slowly."

Inside Makeria's boxes were two capsules of highly radioactive metals -- strontium and cesium -- of a type that terrorism experts say can be used in a dirty bomb, a device that spews radiation but does not trigger a nuclear explosion. A third container held a vial of brown liquid that Georgian police identified as the substance used in mustard gas, one of the earliest chemical weapons. Only later did police learn Makeria's role in the affair. He was a courier for criminals trading in components and materials for weapons of mass destruction.

In a scheme still not fully understood, the boxes were delivered to Makeria by another Georgian, a man with a history of drug offenses. Makeria's job was to carry the boxes by train from Tbilisi to Adzharia province, a troubled enclave on Georgia's southwestern frontier.

From there, police believe, they were to be transported by other couriers across the border into Turkey or perhaps even Iran, for delivery to an expectant customer. The buyer's identity remains unknown.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A21879-2003Nov29&notFound=true

[WestCoastGal]

OK, sorry don't mean to be a thread hog here, but I keep finding these interesting articles that I think you all may find just as interesting. This one re: bio, it's about a year old but still VERY good info. ^^^Coco^^^
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Strategic Tracking of Sniffles
Scientists on Alert for Terrorism Monitor Area Health Factors
By Avram Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 28, 2003; Page A10


Every morning, scientists gather in a secure war room in Howard County to gauge how people in the Washington region are feeling.



Are people buying lots of flu or diarrhea medicine? What are patients complaining about in doctors' offices and emergency rooms? Are doctors ordering more lab tests? How many people are calling 911? How many children missed school? What about animals -- are governments picking up more carcasses?

At the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Scaggsville, a 30-mile drive from the White House, researchers believe quick answers to those questions could save huge numbers of people in a biological attack.

Experts say outbreaks of highly contagious smallpox, starting with only 3,000 infected people in three states, could lead to 1 million deaths if not promptly contained by rapid public health measures. A cloud of anthrax spores released over a congested urban area could cause 120,000 deaths unless antibiotics were distributed at once, according to a computer model released last week. Al Qaeda leaders have obtained materials to weaponize botulinum and salmonella and the chemical poison cyanide, according to U.S. officials, and are close to a feasible production plan for anthrax.

Scientists, though, think they have found a way to use the two or more days it takes a bacterium or virus to incubate, saying their computerized surveillance could alert government officials that antibiotics, vaccines or quarantines might be necessary. More................


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A39629-2003Mar27&notFound=true