Bush Comments on Thompson Terror Worries

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) expressed no alarm Saturday about a warning from his outgoing top health official that the U.S. food supply is vulnerable to terror attacks but would not deny the assessment and assert that the nation's food is safe.

Bush was questioned, after an Oval Office meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, about comments by Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson about the vulnerability of the U.S. food supply. Thompson spoke Friday as he announced his coming departure from the Bush administration.

"We're a large country with all kinds of avenues where somebody can inflict harm," Bush said. "We're doing everything we can to protect the American people. There's a lot of work to be done."

Thompson had said he worries "every single night" about a possible terror attack on the food supply, and despite dramatic increases in inspections of food imports, only "a very minute amount" of food is tested at ports and airports.

"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," Thompson said. "We are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that."

Thompson was the latest of eight members to quit Bush's 15-member Cabinet as the president moves into a second term.

Bush himself decided that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would not go, ignoring criticism about Rumsfeld's handling of Iraq (news - web sites) and giving the secretary a strong vote of confidence to remain at the Pentagon (news - web sites). That decision, sealed Monday in an Oval Office meeting with Bush but not announced until Friday, settles one of the last major questions about who in the Cabinet goes and who stays.

Besides the eight members whose departure has been announced, Treasury Secretary John Snow has not received a public endorsement of continued service, even though White House officials have described him as a valuable member of the president's economic team.

Snow, who has been in the job less than two years, declined in an appearance Friday on CNBC to reveal whether he has submitted or offered to submit his resignation.

Rumsfeld's tenure has been marked by unanticipated postwar violence in Iraq and more than 1,250 U.S. deaths, as well as enormous increases in spending on the military after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Despite controversies, the hawkish, sometimes acid-tongued Rumsfeld has kept Bush's confidence.

Rumsfeld also has a long history of influential support from Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) from their days together in the Ford administration in the mid-1970s.

Rumsfeld has a full plate: continuing military operations in Iraq, focused now on securing the country ahead of January elections; the ongoing effort in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and a plan to modernize the military.

Bush believes Rumsfeld is "the right person at this moment in our history in fighting the war on terror to lead our armed forces," a senior administration official said in describing the president's decision.

The secretary's future had been the subject of much speculation, after revelations about abuses at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. Though Bush steadfastly backed his defense chief — one of the more hawkish members of his administration — Rumsfeld had many detractors in Congress and the military.

It had been widely believed at the Pentagon that Rumsfeld wanted to stay on, at least for a time, in order to oversee the continuing transition in Iraq and shepherd his plan for a fundamental transformation and modernization of the U.S. military.

Rumsfeld, 72, is the oldest person to serve as secretary of defense. He also was the youngest when he ran the Pentagon for President Ford.

Rumsfeld took intense criticism from members of Congress last spring when the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal became public. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) that he would quit if he thought that would help, but not simply to satisfy the administration's political enemies.

Rumsfeld said he would take the blame for the scandal. After the completion and publication of several in-depth investigations, the pressure for him to resign abated during the summer.

In recent interviews, Rumsfeld had refused to talk about his future, except to say he remained committed to transforming the military to make it more capable of fighting wars of the 21st century.

Many have criticized him for failing to foresee the insurgency that has taken thousands of Iraqi lives and killed hundreds of American troops since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime was toppled in April 2003.

Rumsfeld has acknowledged that the strength and resilience of the insurgency was underestimated.

It was not clear how long Rumsfeld's top deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and chief policy adviser, Douglas Feith, would remain. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Friday that Feith told his staff he intended to stay for a while.

Thanks for the link Milligan. For those too lazy to click the link...

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 08, 2004

TERRORISM FUNDS WILL HELP AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT RESPOND TO BIOTERRORISM ATTACK
$430,000 federal/state funds earmarked to upgrade laboratory capabilities

SPRINGFIELD, IL—The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) today announced it will use more than $400,000 in state and federal funds to upgrade equipment at its laboratories in Galesburg, Centralia and Springfield in an effort to more effectively respond and assist in the event of a bioterrorism attack in Illinois.

"Homeland security experts have become increasingly concerned about the risks posed to the nation’s agricultural assets in the event of a bioterrorism attack," according to Illinois Department of Agriculture Director, Chuck Hartke. "This has placed agriculture departments throughout the country squarely on the frontlines of defense if such an incident occurs. These funds will help IDOA more rapidly respond and more effectively assist in case Illinois is targeted for such an attack."

Because agriculture is Illinois’ number one industry with both small and large ventures throughout the state--everything from trucking companies to implement dealerships to direct production farms to ethanol plants--there are serious security concerns associated with the state’s ability to respond quickly in the event of a bioterrorism attack, according to Division Manager for Food Safety and Animal Protection, Dr. Colleen O’Keefe.

"We’re developing some cutting edge mapping software to help identify all of these different at-risk agriculture assets," O’Keefe said, referring to an internet-based agriculture asset tracking system announced by Governor Rod Blagojevich in December of 2003. "These additional funds, in particular, will assist us in making sure our laboratory testing capabilities can identify a variety of chemical/biological risks that have developed over the years and continue to be developed today by groups hostile to America."

As an example, O’Keefe cited widely published reports suggesting that the regime of former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, was researching the use of a variety of chemical and biological agents, including mycotoxins—a substance IDOA laboratories would be better able to identify with the help of these grant monies—for intentional contamination of the nation’s grain supply.

Federal Homeland Security grants issued through the Illinois Terrorism Task Force total $230,000 with additional funds coming from IDOA resources. Between state and federal dollars, the monies will provide:

$250,000 to upgrade the Bureau of Environmental Programs Pesticide Lab

IDOA has been designated by the U.S. EPA to assist in the enforcement of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). To meet that mandate, the department investigates potential pesticide misuse complaints and incidents. These investigations often include obtaining samples of potentially contaminated articles for laboratory analysis.

Because of the potential risk for intentional pesticide contamination of water, food, food products, livestock feed, and many other substances the Department has sought the capability to quickly and accurately identify contaminants that may be present.

In addition, new versions of pesticide products have entered the marketplace over the past several years, many of them much easier to conceal and transport due to the difficulty of analyzing them using current methods such as a Gas Chromatograph (GC) or High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC). Grant funds will be used to purchase a Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) detector.

The LC-MS/MS detector is required to analyze many of the newer agricultural pesticides. Currently, the bureau’s pesticide laboratory does not have access to such instrumentation.

According to Warren Goetsch, who heads the IDOA’s Bureau of Environmental Programs, the laboratory is the only pesticide laboratory among the six states comprising U.S. EPA Region 5 that does not have access to an LC-MS/MS. Acquiring the equipment will allow the IDOA to more expeditiously analyze potentially pesticide-contaminated samples with greater sensitivity. Quicker analysis could translate into a more rapid response to a potential disaster, he noted.

$65,000 to supplement the Department Chemistry Lab

The Department will be purchasing a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC) to assist in identifying contaminants in the feed and grain sources in Illinois, particularly Myxotoxins, which have been identified as a major threat to the grain supply in the event of an agroterrorism attack. The HPLC can be used to check corn and wheat for the very low levels of contamination. Also, the HPLC is used to find drug contamination in feeds. Very low levels of certain medications, such as Monensin, which is commonly used, can easily be used to cause severe illness and death in animals. A widespread animal kill would be devastating to the state’s economy and would be much easier to accomplish than a lethal human attack.

The HPLC makes screening for this type of contamination possible on a scale that would allow for the protection of the animal feed supply as well as the state’s grain supply.

$48,000 to enable the Galesburg Animal Disease Laboratory to conduct real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis

Real-time PCR is a method for amplifying DNA and RNA and uses kinetics to speed the process of identification of pathogenic organisms. O’Keefe note that the Lawrence-Livermore laboratory is working on multiplex PCR techniques for rapid identification of such agents as Clostridium botulinum, smallpox virus, Brucella and other bacterial and viral pathogens that can and have been weaponized.

$54,000 to add a Gas Chromatograph at the Centralia Animal Disease Lab

The Gas Chromatograph (GC) would be used for testing chemical agents and mycotoxins in livestock feed and meat products. It would also test for certain pesticides and herbicides.

$13,000 to purchase Biosafety Cabinets at the Galesburg Animal Disease Lab

Biosafety cabinets provide small "islands" where infectious and toxic substances can be safely handled by technicians. They are used during the set up of cultures and isolation of various bacterial and viral pathogens to provide safety against potential contamination of the workers and facilities. When "unknown" agents are received, it is important to work with them in biosafety cabinets, O’Keefe said.

In addition to the agriculture asset tracking software and the upgrading of laboratory capabilities, the Department has also establish an Illinois Animal Terrorism Information Hotline, one of the most comprehensive and thorough animal surveillance hotlines in the country, which is now available 24 hours a day.

Veterinarians, livestock producers and government or health officials can call in with questions and concerns related to illnesses in their animals that are unusual or may be related to agroterrorism. The number is 1-888-426-4767. An early warning of suspicious activity would allow the state to move rapidly to lessen the possible impact on human and animal health.

According to O’Keefe, Illinois is home to nearly two million cows, more than four million hogs, 120,000 dairy cattle and 74,000 sheep and goats. Illinois generates nearly $7.5 billion annually in farm income, with the livestock industry generating $1.4 billion in cash receipts.

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