Ebola is not contagious until symptoms appear, and can only be spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids. Early in the disease, the viremia is very low, and the disease is minimally contagious. As the disease progresses, it becomes more contagious through vomit, diarrhea, and possibly through the skin (because it seeps out of blood vessels and oozes through the flesh) at later stages. By the time the terrorist becomes maximally contagious, he will be utterly debilitated.
I find it difficult to imagine a scenario where a terrorist would be able to efficiently spread the disease. I suppose a terrorist could make himself sick, then other terrorists would force people to touch him or his infected fluids...but then, people would know something was up, and the chance of secondary transmission is low because they would have already sought medical attention. It's probably easiest for terrorists to make snuff videos, which they have been doing a lot lately.
Terrorists cower before real pain or torture which is why many of them resort to suicide bombings. Having a bomb inside your body, plus being infected with ebola is a deadly combination, that way, they will spray organs and fluid all over people and all over the place, even sending airborne droplets even further. They would do a lockdown on the building, but with enough people, that’s still a large number of people (hundreds to thousands) who will die in a locked down airport, and too many infectees to effectively administer full ebola treatment to.
It takes a devious mind, but for terrorists, this is a lot easier than a bomb. I’ll send you a private message about specifics [just in case terrorists are less imaginative than I assume they are], but the bottom line is that we darn well better contain the Border.
Can think of a scenario quite easily. 2-3 sick terrorists in a major metropolitan area (NY, Chicago, LA, etc.) and do the night-club circuit.
Just mingle a bit w/ the sardines on the ‘dance floor’, maybe a ‘covered’ sneeze or two, then hit the next club. Rinse and repeat in a few different cities and you’ve got all that’s needed.
I haven’t even gotten around to contaminating the water supply (what’s the town/city that kept their ‘clean’ water in the lake - and someone was taking a pizz in it and arrested??)
Be like Cabin Fever...
It would be one of the easiest terrorists attacks to do, get a suicide Muslim to accept the infection, quarantine him in a house here, when he became symptomatic then keep him alive as long as possible to infect other volunteers, who would then scatter throughout the U.S. after having been instructed how to spread it in the most efficient manner during their remaining lifespan, and perhaps even being able to take out a few medical people once they are caught and isolated, if they are.
That is if they even need a human to begin the process, instead of just using vials smuggled across the border.