I tend to agree with the postal workers on Amerithrax — and overlook their heartless (but honored in the breach) “no office supplies” policy. The Postal Magazine in the past has editorialized that AQ supporters were responsible. Here is an outside comment today to the same effect.
“Anthrax Letters Still Being Sorted 6 Years Later,” PostalMag, September 19, 2007
http://www.postalmag.com/anthrax-6-years-later.htm
Ed, here’s an interview of Ken for your page that is interesting.
http://www.homelandsecurity.org/newjournal/Interviews/displayInterview2.asp?interview=2
HOMELAND DEFENSE: OK. Let’s say I’m an Usama bin Laden–type individual. I have millions of dollars. Can I produce a high-quality “Ken Alibek–caliber” dry powdered anthrax?
KEN ALIBEK: In many cases it’s not likely. Of course, if you get hundreds of thousands of dollars and if you have a person who knows how to do this, you could make a highly effective biological weapon. But if you have a person with millions of dollars but has no idea how to do this, or someone with a bachelor’s degree in biology even, it’s not going to help. You need to have somebody with either practical knowledge or somebody with the right type of mind to do this. Unfortunately, this information is available now.
We just don’t understand that if your objective is to develop an effective biological weapon and to deploy it with an aerosol, all this information is available. It is a matter of time and effort in gathering this information. In many cases, it’s not necessarily the information that counts. It’s a matter of knowledge in microbiology and aerosol science and knowing how to build a more effective aerosol device. If you’ve got the money, and you’ve got the managerial skills to find the right people, the rest is just a matter of time.
KEN ALIBEK: No. In my time among the military we had several discussions. And they considered biological weapons to be the weapons of choice. Biological weapons would do something very important. For example, in a military conflict somewhere in the mountains, it’s very difficult to use conventional weapons. Even tactical nuclear weapons would not have a significant effect. But chemical weapons and especially biological weapons, could be used in the mountains very easily.
***
HOMELAND DEFENSE: So the information is still in your head if you wanted to do this? If you wanted to go set up an offensive production capability, you could do it?
KEN ALIBEK: I have no such intentions.
HOMELAND DEFENSE: But the point is, you probably have that information. If terrorists get the right technical data, they can reduce their timetable, for example, shrinking it from three years to three months.
KEN ALIBEK: That is correct. But I don’t like it when someone says I can do this. I know I can do this, but I know I will never do this.
HOMELAND DEFENSE: Well, we’re very glad that you’re on our side now … On a different subject, is the U.S. government doing the right things now to protect the country?
KEN ALIBEK: For me, this is a most painful topic. In my opinion, we are making such a huge number of mistakes, each step we take. I’m not saying everything is wrong. We’ve done a lot of things right. We admitted there was a problem. We admitted we were not prepared. We started talking about what we need to do. But then, to quote a Russian expression, “If you want to destroy something, make it enormous.” That’s what we’ve done, with more than 30 agencies and departments, everybody considers their department a major player.