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The chemical warfare threat looming over Syria’s civil war and its neighbors has taken an epic turn with the announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday, Dec. 22, that “the Syrian government has “consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel onslaught and they are under control for the time being.” He added that Russia, “which has military advisers training Syria’s military, has kept close watch over its chemical arsenal.” Debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report: The Russian foreign minister’s statement was a message to Washington that the transfer of Syria’s weapons of mass destruction...

The latest estimates say that the Assad regime has hundreds of tons of mustard gas, a blister agent, and large stockpiles of sarin and possibly VX, both of which are nerve agents -- all of which can be launched by Scud missiles, artillery, or aircraft, according to Charles Blair, a specialist in chemical and biological weapons at the Federation of American Scientists. "I've heard that Syria has 100 to 200 missiles with nerve agents loaded and ready to go, but that seems extreme," said Blair, noting that the nerve agents are usually stored separately from the weapons and that exact...

First impressions often include nice eyes, a great laugh or a beautiful smile, but a relatively new dating technique could eliminate all physical and personality snap judgements and pair partners based on smell preferences. It’s called a Pheromone Party. Participants are asked to wear the same shirt to bed — sans deodorant or perfume — for three nights. The shirts are placed in their own bag, then passed around at a party were the guests choose their date by most the attractive smell. If we’re basing this solely on pheromones though, the smell itself shouldn’t really make too much of...

Warren Buffett's Greatest Fear: An Inevitable Nuclear, Chemical Or Biological Attack On The US Simone FoxmanFebuary 27, 2012In an hours-long interview with CNBC this morning, Warren Buffett admitted that his biggest fear for the U.S. economy is not growth, public debt, Europe, or any of the many threats that generally top economists' worry lists. It's actually a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. Even so, an American baby is probably the luckiest person in the world today. From the interview: CNBC's Becky Quick: Overall you are very optimistic about the future not only of this country but of the stock market....

Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested four Georgia men accused of plotting to buy explosives and produce a deadly biological toxin to attack fellow U.S. citizens and government officials. The Justice Department said the men were members of a fringe domestic militia group and had planned to manufacture ricin for use in their attacks. The men attended meetings starting in March where they discussed carrying out crimes, including murder, in order to undermine federal and state government, prosecutors said. The targets included local police, federal government buildings and employees of agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. (snip) At a meeting...

Four men from Georgia have been arrested and charged in an alleged plot to purchase explosives and to manufacture ricin, a biological toxin, with the intent to attack U.S. citizens, according to the Justice Department.

TUCSON — A lawyer for environmental activists wants a federal judge to order two U.S. agencies — The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army — to renegotiate a biological opinion concerning the San Pedro River and its environs contending the two entities have failed to follow the Endangered Species Act. The plaintiff’s attorney, McCrystie Adams, said the continuing growth in the Sierra Vista area is caused by the existence of Fort Huachuca and as more people come to the area, they “are draining the aquifer year after year.” However, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney contends all the requirements...

Tens of thousands of gray wolves would be returned to the woods of New England, the mountains of California, the wide open Great Plains and the desert West under a scientific petition now before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity say ...

Will clear-cutting forests increase global warming? That's a contentious issue as California, which is seeking to slash its carbon footprint, wrestles over rules to manage the state's private forests. The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based environmental group, this week filed lawsuits against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in seven California counties to halt logging plans for 5,000 acres across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions. The group contends that the agency approved the projects without properly analyzing carbon emissions and climate consequences under the California Environmental Quality Act. "Clear-cutting is an abysmal practice that should have...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-medical-countermeasures-following-a-biological-attack Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Executive Orders The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release December 30, 2009 Executive Order -- Medical Countermeasures Following a Biological Attack ESTABLISHING FEDERAL CAPABILITY FOR THE TIMELY PROVISION OF MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES FOLLOWING A BIOLOGICAL ATTACK By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to plan and prepare for the timely provision...

SNIPPET: "A team of researchers convened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began a series of tests today at 20 MBTA stations to determine how airborne contaminants would spread in a terrorist attack on Boston's subway system." SNIPPET: "The findings will help guide the design of future detection systems and help strengthen evacuation, ventilation, and other emergency response plans on mass transit across the country. "We hope to use the data from the two to come up with a model to predict the behavior (of chemicals) in other subway systems," Lustig said."

Catholic churches in southern New Jersey are taking extra precautions since the Diocese of Camden received a letter saying biological agents would be placed in holy-water fonts and ventilation systems, a diocesan spokesman said Tuesday. The diocese received an anonymous letter last week threatening to put biological contaminants in Catholic churches in New Jersey, said Andrew Walton, a spokesman for the diocese. The letter, which was mailed May 1 and has a Bellmawr postmark, was received in the Camden office May 4 and opened May 5. The letter has been turned over to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, which is...

The U.S. Homeland Security Department warned in a secret 2006 document that victims of a potential WMD attack might be few in number relative to people who imagine injuries resulting from the event, United Press International reported today (see GSN, May 1). The document states that low confidence in the leaders of an affected area could amplify public panic following a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. "Mass psychogenic illness (can) spread rapidly throughout a population," the document says, describing the ailment as a “phenomenon in which social trauma or anxiety combines with a suspicious event to produce psychosomatic symptoms,...

Video of a Kuwaiti "Professor" waxing poetic on his love for humanity.

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday. (SNIP) AQIM, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, maintains about a dozen bases in Algeria, where the group has waged a terrorist campaign against government forces and civilians. In 2006, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on foreign contractors. In 2007, the group said it bombed U.N. headquarters in Algiers, an attack that killed 41 people. Al Qaeda is believed by U.S. and Western experts to have been pursuing biological weapons since at...

Al Qaeda terrorists have been left fearing the Black Death plague after it wiped out at least 40 insurgents at an Algerian training camp, it was reported today. The horror disease, which killed 25 million people in medieval Europe, is understood to have been found in a militant’s body dumped at a roadside. Terror group AQLIM (al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb) was forced to turn its shelter in the Yakouren forests into mass graves and flee, it has been claimed. Now al Qaeda chiefs are said to fear the plague has been passed into other cells...

INDIAN HEAD, Md., Jan. 7, 2009 – Standing before a muddy, mangled mess of concrete, metal and wood, a squad of combat-hardened Marines hastily planned the attack, their target waiting somewhere deep in the debris. Students in the basic course at the Chemical, Biological Incident Response Force remove debris at the opening as they try to enter a simulated building collapse in search of survivors. More than 400 Marines, sailors and civilians are assigned to the specialized unit that trains around the United States to decontaminate and extract victims from a disaster site. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker...

WASHINGTON – The terrorism threat to the United States during the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security, and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press. Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment...

NAVAL SUPPORT FACILITY INDIAN HEAD, Md., Dec. 11, 2008 – The first active-duty unit dedicated to supporting U.S. civilian authorities in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack is wrapping up three days of intensive training its members hope they never have to apply in real life. Army Spc. Dale Soniger from the 3rd Infantry Division’s Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, uses the “jaws of life” to extract mock casualties from a damaged vehicle at the Raymond M. Downey Sr. Responder Training Facility in Indian Head, Md. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jared S. Eastman  (Click...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2008 – The Defense Department has launched a new Web site to educate the public about chemical and biological testing conducted from the early 1940s through the mid-1970s. “This is a new Web site that we have created to put together for all those who may have interest in everything that we have been able to uncover and understand about the chemical and biological testing of warfare agents done from probably the early 1940s up through 1975,” said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, strategic communications director for the Military Health System. He explained the recently launched Chemical-Biological Warfare...