>From Jane's News Briefs, 13/11/02 Jane's conference seeks to ensure that lessons drawn from bitter experience are learned to counter the WMD threat
One point highlighted on the concluding day of the Jane's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Conference, held in Washington DC last week, was that WMD are perfect tools for asymmetric warfare - a handful of anthrax in the mail system or a few bags of sarin nerve agent on a subway train have a massive impact upon individuals and communities. Dr Anthony Tu of Colorado State University gave a detailed account of the Aum Shinrikyo cult's sarin gas attacks in Tokyo in 1994 and the consequent police response to those events, in which 12 people died and thousands were injured. One revelation here was the full magnitude of the cult's nerve agent production: it had an advanced production facility that created some 70 tons of sarin gas. The speaker was called in by the Tokyo police during the crisis since he had done work on the chemical composition of sarin. Dr Tu had discovered that although the gas was non-persistent it did leave a tell-tale marker in soil (an acidic by-product) which gave the Japanese police the evidence they needed to link the attacks with the presence of sarin. The lessons learnt from the Tokyo sarin attacks were that a special force needed to be created and that on-scene decontamination was essential to prevent cross-contamination with responders and medical staff. Richard Rupert and Major Tony J Intrepido presented a session on the response to the anthrax attacks in the US following 11 September 2001. The urgency and importance of the clean-up operation in Washington DC was paramount, since Senators had to be allowed to return to Capitol Hill to prosecute the war on terrorism. The speakers explained their procedures for the decontamination of buildings and dealing with contaminated mail. The huge difficulties of cleaning buildings to ensure they were free from anthrax spores was considered. Nobody had a 'template' to rely on and military experience in decontamination techniques was not very relevant to this office-based scenario. The actual safety procedures and work processes adopted were similar to asbestos removal. Again and again the responders had to ask themselves: "How clean is clean?" A committee of independent experts was established to consider objectively the work progress before re-occupancy was finally approved. The disposal of tons of waste was a major problem, most notably the huge quantity of steel filing cabinets, which had been scoured and cleaned on so many occasions that they were rusting; only one plant in the whole of the US would accept the job of smelting the scrapped cabinets. Lessons to be learnt were many and included liability indemnity for contractors who were cleaning up the buildings. Tim Tinker of Widmeyer Communications spoke about WMD and public confidence. He explained the public fears associated with WMD - exactly what the users of these weapons wish to create. They can be thought of weapons of mass effect, and among these effects are the psychological consequences. The importance of getting the right message across through the media was identified as vital. Effective leadership was also seen as important to minimise stress illness in responders, according to Tinker, who said there was great benefit in medical clinicians assisting the population following a WMD attack. 'Stepped care' was explained: a proven method of progressive medical intervention to treat individuals post-deployment. Stephen L Caldwell from the US Government Auditing Office (GAO) gave an account of the US federal response to a WMD attack. His office was tasked with auditing the preparedness of the federal government in dealing with such an event. He explained that GAO staff were active in reviewing guidance and plans to counter and cope with a WMD attack. They were looking at all types of readiness activities and a summary was given of the various contingency exercises. Funding was explained along with the financial assistance given from federal government to individual states. A discussion of the proposed new Department of Homeland Security followed and how other departments will interact with it. One of the most impressive conclusions drawn from the GAO was the speed of reaction following the 11 September attacks in developing a means to tackle terrorism. Ron Herring from the company MSA explained the new needs of the first responder. His experience in providing truck-loads of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the responders of 11 September 2001 was detailed. Herring stated the importance of training in PPE, along with the selection of appropriate equipment and the stockpiling of it locally. He cautioned against the procurement of equipment from dubious sources, such as 'military surplus', and stressed the need to comply with safety standards to ensure the kit met industry approval and certification standards. One of the lessons learnt at 'ground zero' in New York was that perimeter control is key to enforcing compliance with PPE rules, with the most effective cordon being "a bunch of guys with guns". In other words, armed police need to enforce a rigid cordon and make sure that all responders wear PPE on site. The speaker stated that although PPE was "basic stuff", organisations need to involve product manufacturers in their contingency plans. In addition to the above, there were also closed sessions covering the training of first responders and domestic preparedness issues. Finally, the two-day conference was summarised by the moderator, John Eldridge, a WMD expert in his own right and the Editor of Jane's NBC [Nuclear/Biological/Chemical] Defence. He echoed many of the speakers' pleas for lessons to be learnt from the bitter experiences witnessed so far from the use of WMD. -- Marc A. Schindler Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada -- Gateway to the Boreal Parkland “Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on” – Winston Churchill Note: This communication represents the informal personal views of the author solely; its contents do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer, nor those of any organization with which the author may be associated. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^^===============================================================
