The United States rejected the Biological Weapons Convention Protocol in July 2001. However, the anthrax attacks of October 2001 underscored the seriousness of the threat of bioterrorism against civilian population. Since then, an unprecedented level of biodefense resources and billions of dollars have been allocated to counter potential attacks by terrorists using a variety of pathogens. These countermeasure efforts have been primarily on the various lists of pathogens determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and other national experts to have potential bioterrorism implications.; Following the October 2001 anthrax attacks, The National Institute of Health (NIH) funding priorities re-focused on six microbes that the U.S. health and security authorities identified as primary agents with significant bioterrorism potential.; During the 1990-2005 time-frame, however, a large body of reporting emerged which detailed various international Islamists extremists groups, led by Al-Qaeda, and their sustained efforts to develop access to a select number of pathogens for use in biological attacks against U.S. targets. These efforts have been either through unauthorized access to restricted biofacilities or via indigenous work to develop and deploy biological agents. This study examined these efforts by Islamists extremists to obtain deadly pathogens with an ultimate objective of identifying a list of bioagents that have been sought, acquired or produced by Islamists extremists and Middle East terrorist groups. The study then focused on a comparative analysis of the pathogens that were actually associated with terrorist entities against those pathogens identified by the CDC and NIAID official lists.; This study found no evidence of recent interest by Islamists extremists in five of six microbes identified by the US. health and security officials as the most likely pathogens that might be used in a bioterrorism attack against US. civilian population. Instead, there is evidence suggestive of Islamists extremists' interest in a host of other of interest to Middle Eastern fundamentalist groups and Islamists extremists have not Deadly or incapacitating bioagents that are readily available. Unfortunately, these agents have not been the primary focus of US. health and security authorities.; It is the intention of this study to offer a more specific and perhaps more realistic description of the bio threat that a select number of Middle Eastern terrorist groups could pose to our country. Furthermore, it is hoped that this study will generate debates among interested parties to address a number of serious questions about the effectiveness of our current national biodefense countermeasures.
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