Issue Paper: Measuring and Evaluating Local Preparedness for a Chemical or Biological Terrorist Attack.

摘要

People in the United States have been terrorized on U.S. soil with targeted violence, on various scales and with varying success, for decades.1 Yet, the recent September 2001 attacks and the earlier bombing of Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building vividly demonstrate something disturbing and new: Some contemporary terrorists, both home-grown and foreign, are not deterred by-indeed may even be attempting to produce-human casualties on a massive scale. These events are part of a pattern of increasing lethality that started in the 1990s.2 Even more troubling is that, while conventional explosives may continue to be the predominant terrorist weapon, the magnitude of the September 11 attacks coupled with the spread of anthrax-laced letters have led some to conclude that chemical or biological weapons are now more likely than ever to be used.3 Although, strictly speaking, terrorism4 has never been absent from the set of threats facing American citizens, the magnitude and character of recent events have called into question the readiness of the nation's state and local emergency response and health and medical personnel to respond effectively to the next incident, to correctly identify hazards as they occur, and to mitigate damage to persons and property. In particular, response to the anthrax incidents subsequent to September 11 was less than reassuring. While the mode of attack made initial identification and response difficult, authorities also had a hard time organizing, coordinating, and communicating an appropriate response even after anthrax was identified.5 This issue paper has two purposes: (1) to suggest some nationally representative measures of local responder preparedness for chemical and biological terrorism as a baseline for the current debate; and (2) to illustrate the limitations of our measures and describe why quantifying preparedness for terrorism, by any measure, is elusive.