Abt Associates Releases White Papers On Economic Impacts of Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Freight Transport Systems in an Age of Seaport Vulnerability.

Business Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2003

Report Details Vulnerability and Costs from Bioterror and Nuclear Attacks and Makes Recommendations on Reducing Risks

Abt Associates Inc. announced it has completed two research papers for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center on the subjects of bioterrorist and nuclear attacks on U.S. freight transport systems. The papers detail the costs and consequences of bioterrorist and nuclear attacks under current and near future improved defense conditions, estimating the potential costs for an attack on a major seaport in the range of hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars.

The Abt papers conclude that the container freight transportation systems, which are vital to the U.S. economy, are vulnerable to attack by both biological and nuclear weapons. It recommends an investment of $5 billion to $10 billion a year in defenses against a bioterrorist attack, which would reduce the damage to the U.S. economy from catastrophic to serious but sustainable damages. Against the threat of a mass release of a deadly contagious biological agent, Abt concludes that the best defense is an improved early warning system of biodetectors together with prophylactic vaccination or inoculation of exposed populations within the incubation period, so as to contain a potential epidemic. Against the threat of nuclear weapons smuggled in containers into U.S. ports, Abt concludes the annual cost for externally screening 100 percent of U.S. bound containers to be roughly $100 million per major port. These investments, although costly, would have benefits beyond biological and nuclear defense, including reduced cargo crime and improved public health defenses against deadly contagious diseases.

The Executive Summary of the papers can be found on the Abt Associates Web site at www.abtassociates.com/homelandsecurity.

Abt Associates (www.abtassociates.com) is a private, employee-owned company that applies scientific research and technical assistance to a wide range of social, economic, and technological policy issues, international development, clinical trials and registries, and market research and consulting. Since its founding in 1965, Abt Associates has provided services to U.S. federal, state and local governments; foreign governments; international organizations; foundations; and business and industry. Its staff of over 1,000 is located in offices in Cambridge, Lexington, and Amherst, Massachusetts; and offices in Bethesda, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Old Greenwich, Connecticut; Chicago, Illinois; and overseas in Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, and other African, Asian, and Latin American locations.