More Education Needed on Terrorism. (Readers Forum).

In a February 2001 National Defense Magazine article (U.S. Homeland Defense Policy Mired in Competing Interests), John Stanton briefly noted the lack of public education in matters of biological terrorism. In fact, the problem spans the gamut of nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC)--weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Stanton quoted Edward Plaugher, Arlington County, Va. Fire Department official, "We just don't have the resources to educate the community."

We are in trouble. Since 1997, the U.S. government spent about $10 billion a year on the Domestic Preparedness for NBC-WMD terrorism, yet, according to Edward Plaugher, the government doesn't have the resources to educate the public. Then, who does?

In light of September 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, and the anthrax spore attacks through the U.S. mail, isn't it time to "find the resources"?

Since the attacks, government officials issued mixed messages--first urging the public to be ever vigilant for further attacks then, in the same breath, encouraging them to go about their daily "normal" lives. Those uttering these statements offered the public conflicting, even contradictory messages. As Americans understandably responded with anxiety, they were accused of being hysterical. If the public reacted hysterically, whose fault was that?

The public remains at a loss and in the dark. We are treated as mushrooms or as children who must be protected from the facts of life now before us. Government spends a king's ransom every year for NBC-WMD projects, the CDC, FEMA, USHHS, Surgeon's General's Office, DoJ, FBI, DoD, etc. Yet, it does not have the resources to educate the public.

What has passed as public education in NBC-WMD in these past several weeks--a parade of experts throwing out snippets of disjointed, esoteric and sometimes misleading-in-context information--is not education. It is confusion, and it prepares the public for continuation of more of the same. The short sightedness or errors in judgment to which Stanton's article alluded in federal programs designed to confront NBC-WMD terrorism may be coming home to roost. The problem includes the complete omission of any orchestrated public education.

It is true that the average American could not understand the technicalities of NBC-WMD weapons design and development. But educating the public in NBC-WMD terrorism does not mean teaching them a series of graduate courses in chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, genetic engineering or radiation physics. It means teaching them the basic considerations of NBC-WMD weapons that are taught to U.S. armed forces. The educational level of the average entering recruit is no better or worse than the educational level of the population from which they are drawn.

As an example of the basic information that can be taught, consider that for any chemical or biological weapon to have efficacy as a weapon, its aerosol form should generally be at least as dense as air, if not slightly more so, to remain suspended at or near ground breathing level to be effective. Consequently, the worst thing a person can do in an NBC-WMD attack is to go down to the first floor or into low-lying facilities. Rather, go up, if evacuation is not possible.

Then there's the question of temperature effects on pressure and air flow. If air is contaminated, do not turn the A/C on in the car or home. Outside contaminated air will tend to seep in if the inside air is cooled.

These are not issues of "rocket science." Yet no one in or out of government [who] is an official or expert in NBC-WMD is willing to sir down and formulate a concise, simply-worded information sheet to educate the public.

Considering that some 55 percent of the U.S. population lives outside of the 120 communities that have received first responder training for NBC-WMD terrorism, those communities are essentially defenseless. It is more important than ever that the public be educated to NBC threats, indications and self-defense/response. It is the little things the public does not know that can be injurious or fatal to them. Ample demonstration of this was in the Tokyo, Japan subway attack employing Satin, a nerve agent. Does anyone argue that in the case of the Tokyo subway Satin attack, if only one private citizen had known anything about nerve agents, the consequences might just have been lessened? Since time of exposure is as important as agent concentration, might not that person have been able to alert authorities to a problem much quicker than was the case?

Terrorists enjoy two major advantages against a targeted population. They enjoy the advantage of fear and ignorance on the part of their target. This fear and ignorance compounds the public's general defenselessness. The stakes are too high in NBC-WMD terrorism to omit a potentially valuable asset (the public) in the intelligence and response battles against these covert weapons and killers.

As for the lack of resources to implement a public education program on NBC-WMD, why not use the assets of the terrorist groups to fund it, or other costs incurred from the 9-11 attack? Why are we just freezing suspected terrorist group assets? Let's take the issue of complicity directly to court, prove it, then seize the assets outright. Then earmark those funds for public education and civilian defense measures against NBC-WMD terrorism.

Wouldn't an educated public in NBC-WMD be an asset to our search for improved national security?