Weapons of mass destruction and civil aviation preparedness.

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) pose a threat to the American public and have become an issue of national importance. Law enforcement and public health agencies at the local, state, and federal levels recently have begun to examine and upgrade their response capabilities. New organizations tasked with combating the threat, such as the Department of Homeland Security, have surfaced and started organizing their resources. Today's literature and media, especially in the wake of September 11, 2001, contain numerous articles and information on this topic, and new sources appear daily. However, with all of this activity, the civil aviation community (1) only recently has begun planning WMD-driven contingencies. On both airport and air carrier levels, many issues remain unresolved, and several hurdles lie ahead. The civil aviation community will continue to prepare for and combat WMD threats, but law enforcement and public health agencies also must pool their resources to fend off the most likely WMD threat: biolo gical weapons. (2)

PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

Assessment

Biological weapons are natural organisms or diseases used in a harmful or destructive manner (e.g., smallpox, anthrax, and Ebola). Many countries and terrorist groups have the capability to mass produce lethal viruses and distribute them throughout the human population. This creates a serious threat to the American public's freedom and safety. Although the civil aviation community is starting to assess threats of WMD and biological weapons with its own resources, it typically has relied on the research and resources of law enforcement agencies. Nationally, the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and a multitude of other organizations always have identified groups likely to use WMD and will continue to do so with a sense of urgency after terrorists utilized civil aviation to destroy the World Trade Center and damage the Pentagon. Although the United States remains one of the world's countries most threatened by WMD, it needs cooperation from other countrie s in investigating and arresting elusive terrorists.

The United States has emerged as the world economic and technological power while fragmentation tears apart other regions of the world. As fragmentation creates conflict and countries choose sides, the resulting instability increases the likelihood of asymmetric threats directed against the United States. (3) Some of these threats most likely will involve WMD and could target the civil aviation community. Furthermore, the pervasiveness of the U.S. civil aviation presence in the world, combined with the vulnerable state of aviation preparedness to combat and respond to biological attacks, creates a significant risk to airports, air carriers, and the American public.

Biological pathogens exacerbate this risk. Incidents involving biological pathogens may arise that terrorists have not initiated. These incidents may happen randomly and with no foul intentions. For example, a Canadian woman on a plane flying from Congo to Montreal, which then proceeded to New York, began exhibiting signs of hemorrhagic fever. The Ebola virus, foreign to American soil and lethal to humans, induces hemorrhagic fever, which is an airborne disease. It could have infected the airplane staff or other passengers traveling to the United States, even though the woman did not continue with the plane from Montreal to New York. The woman had no intention of transporting the biological pathogen to the United States, but she created an incident that could have proven fatal for many people. (4) The emergence of new and more virulent strains of disease around the world increases the probability of civil aviation involvement in a biological event. Although not predictable and not as serious a threat to the A merican public as WMD, these situations deserve attention from the civil aviation community.

Crisis Management

The FBI has been designated the lead agency for crisis management response to threats or acts of terrorism. FEMA and other federal agencies will provide direct support upon request. (5) If WMD are involved, the FBI may request a domestic emergency support team to provide expert advice and assistance to the FBI on-scene commander. FEMA's deployment of a team will take time, however. In the interim, the local airport will manage the crisis according to procedures, which typically include the activation of the emergency operations center (EOC) and, possibly, a mobile command post. Airports and air carriers have experience providing support in crisis situations, and they know what kind of resources law enforcement agencies will request.

When a WMD incident occurs, the rules change. Generally, complex biological attacks have lacked association with civil aviation incidents. When a biological event takes place, the calculus of crisis management differs from what the civil aviation industry commonly takes for granted and has practiced over the years. This makes cooperation between the civil aviation community and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies more important than ever.

First Responders 

Who is trained and equipped to respond quickly when a biological incident occurs on an aircraft or at an airport? Firefighters and police, otherwise trained to respond quickly and decisively to a disaster scene, have new requirements for response to biological events. Testing protocols and isolation factors become important, as do proper equipment and training.

New Players

Who is responsible for quarantine of an aircraft? A biological incident places new organizations on the civil aviation crisis management platform. During a suspected biological attack, the public health community will play a major role because it has a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), together with local and state health authorities, will assume part of the decision-making process and, in non-criminal cases, may even take the lead.

New Issues

At what point does a biological scene become a criminal investigation? Biological events may be difficult to connect with criminal intent, especially in the early stages, but an assessment of criminality must be completed. Some questions exist that may be pertinent to this issue.

* What kind of viruses/outbreaks have authorities found?

* Are the viruses/outbreaks lethal to humans?

* Could the use of this particular virus be considered a weapon?

* How was the virus discovered?

* How widespread is the damage?

* Is this widespread nature normal, or would it only happen if the virus was purposely released?

Answering these and other specific questions will provide guidance to law enforcement officers in determining the need for investigative procedures. Moreover, although the issue of criminality will arise continually during a biological incident, only interagency cooperation will ultimately determine if a biological event requires a criminal investigation.

During a WMD incident, the EOC group, comprised of decision makers, may react differently compared to its behavior in other crisis situations. Given the need for trained and expert guidance, the EOC may become a unified command post responsible for managing the biological crisis. A lead individual retains ultimate decision-making powers in the unified command post. However, the EOC group gains input via a team of firefighters, medical personnel, police, and airport and air carrier representatives, any of whom (especially the firefighters and medical personnel) could become the key decision makers when the need arises. (6) Carrying out this strategy also assumes a high level of training in unified command procedures and a firm partnership with local, state, and federal public health entities.

EOC Composition

Mitigation

On the federal level, FEMA has been designated the lead agency for consequence management. (7) Crisis management transitions to consequence management when a hijacked plane has been brought down or when a bomb explodes. The FBI manages the crisis while in progress, and FEMA handles the aftermath and coordinates the clean up. While the consequence management roles of the federal agencies, firefighters, and local health authorities tend to be organized and frequently exercised, experts scarcely have studied the response to biological incidents within the framework of civil aviation. All levels of authority have learned, however, that WMD incidents involving civil aviation demand unique procedures.

Response to a WMD plight always has life safety as the first priority. Therefore, the response falls primarily in the hands of local firefighters, in concert with FEMA and other appropriate federal and local assets. However, follow-up responsibilities also exist for civil aviation. Record keeping, especially in the wake of a biological event, becomes critical. Following the arrival of the aforementioned plane from Congo and its Canadian passenger who was exhibiting signs of the hemorrhagic virus, the CDC failed to obtain information on the individual from the airline. As a result, the CDC has begun working with the aviation industry to determine ways of retrieving information when necessary. (8) More complete and archived passenger information will benefit the mitigation of a WMD incident.

Air carriers should examine their procedures and capabilities regarding WMD threats. The devastation brought on by biological attacks might be susceptible to air carrier countermeasures. In what ways are aircraft vulnerable to biological attacks? In what ways can airlines reconfigure airplanes to defend against such threats? The aviation community only recently began trying to answer these questions and explore various options.

CONCLUSION

Within the foreseeable future, biological attacks against the United States and its interests are a distinct possibility. The events of September 11, 2001, and the resulting anthrax cases prove that this threat against the United States remains real. Because of the historical use of civil aviation as a terrorist target, the aviation industry is at high risk. This risk becomes even greater when investigators consider the accidental (nonterrorist) possibilities.

At present, civil aviation remains ill-prepared to deal with these types of events. At the airport level, partnerships must be formed with local, state, and federal law enforcement and public health entities. Agencies must examine their standard operating procedures for conformity and consistency. Airports also must practice their responses to WMD threats. Tabletop exercises should lead into planning for full-scale exercises. Air carriers also have a role in defending against these types of incidents beyond their involvement in exercises. Airplane crew training should include information about WMD. Personnel should know what procedures to follow if a biological event occurs. Furthermore, airlines should develop and implement means to assist with passenger tracking after the conclusion of flights.

Finally, the entire civil aviation community (e.g., air carriers, airports, Federal Aviation Administration, and Transportation Security Administration) should establish both preventive and countermeasures against WMD. National-level procedures focusing on "best-risk" airports into which flights may be diverted should be considered.9 Federal agencies should closely coordinate their efforts to combat WMD with local airports and air carriers. Additionally, partnership opportunities across the civil aviation spectrum should be explored. A better prepared and more coordinated response is essential to providing safety to the public against a WMD threat.

Endnotes

(1.) In the current context, this group includes passenger and cargo carriers, but does not expand into the general aviation community. General aviation response to biohazards is a subject deserving further study, but will not be examined in this article.

(2.) The second and third weapons of the WMD triad, chemical and radiological hazards, are not examined in this article. Given the present state of delivery systems, biological events may be more likely to occur in a civil aviation context. Further, response protocols for chemical and radiological events are sufficiently unique and deserve separate treatment.

(3.) The phrase "asymmetric threat" has become a call sign of counterterrorism that means covert or nontraditional war operations.

(4.) "Woman Falls Ill After Trip to Congo, Doctors Suspect Hemorrhagic Virus," Associated Press, February 6, 2001.

(5.) Presidential Decision Directive-39.

(6.) Drielak and Brandon, Weapons of Mass Destruction (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2000), 60. "By its very nature, a WMD incident will most likely involve many different agencies, multiple disciplines and numerous jurisdictions.. all the involved agencies contribute to the command and management process by determining the overall goals and objectives of the incident and in jointly developing tactical objectives."

(7.) Ibid.

(8.) The information requested concerned passengers seated next to the stricken woman. The CDC ultimately obtained passenger information from U.S. Customs, which provided their declaration form.

(9.) According to the author, "best-risk" refers to locations where organizations and equipment needed to combat a WMD strike are postitioned.