Bad Advice on Terrorist WMDs

A site focusing on influential women on the web thinks that Frances Townsend, former special advisor on homeland security to President Bush, and Major General (ret) Donna Barbisch, former "integrator" for CBRN doctrine and education in OSD, have some things to tell President Obama about WMD terrorism. Unfortunately, they're way off-base.

Obama’s decision to give his first formal presidential interview to Al-Arabiya was "really smart," Townsend said, but "even if people around the world like us better, let us make no mistake: We are not going to prevent an attack by being liked more."

Hey, Frances? You're right, but we might decrease the number of potential attacks by being liked more. Pity that strategy never made it to your boss while you had the opportunity to influence policy. No one is suggesting letting the pressure off terrorist groups, but we can make it less easy for them to recruit people and solicit funds.

Barbisch cited particular concern with biological weapons, also known as "the poor man’s weapon of mass destruction."

"You can make ricin in your bathtub," she said, stressing the need for the public-health community to be involved in any preventative security efforts here at home.

Wow, what a fable. I don't think anyone has tried to make ricin in their bathtub, not with easily available scientific equipment. You might try kitchen equipment, but only a hack would use the "BW agent in a bathtub" story. And here's the funny thing about that phrase "poor man's WMD" - nations that can develop biological weapons have all gone on to develop nuclear weapons. It's not as if poor nations are saying, "hell, we'll never be able to afford nukes - let's just settle for biologicals." Never liked that phrase "poor man's atomic bomb", which was a pat phrase used in the 1980s due to that little skirmish between Iraq and Iran. Oh, and by the way? Ricin - not a mass casualty weapon, certainly not a "poor man's WMD."

Her advice to Obama as to how to handle this particular threat? Don’t put up a "false wall" and pretend we’re safe from biological warfare if we’re far from prepared. "We’re spending way too much money on things that don’t make a difference," she said. 

Probably. Certainly we've seen the US government spending billions over the last decade for terrorist BW incidents, without much evidence that they would be successful strategies. But you know what's even worse than spending money on things that don't make a difference? Spending lots of money on very low-probability threats that no terrorist groups are known to be developing, while ignoring the much more probable threats of natural disasters and industrial accidents.

Comments

[Chris Connolly]

Wow, Ricin in a bathtub, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard. You could maybe make it with some cheap glassware, chemicals and castor oil seeds, but you'd probably get some on your hands and die painfully, and involving a bathtub in the whole process is just plain retarded. She must be confusing Ricin with the bathtub moonshine her uncle makes.

[M1]

Nice