The top officials charged with protecting the United States against a biological attack played down concerns that a new agent could exterminate the human race but warned that the threat of new, engineered pathogens remains serious.
The potential for a radiological attack on the United States continues to receive less attention in Washington than nuclear, biological and chemical threats, despite a widely held view that a radiological attack is more likely than the others, according to experts.
The knowledge needed to engineer new weapon-usable biological agents is common around the world, and the United States must seek the proper balance between agility of response and countermeasure stockpiling in defending against biological terrorism, experts told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee.
Proliferation experts testified that not enough attention is being paid to developing better nuclear detection devices to defend against nuclear terrorism.
Michael Krepon of the Stimson Center argues that a U.S. push for military dominance in space could backfire by damaging international efforts to curb WMD proliferation.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization still has hope that patient diplomacy can reinvigorate the stalled global effort to ban nuclear test explosions.