Jul 11 2007
al-Qaeda In The US? US Is Preparing, But What About Polonium-210?
ABC News came out with some alarming claims about al-Qaeda coming or in the US. The fact al-Qaeda is trying to get to the US to do some major harm as we whoop up on them in Iraq is not news. The ‘chatter’ according to intel sources is indicative of something possibly coming and Michael Chertoff is signalling his unease about what the chatter is possibly about:
On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he had a “gut feeling” about a new period of increased risk.
He based his assessment on earlier patterns of terrorists in Europe and intelligence he would not disclose.
“Summertime seems to be appealing to them,” Chertoff said in his discussion with the newspaper about terrorists. “We worry that they are rebuilding their activities.”
Other U.S. counterterrorism officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, shared Chertoff’s concern and said that al-Qaida and like-minded groups have been able to plot and train more freely in the tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border in recent months. Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in the rugged region.
“The threat coming out of there is very real, even if there aren’t a lot of specifics attached to it,” one of the officials said.
For those concerned realize this is not news, and we are not unprepared. In fact, one of things I have noticed is US first responders are running lots and lots of drills as if to prepare for something, and these drills have been running for the last month across the country. There was news of a terror drill in New York. There was news of a terror drill in Denver. There was news of a terror drill in Miami. The scope of the drill nationally can be gleaned from this story:
State officials said Idaho’s laboratory and the Oregon Department of Human Services will lead the public health preparedness exercise to evaluate plans and capabilities if an actual terror attack were to occur.
Organizers say the exercise will begin on Thursday [June 14] when the Idaho Bureau of Labs receives a mock telephone request for laboratory assistance from the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory. The practice scenario involves what would happen if several radiation dispersal devices were detonated in Eastern Oregon. During such an event, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reports, rapid laboratory evaluations would be essential to put public health facilities in place to provide appropriate medical treatment.
State public health laboratories in Washington, Montana, Alaska, California, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii and Mississippi will join in the drill.
I was on travel the last two days, and you meet the most amazing people in airports and airplanes. Especially around bars with a wave of flight delays. So I ended up talking to someone who knew something about these drills and I just had to ask: “Ever hear of Polonium-210” (Po-210)? Answer: “Oh yes”. So we chatted a bit about its properties. Actually I did the talking since I know how we plan to respond to various forms of attack is classified and I did not want to know anything I shouldn’t (not to mention asking would have been naively rude). What little I could discern was not comforting.
These first responders appear well trained in the details of Po-210, the substance that was being smuggled through London last fall and which killed Alexander Litvinenko. And this person confirmed what I have heard whispered from other corners and other people with sources in law enforcement or intel. And that is there is a belief there was more Po-210 going through London than the microscopic amount which killed Litvinenko. And there is a concern the Po-210 in London was in transit and headed for destinations elsewhere – maybe many destinations. (I had assumed this was the case given the pattern of contamination in many rooms at each of the hotels frequented by Lugovoi and Litvinenko).
The drills are for biological, chemical and nuclear attacks and there appears to be equal emphasis on each kind of attack. I have no sources inside the government so I cannot say if one is more of a concern than another. But I did find it disturbing that there had been a lot of training for first responders on the Litvinenko incident and the properties of Po-210. It tells me there is a lot we don’t know about the Litvinenko incident and how intel and national defence organizations are viewing it. Let’s just hope all that is in Chertoff’s gut is some gas.
Good post, A.J., and I share your hope.
This next bit is off topic and I mean it is a bit of light-hearted humor on a topic I know you are interested in. I invite anyone to check it out, especially you, but not to get distracted either.
Your post is more important than this pleasant diversion.
This is worth the 10-seconds it takes to click.
One of the arguments against global warming is that we’re really just “heating the thermometers.”
Well, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration takes that further than most.
Link.
After 9/11 I think that everyone thought there would be more attacks. It is if the whole country was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But so far, nothing has occurred, which has made it easy for the right to spend its time raving about Miers and Dubai Ports and immigration while forgetting about the real possibility of terrorism in the United States. For too many people on the right and the left terrorism has become a talking point. But for AlQaida and its ilk…terrorism is deadly serious business.
I would not be a bit surprised if there was such an attack and I hope if and when something like this happens people save their outrage for the people who carried out the attack, not Chertoff and Bush and their Governor or whoever.
I have been worried for years about the camps the muslims have scattered all over the country, the radical clerics who have accesss to our prisons, the radical clerics who come over from Saudi Arabia and other muslims countries to preach. Now we find out they are in our military(over 3000). If the ratio of cleric to soldier is around 100 that would mean we have 300,000 muslim troops in our military. And even if it were a ratio of 50 to 1 it would mean 150,000 of our troops are muslim. This; is insane. These people are there to convert our soldiers and for nothing else. What is the government thinking of. We are being infiltrated in all walks of life.