Report: World at Risk of Bio, Nuke Attack
It's 'More Likely Than Not' That a WMD Attack Will Occur by 2013, Panel Determines
Pakistan Nuclear Stockpile Seen as Vulnerable
The commission said that Pakistan posed a particular danger for a WMD attack because al Qaeda reportedly has a safe haven in Pakistan's wild tribal areas, the instability in the government and Pakistan's nuclear weapons stockpile.
"Pakistan is an ally, but there is a grave danger it could also be an unwitting source of a terrorist attack on the United States -- possibly with weapons of mass destruction," it claims.
The report notes that Pakistan's nuclear weapons stockpile consists of about 85 nuclear warheads and that China has recently agreed to build two nuclear power plants in Pakistan, which could help exacerbate a regional nuclear arms race with its nuclear armed neighbor India.
"Though most U.S. and Pakistani officials say that these weapons and their components are safe from inside or outside theft, the risk that radical Islamists -- al Qaeda or Taliban -- may gain access to nuclear material is real."
"America's margin of safety against a WMD attack is shrinking. But we also want to assure the people that there is ample and solid ground for hope about the future," the report states.
It makes a series of 13 recommendations for the incoming administration, which includes conducting a comprehensive review of domestic stocks of deadly pathogens and tightening security at those biological labs and research facilities.
While security has been known to be inadequate at bioresearch facilities overseas, especially in the former Soviet Union, the report makes mention of a recent GAO study that found that security at several of the United States' top biological laboratories containing the world's deadliest diseases and viruses was inadequate.
The report also recommends that the United States should bolster rapid response ability and pharmaceutical stocks to mitigate mass casualties and should advance bioforensic capabilities.
Other recommendations include for the United States to push internationally for countries to address the issue of biosecurity, enhance disease surveillance networks and push for the adherence of the Biological Weapons Convention, which countries are to review in 2011.
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