Florida Is Only State Ready for Bioterror
— -- Only Florida Deemed Prepared for Bioterror
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 — The federal government has truckloads ofmedicine and vaccines ready to deploy should bioterrorism strike,but only one state is fully prepared to receive and distributethose treatments. Federal officials say that while states have made considerableprogress in preparing for bioterrorism, much work remains. "Our biggest concern is we will get to a location and a stateor a city will not be ready," said Jerry Hauer, assistantsecretary for public health preparedness at the Department ofHealth and Human Services. Even Florida, the one state deemed ready to receive the NationalPharmaceutical Stockpile, still must conduct drills to make sureits plans will work. Federal officials emphasize that states still could handle anemergency if they had to, even if they are not considered prepared.After the Sept. 11 attacks, when the stockpile was deployed for thefirst time, it took New York City officials "several valuablehours" figuring out where to send 50 tons of general medicalsupplies and how to secure them — but eventually the medicine wasdelivered, said Steven Bice, who runs the program for the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention. Today was the deadline for states to report progress inpreparing for bioterrorism. Key questions asked by HHS included howthey will distribute medicine, where they can provide 500 hospitalbeds in case of mass casualties and how hospitals will isolatehighly contagious patients. Most regions are not prepared to dedicate 500 beds in anemergency, much less the 1,500 beds that they are supposed to havein place by next year, Hauer said. Even fewer communities haverooms in place inside hospitals that could be used to isolateinfectious victims of bioterror attacks. Meanwhile, states have until Dec. 1 to produce detailed plansfor vaccinating their entire populations within days of a smallpoxattack. So far, plans have been filed by only 20 of the 62 states,large cities and territories that are receiving federalbioterrorism money. And those plans, not yet scrutinized, may haveserious holes, health officials say. Many states admit they are far from ready. In Kentucky, officials have not yet figured out who will deliverthe shots or where to find the people to do it, said Dr. StevenEnglender, the state epidemiologist. He said it could take 60,000people at 250 clinics to vaccinate Kentucky's 4 million people overfive days. "That's the math. The practicality is something different,"Englender said in an interview this week. Hauer says that math could be conservative if there were anoutbreak of smallpox — a highly contagious, fatal disease. "Five days might actually be a luxury," Hauer said. Early this year, the federal government began distributing $1.1billion to help cities and states improve communication systems,upgrade labs, hire disaster coordinators and otherwise build upneglected public health systems. At the last progress report, inJune, HHS identified several problems. In Arkansas, officials had plans to train people to respond tobioterrorism, but not to detect disease in the first place. InDelaware, planners identified hospital beds for 250 unexpectedpatients, just half of what federal rules require. In Kansas,officials were planning on spending $250,000 to handle the NationalPharmaceutical Stockpile; federal officials said they should counton needing $1 million. Nearly one in three states failed to show how they would workwith bordering states, and about half the states failed to includeIndian tribes in planning. Jack Pittman, administrator of public health preparedness at theFlorida Department of Health, agreed that working with tribes is aproblem. "We've invited them to formally sit with us on advisorycommittees. To this date they have not taken us up on that," hesaid. Another concern is states with budget crunches will have federalmoney to hire needed workers, but won't be allowed to spend itbecause of state hiring freezes. The most urgent issue may be the handling of the NationalPharmaceutical Stockpile. The federal government can deliver 50 tons of medical suppliesto any city in the United States within 12 hours. But communitiesmust be ready to take control of these supplies from the airport.They must have transportation and security for the supplies and aplace to distribute them. They need people who can repackage hugecartons of antibiotics into individual doses. Federal officials use a traffic light metaphor to characterizereadiness for the 62 projects, which include the 50 states, theDistrict of Columbia, the cities of New York, Chicago and LosAngeles, the territories of American Samoa, Guam, NorthernMarianas, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, and three associatedindependent states: Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Just one project, Florida, is "green," meaning ready to go,pending a rehearsal. Two states are "red," Wisconsin — HHSSecretary Tommy Thompson's home state — and Hawaii, meaning theyare making little or no progress. Also red: Puerto Rico and theVirgin Islands. Six projects haven't been reviewed yet; the remaining 51 arerated "amber," meaning they are making significant progresstoward readiness but aren't there yet. For instance, some state plans relied on the National Guard, butHHS pointed out that the Guard might be unavailable in anemergency, said Bill Raub, who is reviewing state plans for HHS. Preparedness is an ongoing process, and HHS doesn't expect thisweek's progress reports to be the final word, Raub added. "We justwant to make sure they are moving down the right road."
— The Associated Press
U.S. Relents on Security Rules for Canadians
O T T A W A, Nov. 1 — Canada said on Thursday thatWashington had backed down in a dispute over new U.S. securityrules and would no longer require Canadian citizens born insome Middle Eastern states to be fingerprinted and photographedon arrival in the United States.
But U.S. officials said that while the rules had been mademore flexible, their agents reserved the right to stop anyvisitor to the United States and — if deemed necessary — takefingerprints and photographs.
Canadian legislators were furious over the U.S. rules whenit emerged on Wednesday that the Foreign Ministry had issued anunusual travel advisory telling Canadian citizens born in eightnations to think carefully about entering the United States forany reason, just in case they ended up in trouble.
Travel advisories are usually issued for hot spots like theMiddle East, not for allies like the United States.
Some members of Parliament said Ottawa should retaliate,perhaps obliging U.S. citizens with criminal records to befingerprinted before they entered Canada or help launch a courtchallenge to the new rules in U.S. courts.
Foreign Minister Bill Graham told Parliament that U.S.Ambassador Paul Cellucci had informed him Canadians would nolonger be subjected to the rules, introduced on the anniversaryof last year's Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"What is happened is that we have a clear recognition bythe United States that the place of birth is not thedetermining factor as to whether a person is subject to thesecurity measures," Graham later told reporters.
The new U.S. rules affect anyone born in Iran, Iraq, Libya,Sudan or Syria. Ottawa says Canadians born in Pakistan, SaudiArabia or Yemen could also attract special attention.
U.S. officials said Cellucci had in fact told Graham thatCanadians who had been born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, orSyria would not necessarily be stopped at the border.
"If a person was born in Tehran and hasn't been there for30 years, there will probably be no problems. If they have beenin Tehran in last six months, there will probably bequestions," one U.S. official told Reuters.
"People could still be subjected to it [fingerprinting andphotographs] if there is some suspicion. But just a place ofbirth [on a passport] wouldn't necessarily trigger this."
Sarkis Assadourian, a Liberal legislator born in Syria,said he was delighted by Washington's apparent change of mind.
"I'm a very happy Canadian, happier than ever before. Iguess they realized they were wrong," he told reporters.Earlier in the day he had suggested fingerprinting allAmericans with criminal records who wanted to enter Canada.
Ottawa's travel warning followed the controversialdeportation of a Canadian citizen by the United States toSyria, his birthplace, earlier this month.
Well-informed sources said bureaucrats at the ForeignMinistry had been deluged by abusive and obscene e-mails fromU.S. citizens, many accusing Canada of harboring militants andurging all Canadians to stay home.
Alexa McDonough, leader of the left-leaning minority NewDemocrats, said she was glad Graham had decided to stand up toWashington after "wimping out" on earlier occasions.
"The backbone of the foreign minister has finally beenstiffened and it appears he has done what he should have done[earlier]," she told reporters, saying she still had somereservations over what would happen next.
— Reuters
FBI Says Terror Groups Have Members in U.S
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 — The FBI believes extremist groups continue to
have members in the United States who could be called upon for
terrorist attacks, the Justice Department has told the Senate
Intelligence Committee.
At least one group, Hezbollah, may be more interested in using
its U.S. members to raise money than to undertake attacks, the
department said.
The comments, in a document released Thursday, were part of the
department's written responses submitted on July 26 to questions
from the committee in February.
Responding to a question about the involvement of Hezbollah,
Hamas and other terrorist groups in the United States, the
department said FBI investigations "indicate the continued
presence of suspected extremists of various groups who could be
called upon to attack in the United States."
It said Hezbollah, in particular, appears to have the ability to
strike in the United States. Some Hezbollah members may have been
instructed to evaluate potential targets. But that may have only
been a test to prove their loyalty to Hezbollah and Iran, which
backs the group.
The department noted Hezbollah has never conducted a terrorist
strike in the United States. Hezbollah is blamed, though, for the
1983 bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that
killed 241 American servicemen.
Hezbollah members are used mostly to raise money for the group's
overseas operations, the report said. Hezbollah fighters in
southern Lebanon frequently attack Israel.
"To date, it is believed that this extensive fund-raising
activity itself acts as a disincentive for operational terrorist
activity in the United States," according to the document.
It did not say if this was also true of other groups, such as
Hamas, the militant Palestinian organization. The State Department
has classified both Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist groups.
The document also warned that the potential for terrorist
attacks in the United States continues. CIA Director George Tenet
and homeland security director Tom Ridge have issued similar
warnings in recent weeks.
But the document also reports advances in the campaign against
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, partly as a result of strong
cooperation with foreign law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
— The Associated Press
Congress Races to Complete Sept. 11 Inquiry
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 — The findings of a congressional inquiry into
the Sept. 11 attacks could be shaped by lawmakers who have had
little to do with the investigation, if intelligence committees
fail to complete their work by the end of the year.
Congressional staff are racing to complete their report so it
can be approved before January by the House and Senate intelligence
committees conducting the inquiry. But they're unsure they'll meet
the deadline.
Regardless of next week's congressional election results, the
committees will have new leaders and new members. Some of the new
members may have different ideas about why intelligence agencies
didn't prevent the attacks and what changes are needed to
strengthen the fight against terrorism.
Among those leaving the Senate committee is Richard Shelby,
R-Ala., the panel's top Republican and one of the biggest critics
of the CIA. The leading Republican on the panel next year will
probably be Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., one of the agency's main
defenders during the inquiry.
In months of closed and public hearings, inquiry staff and
committee leaders have focused on the failure of the CIA, FBI and
other agencies to share information with each other and within
their own organizations. Hill has suggested that the hijacking plot
might have been uncovered if key clues had been connected.
The final report is likely to include recommendations for
improving communications and intelligence analysis. Among the
proposals lawmakers have heard are a new domestic intelligence
agency and a new position overseeing overall intelligence
operations.
Inquiry staff hope to complete a draft, classified version of
the report, circulate it among the committees' 37 members for
comment, and have them vote on it before Congress ends on Jan. 3.
An unclassified version would be released later.
If the classified version isn't approved in time, the new
Congress' intelligence committees would have final say on the
report. "We would have new members who may not have been so
familiar with the testimonies," Hill said.
A member of the House committee, Rep. Tim Roemer, D-Ind., said
he is confident a report will be completed before he leaves the
House in January. Even if it isn't, he said, he already helped
shape it by participating in hearings and meetings.
But he admits he would be "somewhat disappointed" and
concerned about having a revamped committee consider it.
But Charles Tiefer, deputy House counsel from 1984-1995, said
the changes in the committees could "disrupt the delicate
understandings worked out by the existing committee leadership and
it could become difficult, if not impossible, for a whole new group
to achieve as much."
If the committees rush to approve a report before January, that
might force compromises that could weaken tough conclusions, said
Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor.
— The Associated Press
Government Considers Smallpox Testing in Children
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 — The government is seeking public input before
it decides whether to let a few dozen toddlers and preschoolers be
vaccinated against smallpox, a study to test the best children's
vaccine dose but one raising thorny questions about safety and
ethics.
The vaccine is made of a live virus called vaccinia that can
cause its own infections until the injection site scabs over, so
researchers plan to keep inoculated children out of day care or
school for a month. But still there is a chance that youngsters
could tear off their bandages and put relatives, playmates or
others at risk.
There also is the question of whether it is ethical to test in
healthy children a vaccine that could cause a life-threatening
reaction when the children probably won't benefit from it — unless
a bioterrorist attacks with smallpox.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that for the
next month it will accept public comment on whether the University
of California, Los Angeles, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital
should inoculate 40 2- to 5-year-olds with smallpox vaccine. They
would be the first children to get the shots since routine
vaccination ended in 1972.
It's highly unusual for the FDA to seek public opinion on
research.
"It is a very challenging issue because there is no smallpox
circulating right now," said Dr. Karen Midthun, the FDA's head of
vaccine research. "There is great concern that there be a lot of
safeguards for studies being conducted in children."
"This is an unusual time, it's an unusual need and I think the
risks are not totally insignificant," said Dr. Joel Ward of UCLA,
the lead researcher. "So I think this extra care is appropriate."
Although wild smallpox was eradicated in the 1970s, officials
fear that laboratory samples might have fallen into terrorists'
hands. The Bush administration is preparing to make vaccine
available again, first to certain health-care workers and later to
the general public.
Based on studies from the 1960s, 15 of every 1 million people
vaccinated will suffer life-threatening reactions, and one or two
of them will die.
Children once routinely got the smallpox shot, so why is new
testing an issue?
The vaccine has been kept frozen for 30 years. To ensure there
are enough still-potent shots to go around until new ones are made,
scientists are studying whether diluted doses work. Recent studies
in adults suggest they do. The planned pediatric study, sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health, would test those weaker doses
in young children, whose immune systems work differently than those of
adults.
— The Associated Press
9/11 Inspires Political Novices to Run for Congress
W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 — Elle Kurpiewski was a flight attendant boundfor Los Angeles on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Pilot Adam Taffwoke up to learn his flight out of L.A. had been canceled.
Across the country, New York firefighter Joe Finley raced to theWorld Trade Center, while Ohio single mother Judy Locy watched thetowers collapse on television. In Texas, attorney Mike RiveraOrtega tried to re-enlist in the Marines but was turned down.
Propelled by their experiences on that day, all five politicalnovices say they decided to run for Congress.
"I feel compelled to try to help, to make sure that we don'tget complacent about what happened," says firefighter Finley, aLong Island Republican who is challenging Democratic Rep. SteveIsrael. "We need someone in Congress who's worked down there, notjust people who passed through there for a photo."
Most of these candidates face uphill campaigns againstbetter-funded and better-known incumbents. But the chance ofwinning is only part of the motivation.
Stanley Renshon, a political psychologist at the City Universityof New York, says the candidates are part of a trend of peopleresponding to the Sept. 11 attacks by seeking a way to serve theircountry, re-evaluating their lives and choosing to pursue differentcareers.
"Usually midlife evaluation starts taking place in the late 30sto late 40s, but Sept. 11 has made midlife reflecters of us all,"Renshon said.
For Taff and Ortega, both former fighter pilots, running forCongress was a way to return to service and help safeguard thecountry against another attack.
"For the first time in my life, I realized that I wasn't a partof the response," said Taff, who had flown his United Airlines jetfrom Washington to Los Angeles late on Sept. 10 and was to fly toChicago on the 11th.
"Everyone has a personal story that day, and mine is a littleunique, but it explains why I'm running for Congress," he said."People appreciate it. I think they see my sincerity."
Taff is running in a close race to unseat Democratic Rep. DennisMoore in a suburb of Kansas City, Kan. He has focused on issuesthat the attacks brought to the forefront, such as the military,international affairs and homeland security.
After the attacks, Ortega tried to re-enlist but was told thatat 33 he was too old. Then, while attending a GOP conference onattracting Hispanics to the party, he decided to challenge veteranDemocratic Rep. Martin Frost in a Dallas suburb.
Others have been prompted to run by life-changing events.Indiana Republican Rep. Steve Buyer has said he was inspired to runfor office by the Gulf War. And Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., ranin 1996 on the issue of gun control after her husband was killed inthe 1993 Long Island railroad shootings.
"Clearly, her candidacy sprang directly from that event," saidRoss Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University."But whether ... candidates are driven by an event or anexperience is hard to discern. Many times, an event may ignite in aperson's mind the thought or idea to run, but it might be yearsbefore they get around to it."
Kurpiewski, a Democrat running against Rep. Mary Bono insouthern California, has been a flight attendant for 33 years andalso has lobbied for the Association of Flight Attendants. Herflight from Australia landed at an eerily quiet Los AngelesInternational Airport late on the morning of Sept. 11.
She says she decided after Congress passed legislation to helpthe airlines recover that she needed to speak out for the workers. "It was a realization of how fragile life is. If you have apassion for something, if you believe in something, then what areyou waiting for?" she said.
— The Associated Press