WP: U.S. Called Unprepared For Nuclear Terrorism

[Pirate Smile]

U.S. Called Unprepared For Nuclear Terrorism
Experts Critical of Evacuation Plans

By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 3, 2005; Page A01

When asked during the campaign debates to name the gravest danger facing the United States, President Bush and challenger Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) gave the same answer: a nuclear device in the hands of terrorists.

But more than 3 1/2 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. government has failed to adequately prepare first responders and the public for a nuclear strike, according to emergency preparedness and nuclear experts and federal reports.

Although hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved by rapidly evacuating people downwind of a radiation cloud, officials have trained only small numbers of first responders to prepare for such an event, according to public health specialists and government documents. And the information given to the public is flawed and incomplete, many experts agree.

"The United States is, at the moment, not well prepared to manage an evacuation of this sort in the relevant time frame," said Richard Falkenrath, former deputy homeland security adviser and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. "The federal government currently lacks the ability to generate and broadcast specific, geographically tailored evacuation instructions" across the country, he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/02/AR2005050201454.html

[Beetwasher]

1. 3 1/2 Fucking Years And They Did NOTHING Substantial To Prepare

Those vile pieces of shit.

Not only nuclear, but bio/chem too. They've done practically NOTHING to make any significant progress.

[MO_Dem]

4. You said it, Beetwasher!

Mr. "I will not stand by while threats gather" Boosh is out complaining about social security going flat bust in, oh.....a hunnerd years or so.

[renaissanceguy]

5. I guess it doesn't matter to Bushie.

We'll all be dead, anyway, so it's not like he has to worry about the political consequences.



http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.21326737

[flaminbats]

9. and why was so little done during the Cold War?

Even though we didn't have the technology or knowledge in the 50's we do now, Eisenhower probably did the most to prepare us for an attack. He pushed for construction of the interstate highway system, encouraged families to stockpile emergency supplies, and provided funds for futile exercises school kids performed in case of an attack. Kennedy and Johnson pumped huge sums of money into our rocket technology, healthcare system, and food supply.

The turning point occurred when Nixon became President. Since 68..Presidents have taken few actions to prepare us for an attack. But since the 80's we have developed the technology necessary for stockpiling medical supplies, the transportation required for a massive public evacuation, and even the communication network capable of sending critical information to the public after such an attack. Unfortunately nothing about supply and demand insures our nation takes advantage of this! And that is never a consideration in our defense budget for big contractors, so why should it be in a nation spending more on the military than all others combined?

[chlamor]

2. Moral of the Story

be nice to your neighbors. The solution? Begin decommissioning US nukes. Odds of that happening w/Strangefeld hooked into Los Alamos nuke mindset?

Fear Nation

The BrainWash(ington) Post is a CIA/National Security (Insanity) State echo chamber.

[ckramer]

3. Is U.S. prepared For a ...

housing bubble popping?

[daleo]

6. Tax cuts for the rich are more important.

Then they can all flee the affected areas in their Jetsons flying cars they bought with their extra money...not possible? Too bad.

[bpilgrim]

7. Was Iraq Prepared?

US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal'
by Neil Mackay
Published on Sunday, March 30, 2003 by The Sunday Herald (Scotland)


BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.

more...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm

peace

[teryang]

8. How exactly do you get ready for nuclear terrorism?

There's gotta be a way. There oughta be a law.

The notion that there is an organizational fix to a surprise attack of this nature is non-sense. There is no cost effective way to deal with such an attack. By its nature it is secret and sudden, not presenting an opportunity to deploy and timely implement contingency resources and plans.

Prevention is worth a pound of cure as they say. The failure to effectively monitor American security agencies is the grave weakness in the prevention system. These agencies typically find themselves monitoring plots that are a threat to our national security that are politically protected for one reason or another. The gagging of whistle blowers and the lack of effective intelligence oversight, so clearly demonstrated by 911 and the anthrax episodes, hasn't been remedied one bit.

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. How about we chase our tails in a tighter circle!

And piss more resources down the terrorism scenario toilet.

How did Bin Laden win the war... Let me count the ways!

[flaminbats]

12. why not bring home the troops and use defense spending for defense?

creating stockpiles of food and medicine, having the means to evacuate those who could be saved, and preventing a possible attack from turning into deadly anarchy. These are all avoidable only if Congress spent our tax money wisely.

[MrPrax]

11. Maybe they didn't bother preparing...

because they KNOW the risk is so minimal as to be laughable--it's scares people and it's flattering, but a bit of a stretch...

[Roland99]

13. The Homeland Security website is REALLY helpful.....NOT!!

From the article:

Members of the public who seek information from Homeland Security's Web site, Ready.gov, may not be getting the best advice, experts said.

Take, for example, a Ready.gov graphic showing that someone a city block from a nuclear blast could save his or her life by walking around the corner. The text reads, "Consider if you can get out of the area." Nuclear specialists say that advice is unhelpful because such a blast can destroy everything within a radius of as much as three-quarters of a mile.

"Ready.gov treats a nuclear weapon in this case as if it were a big truck bomb, which it's not," said Ivan Oelrich, a physicist who studies nuclear weapons for the nonprofit Federation of American Scientists. "There's no information in Ready.gov that would help your chances" of surviving a nuclear blast or the resulting mushroom cloud, he said.

Homeland Security officials acknowledge they have lots of work ahead to prepare for a nuclear strike -- a task they point out is extraordinarily difficult -- but say they have made progress.

:eyes: