The Myths and Realities of Synthetic Bioweapons

Lasrick writes Three researchers from King's College, London, walk through the security threats posed by synthetic and do-it-yourself biology, assessing whether changes in technology and associated costs make it any easier for would-be terrorists to pursue biological weapons for high-consequence, mass- casualty attacks (and even whether they would want to). "Those who have overemphasized the bioterrorism threat typically portray it as an imminent concern, with emphasis placed on high-consequence, mass-casualty attacks, performed with weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This is a myth with two dimensions."

Comments

Shared atmosphere

[Thanshin]

Can you imagine how interesting these problems will get once humanity stops sharing a single atmosphere?

I predict the first human colony will be killed by terrorist bio-attack.

Re:Oh my

[Thanshin]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter/kickstarter.

Re:Still not easy

[cusco]

Everyone is over-thinking this. All they really need is to get a tourist, work or student visa for some innocent illiterate campesino somewhere (preferably non-African), tell them they won a "lottery" or something that gets them a well-paying job in the US, infect them with Ebola, put them on a plane with instructions how to get on the subway, and tell them that their new employer will meet them at Grand Central Station. Even if they didn't infect anyone as they waited there all day, getting sicker and sicker, for someone who never showed up the resulting panic would cause almost as many problems as an actual outbreak. Remember, the goal isn't casualties, it's instilling fear in the target population.

Re:Bioweapons are a real threat

[cusco]

Military organizations never seem to have much trouble filling these jobs, even when the participants know it's illegal. Clinton was horrified when he found what was going on at Dugway and the other vile biowarfare sites the Pentagon has, and as Commander In Chief he instructed the military to cease all work on bio-weapons. The Pentagon's response was to rename the programs and move them to the Black Budget. No one even had to change cubicle.