weapons of mass destruction

Experts Testify on Much-Improved Troops' Chem-Bio Defense Gear

American troops deployed overseas for the war against Iraq are much better equipped to deal with possible chemical or biological attacks than their Gulf War predecessors, DoD experts said on Capitol Hill today. “I can assure you our war fighters are much better prepared to fight and win in a weapons of mass destruction environment than they were in 1991,” Dr. Dale Klein, assistant to the Secretary of Defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, remarked to members of the House Armed Services Terrorism Subcommittee. The U.S. government has warned Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his military commanders not to use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction against U.S. or coalition troops, the Iraqi population, or neighbors in the event of war. If Iraq does deploy WMDs against U.S. or coalition troops, American officials have said that swift and severe retaliation would follow.

On guard: Sentinel plants could warn of bioterror

U.S. soldiers walk down a trail in a war zone. One of them pulls out a hand-held electronic device and points it at a native plant. The readings on the device indicate the plant was exposed to nerve gas sometime in the last 48 hours, allowing the soldiers to don protective gear before they suffer a lethal dose. Although such a device does not exist, it’s not as far-fetched as it may sound. As concerns grow over the threat of bioterrorism and weapons of mass destruction, university researchers are working on an early warning system — the figurative canary in the mineshaft — that could be as unobtrusive and ubiquitous as plants in a landscape.

Rumsfeld: DoD Transformation Still on Track

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon Town Hall meeting that his department is still “not yet arranged to deal successfully” with the new threat of terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, and that a reorganization he began before September 11, 2001 must continue.