Unprepared<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article "U.S.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unprepared\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article "U.S.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-11-15T16:57:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/\",\"name\":\"Unprepared\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-11-15T16:57:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-11-15T16:57:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article "U.S.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Unprepared\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Unprepared","description":"John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article "U.S.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Unprepared","og_description":"John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article "U.S.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2004-11-15T16:57:45+00:00","author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/","name":"Unprepared","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2004-11-15T16:57:45+00:00","dateModified":"2004-11-15T16:57:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e"},"description":"John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article "U.S.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Unprepared"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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{"id":961,"date":"2004-11-15T16:57:45","date_gmt":"2004-11-15T16:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/"},"modified":"2004-11-15T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2004-11-15T16:57:45","slug":"unprepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/15\/unprepared\/","title":{"rendered":"Unprepared"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

John Mintz and Joby Warrick of The Washington Post<\/i> present a dismaying and frightening summary of the threat of bioterrorism in their article \"U.S. Unprepared Despite Progress<\/a>.\"<\/p>\n

It's not all that different from the nightmare-scenario articles I was reading two years ago* when I was researching a training manual for the private security company I worked for at the time. The big difference, though, is that two more years have passed and the U.S. is nearly as woefully unprepared to face such threats as it was before Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

That's not good.<\/p>\n

The semi-good news is that many of the most-feared and deadliest sorts of bioweapons remain difficult to produce or control and that al-Qaida is probably not capable of using such weapons.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there are plenty of cheaper, dirtier methods available that al-Qaida would<\/i> be capable of using. And we remain unprepared for these threats as well:<\/p>\n

\u2026 terrorists need little expertise to mount a potentially devastating attack on livestock or crops, experts note. <\/i><\/p>\n

\"You don't need to manipulate genetics to spread foot-and-mouth disease in cattle,\" said David Franz, who headed the military's top biodefense research lab at Fort Detrick, Md. \"You can see economic damage that adds up not to millions, but to tens of billions of dollars.\"<\/p>\n

Articles like this one scare me, and for good reason. One of the stranger aspects of life in America these days is the way that public fear is generated, used, harnessed and manipulated, often around phantom menaces like the idea that Saddam Hussein might have bioterror drones with the range of an arctic tern. Yet on subjects like this one \u2014 or subjects like the security of ports or chemical plants \u2014 legitimate fears are played down lest the public demand the government actually do<\/i> something to prepare against these frightening threats.<\/p>\n

Mintz and Warrick make another grim observation, slightly off-topic and almost in passing:<\/p>\n

Local and state health officials say their underfunded agencies \u2026 have received inadequate federal funds and guidance on what the states should address in their bioterrorism master plans.<\/i><\/p>\n

These underfunded agencies receiving inadequate federal funding are further strained by the need to prepare for the threat of biological terrorism. Something's got to give, and that something will inevitably be the part of their mission described in the phrase I replaced with an ellipsis above. Here's the entire sentence:<\/p>\n

Local and state health officials say their underfunded agencies, which focus mostly on caring for the poor,<\/b> have received inadequate federal funds and guidance on what the states should address in their bioterrorism master plans.<\/i><\/p>\n

See what's coming? The same people who brought you false dichotomies like \"jobs vs. the environment\" are getting ready to introduce a new one: \"security vs. health care for the poor.\"<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

*<\/b> One of the best articles I found on the subject of preparedness against biological terrorism was by Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies<\/a>. Discussing the meaning of preparedness, Cordesman wrote:<\/p>\n

We can speculate on scenarios, delivery methods and lethality, we can conduct studies and exercises, and we can write doctrine until hell freezes over, but our chances of really being much better than Buffy are simply not that great \u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, he means that<\/i> Buffy. Cordesman uses Joss Whedon's show as an organizing motif in his paper, \"Biological Warfare and the 'Buffy Paradigm<\/a>'\" (warning: the link is to a .pdf file).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"