Former Soviet expert warns U.S. cities face biological threats

WASHINGTON -- Densely populated U.S. cities including Las Vegas are prime targets for biological terrorist attacks, a former Soviet weapons expert told members of a conservative think-tank Thursday.

Kenneth Alibek, former deputy chief of research and production for the Soviet Biological Weapons Program, said there are at least 10 countries that have biological weapons that could threaten the United States. He warns many more countries will develop programs in the future.

"The United States is not as prepared as it should be," he said. "The 21st century will be a century of high speed development of biotechnology and more people will know how to create biotechnological war agents."

Alibek made these remarks to members of the Heritage Foundation in the nation's capital Thursday. He told the group the prospect of a biological attack is serious because it is able spread rapidly in crowded areas.

"Any city is vulnerable," he said.

This sense of vulnerability hit close to home in Las Vegas this past February, when a microbiologist affiliated with the white supremacist group Aryan Nation was arrested for claiming to possess the deadly germ anthrax.

Larry Wayne Harris, 47, who was convicted of illegally obtaining bubonic plague toxins through the mail in 1995, was subsequently cleared of the charge when public safety officials discovered the substance he claimed was anthrax was actually a harmless vaccine.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who is a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, said biological warfare is a very serious concern for the United States and other nations. He pointed to the release of deadly sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system in the early 1990s as an example of a devastating attack.

"Biological agents can create a catastrophe," Bryan said. "They are not expensive and they are not sophisticated."

Bryan said the U.S. government is taking a pro-active approach to eliminating biological stockpiles around the globe. He said this is the reason why the United States is working with the United Nations to "push hard in Iraq to eliminate their arsenals."

Alibek said one of the best ways to combat biological threats is to have emergency personnel trained in the latest techniques in case there is an attack. The Nevada Test Site was chosen last month to be one of five federal government facilities that will train medical and law enforcement personnel the proper techniques when responding to acts of domestic terrorism.

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