Introduction

Question 1

What are the main criteria of conventional terrorism?

Answer 1

1. violence and or threat of violence
2. physological impact
3. political impact
4. selection of civilian targets
5. unlawfulness or illegitimacy

Question 2

How are convential terrorism and bioterrorism the same?

Answer 2

they ahve the same end goal

Question 3

how is a bioterrorist attack’s sucess defined as?

Answer 3

amount of societal disruption, panic, but not necessarily the number of casualties

Question 4

why might a terrorist commit a bioterrorist attack?

Answer 4

1. to terrorize
2. to implement mass murder or murder
3. to incapacitate
4. to make a political statement
5. to make an anti-agriculture statement
6. for extortion, disruption, or revenge

Question 5

T/F: a biological attack would lead to less casualties than a nuclear attack.

Answer 5

false, the opposite

Question 6

Why are biocrimes taken so seriously?

Answer 6

because they may escalate in severity

Question 7

what is the most common motivator of biocrimes?

Answer 7

revenge or for monetary gain.

Question 8

what are pathogens?

Answer 8

naturally occuring microorganisms that cause disease

Question 9

what are toxins?

Answer 9

poisonous chemicals produced by a living organism

Question 10

how do toxins differ from pathogens?

Answer 10

toxins are not self replicating

Question 11

how does the impact of toxins differ from that of pathogens?

Answer 11

the impact of toxins are only from the initial spread of the compound

Question 12

what are category A agents?

Answer 12

considered the highest risk and highest priority

Question 13

what are category B agents?

Answer 13

second highest priority

Question 14

what are category C agents?

Answer 14

agents that are the third highest priority and include emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass spread in the future.

Question 15

what are examples of category A agents?

Answer 15

anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpos, tularemia, ebola, marburg

Question 16

what are examples of category B agents?

Answer 16

brucellosis, ricin, typhus, viral encephalitis, Q fever, salmonella, E. coli

Question 17

what are examples of category C agents?

Answer 17

nipah/hanta virus

Question 18

why are biological agents used?

Answer 18

1. acquisition is not a limiting factor
2. the price is relatively low to produce, store and transport
3. difficult to detect
4. effect can occur hours or days later
5. spread via air, water, food, or another human
6. some agents spread from human to human while others do not

Question 19

why might identifying the attacker be difficult?

Answer 19

because the effect is usually hours or days later

Question 20

what are some ways of dissemination?

Answer 20

1. aerosol transmission
2. water contamination
3. food contamination
4. direct application

Question 21

why might water contamination be less of an issue compared to food?

Answer 21

because communities filter their water and a toxin would be diluted significantly

Question 22

What kind of food is targetted in food contamination events?

Answer 22

uncooked food or using a heat-stable toxin

Question 23

What is Aum Shinrikyo?

Answer 23

a doomsday cult with multiple examples of bioterrorism

Question 24

what were the bioterrorist attacks perpetrated by Aum Shinrikyo?

Answer 24

Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and the VX gas attacks

Question 25

Because of Aum Shinrikyo's "failure" what was brought to light?

Answer 25

using bacillus anthracis and botulinum neurotoxin as a biological attack

Question 26

What was the Kameido anthrax incident?

Answer 26

odors were reported from the Aum Shinrikyo headquarters that was linked to appetite loss and nausea which was then later discovered to be aerosolized liquid anthrax

Question 27

what questions were needed to be asked about the potential biological attack discovery in Kameido?

Answer 27

1. did the attack actually occur? 2. were B. anthracis spores utilized? 3. could the B. anthracis strain be identified 4. was the strain virulent? 5. why did the attack apparently fail? 6. had illnesses gone undetected?

Question 28

how was the Kameido incident physically examined?

Answer 28

fluid was placed on blood agar which morphologically looked like B. anthracis.

Question 29

how was the Kameido incident genetically examined?

Answer 29

with an 8-locus multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA)

Question 30

the discovered MLVA genotype from Kameido was consistant with what?

Answer 30

the Sterne anthrax vaccine strain

Question 31

how was the Kameido incident different from Sterne?

Answer 31

the Kameido strain was missing the pX02 plasmid which contains all major virulence factors

Question 32

What does the MLVA look for?

Answer 32

small repeat regions with sequence variation but only targets a small portion of the genome

Question 33

What is the FBI division that looks for weapons of mass destruction?

Answer 33

HMRU: The Hazardous Materials Response Unit

Question 34

What is the BPRP and what is it associated with?

Answer 34

the bioterrorism preparedness and response program associated with the CDC

Question 35

What has the BPRP done?

Answer 35

began identifying state of the art technology for characterizing microbes

Question 36

What is the LRN and what does it do?

Answer 36

Laboratory response network that standardizes methods of detection and identification of microbes used in bioterrorist and criminal events

Question 37

Who helps the LRN?

Answer 37

The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Naval Medical Research Laboratory, and CDC

Question 38

What was created following 911?

Answer 38

the FBI's Amerithrax Task Force

Question 39

Where were the anthrax letters sent?

Answer 39

1. ABC News 2. CBS News 3. NBC News 4. New York Post 5. America Media Inc. 6. South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle 7. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy

Question 40

Which letters were left unopened?

Answer 40

New York Post and Patrick Leahy's letters

Question 41

What happened to the Daschle letter?

Answer 41

it was opened in the office and the powder behaved as an aerosol which spread through the Capitol Hill buildings

Question 42

How was the anthrax strain identified as man-made?

Answer 42

it was identified as a known Ames strain used for vaccine efficacy trials

Question 43

T/F: the amount and purity of anthrax improved between the two waves of attacks.

Answer 43

true

Question 44

What were some of the issues for traditional forensics on the anthrax letters?

Answer 44

the envelopes were taped shut without stamps (No DNA), no latent impressions (No AFIS), ink was common (No source attribution), no indented writing on the envelopes or letters, no mailbox surveillance of posted letters, and no traffic citations in area of posted letters

Question 45

How were the anthrax spores dated? and when would they have been prepared?

Answer 45

by Carbon-14 dating, between 1998 and 2001

Question 46

how did the envelopes give investigators a clue?

Answer 46

they looked for minor defects on the envelopes because they were pre-franked

Question 47

How were the evidentiary samples of anthrax linked to one another?

Answer 47

through morphotypes which were not found in any other sample.

Question 48

The 2001 strain and the 1996 Kameido anthrax strain are both based on vaccine strains but which one is associated with which?

Answer 48

Kameido is the sterne strain and the 2001 strain is the ames strain