The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday released a report titled “Review of the Department’s Preparation to Respond to a Weapons of Mass Destruction Incident,†which outlines five different recommendations for the department to better respond to any potential WMD incident.A WMD is defined in the report as “any weapon or device that is intended or has the capability to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors; a disease organism; or radiation or radioactivity.†Due to this, response efforts to WMD incidents differ from conventional explosives.
After review, the DOJ found the FBI has taken proper steps to respond to a WMD attack. However, the DOJ as a whole is currently lacking sufficient response plans. One missing key is that DOJ has not assigned an individual or entity as “the leader” of a WMD response. Moreover, other DOJ personnel outside of the FBI staff have not received adequate training for a WMD response effort.
In the winter of 2008, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction predicted a WMD attack would occur somewhere in the world by 2013, that is, without prevention efforts. DOJ’s new report calls for a comprehensive response plan to ensure safety and security. Specifically, it calls for the department to update its response policies, as well as designate an authority to the response efforts.
