|
From the NewsMax.com Staff
|
|
For the story behind the story...
|
Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004 01:44 p.m. EST
New York Preparing for WMD Attacks
"We're thinking about the unthinkable — what a few years ago was the unthinkable," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly says as the New York Police Department works with city health officials, federal authorities and other agencies preparing for a possible attack with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
According to a report in the New York Times, some features of the program that some national security and law enforcement officials describe as unrivaled among American cities are the following:
Training and drilling special units to board cruise ships from helicopters and piers and begun reviewing floor plans of most large Midtown theaters, conducting exercises inside.
Working on a pilot program that they hope will ultimately allow testing the air across the city for biological agents.
Fashioning a citywide plan to get antibiotics or vaccine to every resident after a widespread attack with biological weapons.
Conducting a drill with the city's medical examiner's office to prepare for a chemical weapons attack that would litter the streets with contaminated bodies.
Beginning chemical and biological training for entire units, with the goal of having 10,000 officers ready in time for the Republican National Convention,
Preparing a plan to house and feed thousands of police officers, in some cases in schools, to help keep them working in the aftermath of a catastrophic attack.
Continuing the use of more than 700 personal radiation detectors for more than a year to identify unusual radioactive materials, checking trucks on the street and cars and garages around the city, among other areas.
Working on a plan to distribute atropine anti-nerve agent auto-injectors to all city police units to enable them to respond more quickly to a chemical weapons attack.
Changing the city's health code to allow the city to detain anyone health officials suspect of having being exposed to a deadly infectious pathogen.
"They are trying to do what Washington is supposed to be doing, but isn't," said a former national security official in the Clinton and the second Bush administrations, Richard A. Clarke.
Editor's note:
"CATASTROPHE" Reveals the Secret Story Behind 9'11
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Homeland/Civil Defense
War on Terrorism
Inside Cover Stories
FBI Seeks 2 Mysterious Men on Ferry
Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals
Romney Shrugs Off Mormon History Film
Bob Grant to Return to Radio
Carville Seeks Perfect '08 Bumper Sticker
More Inside Cover Stories
Print Page 
Forward Page 
