Irwin Redlener of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness told USA Today: "We're almost four years after 9/11 and we've made maybe six months' worth of progress. We're wasting billions and billions of dollars."

Michael Chertoff, the current Homeland Security secretary, named a new chief medical officer last month to oversee bioterror policy and coordinate responses to biological attacks by the Centers for Disease Control, which stockpiles vaccines and antidotes.

Chertoff said he intends to increase the emphasis on potentially catastrophic bioterrorism attacks. But bioterror preparedness is largely the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

"This challenge is larger than almost anything we've ever faced," said William Raub, who runs HHS's public health emergency preparedness.

The government has stockpiled medical supplies needed to treat victims of a bioterrorism attack. For example, enough smallpox vaccine is available for every U.S. resident and there are enough antibiotics to treat up to 60 million people exposed to anthrax, according to Raub.

Supplies can be moved to any city within 12 hours of an attack. But local officials aren't prepared to deliver the supplies to people in time to save lives, according to Richard Falkenrath, a former White House aide on homeland security, who said, "Not a single city in America is prepared."

Another problem: Despite a $5.6 billion government program to induce pharmaceutical companies to develop new anti-bioterror drugs such as vaccines and antidotes, the firms have yet to produce the drugs – in part due to liability concerns.

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