Preparedness for a Chemical Attack

¶ … Chemical Attack

The events of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that took place in October of that same year actually provided the United States with an unwanted but yet valuable and unique opportunity to become better prepared for any future terrorist activity. U.S. public safety agencies responded to the incident in September, but their skills were rusty and they were really unprepared for the magnitude of what they encountered (Bolton, 2006). That is not to say that they did not respond appropriately, but they were still not expecting something that strong and severe, and there was only so much they could do in an effort to save lives and protect property. The anthrax attacks in October were not expected, either, but they were also not of the magnitude of the September attack. Because of that, U.S. public safety agencies were better equipped to handle them and responded much faster than they otherwise would have (Bolton, 2006). These agencies were already on guard, and that made a lot of difference as to how they reacted and what they could do for concerned citizens.

Because of the events in 2011, it is highly likely that the public safety agencies in the U.S. would be more prepared for another attack, including one such as the 1995 Tokyo subway Sarin gas attack. While this kind of attack has not yet taken place in the U.S., it is something that the United States is ready for in the sense that the U.S. knows this kind of attack could take place on their soil and in their subway systems (Eldridge, 2006). While it is impossible to be completely prepared for any and every kind of attack, it is certainly something that the U.S. has thought more about now that various attacks have been perpetrated on their soil. Additionally, when attacks occur in other countries, the United States follows these events closely and uses those problems as practice runs and information for what could potentially take place in larger U.S. cities with subway systems, such as New York.

Right now, U.S. public safety agencies are more prepared than they were in the past because of the events they have experienced in recent years. The level of preparedness has risen, because the realization was that the United States was more vulnerable than it thought it was. Generally, the U.S. appeared to be mostly invincible to terrorist activity before 9/11 happened, and those kinds of activities took place in other countries, where security was not as good. What 9/11 showed the entire world was that the U.S. had some vulnerability issues, and that those could be exploited by the right people at the right time (Bolton, 2006). Because that was suddenly an issue, the U.S. public safety agencies were forced to take a step back and reevaluate what they needed to do in order to keep the country safe. That led to more security measures at airports, and also the creation of the Homeland Security Agency to make sure security measures were enacted that worked for everyone.