Knutsson, "Actionable knowledge and strategic decision making for bio-And
agroterrorism threats: Building a collaborative early warning culture," Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, vol.
food supply from bioterrorism or
agroterrorism. (51)
Agricultural aviation plays a compelling role in the prevention of terrorism due to the significant likelihood agricultural aircraft could be used for terrorism in an
agroterrorism or bioterrorism event.
Testifying before a Senate committee on the matter, Lisa Shames, the GAO Director of Natural Resources and the Environment, stated "There is no centralized coordination to oversee the federal government's overall progress implementing the nation's food and agriculture defense policy." (5) This lack of centralized coordination of work by different agencies means that we as a nation are unsure that our efforts, and billions of our tax dollars are not being used wisely to counter
agroterrorism. It also seriously hinders the implementation of effective, well-designed strategies to reduce the vulnerabilities of our nation's agriculture to terrorists attacks.
But for those who study the possible occurrenee of an act of
agroterrorism, or significant food chain supply losses from some other event, major losses to businesses from product recalls and business interruption are the most likely outcome.
A National Defense University paper on the threat of
agroterrorism cites Preston's (1998a) New Yorker article, "The Bioweaponeers," on the risk of genetically engineered bioterror agents and as the only source for the prospect that Russian scientists had perfected a recombinant hybrid of smallpox and Ebola (Parker, 2002, p.
(2001), "Current Trends in
Agroterrorism (Antilivestock, Anticrop, and Antisoil Bioagricultural Terrorism) and Their Potential Impact on Food Security," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 24(2): 107-129.
efforts in human biodefense and defense against
agroterrorism, DHS has
His chapter on
agroterrorism highlights an issue that far too often has received short shrift.
the United States will lack a coordinated national approach to protect against
agroterrorism (Thompson, 2007)."
The program involved a series of briefings on several topics: the history of biowarfare, microbiology of biological agents, aerobic and anaerobic bioprocesses, detection overview, bioprocessing and optimization, bioprocess equipment and uses, specific systems for specific agents, dissemination, bioterrorism and biocrimes,
agroterrorism, bioterrorism case studies, and lessons learned from Iraq.
DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN
AGROTERRORISM: METHODOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY.