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Washington: The United States can expect a terror attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
It suggests that the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.
"Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released on Wednesday.
The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to coordinate exclusively US intelligence and foreign policy on combating the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.
The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Missouri, acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs. It warns that gap can be overcome easily if terrorists should find scientists willing to share or sell their expertise.
Study chairman Graham said anthrax remains the most likely biological weapon. However, he told the AP that contagious diseases, such as the influenza strain that killed 40 million early in the 20th century, are looming threats. That virus has been recreated in scientific labs, and there remains no inoculation to protect against it should it be stolen and released.
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