Things that go bump in the night: Keeping Skippy safe from the TerristsJanet Phelan Yep, Larsen is staying up at night with the worry beads due to the fact that all the nations peanuts are processed at one plant, in North or South Carolina . . . he cant remember which. According to Larsen, the centralization of this facility provides an easy target for terrorists wielding chemical or biological weapons. Larsen is a former Colonel in the United States Air Force and is a decorated Vietnam vet. He is a founding member of the WMD center, a not-for- profit research organization, along with former Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO). Larsen is also the national security advisor at the Center for Biosecurity, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and is a senior fellow at the Homeland Security Policy institute at George Washington University. In a recent telephone interview, Larsen opined that food terrorism is one the most significant threats faced by the nation. Larsen also responded to questions about predictions being tendered that we should expect a pandemic by the end of 2013. Pandemics, declared Larsen, run in thirty-forty year cycles. We are overdue. In fact, Larsen may have his numbers screwed up. The Spanish flu, which killed 20-40 million people worldwide, made its debut in 1918. The Asian flu killed about a million people in 1957-58 and only ten years later the Hong Kong flu killed just under a million. A pandemic or a biological weapons attack? Or are they one and the same? Larsen pooh-poohed the idea that water systems might be a target for a domestic terrorist attack. He stated that, given the amount of pathogen necessary to contaminate a water system, it was highly unlikely that such an effort would be successful. However, Larsens perception is not shared by others in government nor by the scientific community. Last year, DHS chief Janet Napolitano issued a homeland security warning that dangerous terrorists had infiltrated utility companies and that the threat of an attack through infrastructure was emergent. Her concerns were echoed just last week by Leon Panetta, who was reported in Money Newsas declaring that are targeting the computer control systems that operate chemical, electricity and water plants, and those that guide transportation throughout the country,He went on to say that an aggressor nation or terrorist group could could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country. The scientific community is also at odds with Larsens assessment of the threat posed by a waterborne attack. A heavily footnoted report by the Congressional Research Service entitled Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water Infrastructure Sector, Bioterrorism or chemical attacks could deliver widespread contamination with small amounts of microbiological agents or toxic chemicals, and could endanger the public health of thousands. (December 15, 2010) During the course of our phone interview, this reporter suggested to Larsen that the danger posed by vulnerabilities inherent in the very configuration of water systems countrywide might present a compelling concern to those involved in protecting the United States from a terrorist attack. With his permission, this reporter forwarded a report detailing these vulnerabilities, which was submitted to the Critical Infrastructure unit of the Department of Homeland Security last August. The report is reproduced in its entirety, below. After reading some of your pieces on the Internet about the Patriot Act, I assure you we will have no further conversations or email exchanges. Sorry I wasted your time and mine. Well, at least he has locked in on the Skippy terrorism. What a relief. I was beginning to think we might have a problem. Janet Phelan is an investigative journalist whose articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The San Bernardino County Sentinel, The Santa Monica Daily Press, The Long Beach Press Telegram, Oui Magazine and other regional and national publications. Janet specializes in issues pertaining to legal corruption and addresses the heated subject of adult conservatorship, revealing shocking information about the relationships between courts and shady financial consultants. She also covers issues relating to international bioweapons treaties. Her poetry has been published in Gambit, Libera, Applezaba Review, Nausea One and other magazines. Her first book, The Hitler Poems, was published in 2005. She currently resides abroad. You may browse through her articles (and poetry) at janetphelan.com linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 