Senators Introduce Legislation To Combat Potential Biological Attack

On Congress’s first day back from its month-long recess, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) announced legislation aimed at preparing the nation for the possibility of a near-future terrorist attack. In a news conference on Tuesday, Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced the Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2009.

The bill comes in response to warnings issued by former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and former Senators Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.) that a biological terrorist attack is likely to occur somewhere in the world by 2013. The latter two co-chaired a Congressionally-mandated “Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism.”

In October of 2008, McConnell told a conference of intelligence officials and contractors that one of the biggest challenges President Barack Obama would face in his first year in office would be the possibility of an attack by a biological agent, which he said might “create casualties greater than 9/11.”

Said Lieberman, the “consequences of a [Weapons of Mass Destruction] attack would be severe,” adding that his committee’s bill “would implement many of the recommendations of the Graham-Talent assessment.”

Among them are heightened security measures for labs in the U.S. and abroad that work on the pathogens most likely to be used by terrorists in a biological attack, improved intelligence and bioforensics and enhanced safety for emergency responders and their families.

“We are losing ground in terms of our protection against a weapon of mass destruction being used in the United States,” said Graham, who served in the Senate from 1987 to 2005. “The clock is not our friend as we face this imminent threat,” he added.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the committee’s ranking Republican member, stated that if passed, the bill would allocate individual grants of $50 million during each of the next four years to help fund the cost of legislation. Collins said that a lack of funding for biological attack prevention is what prompted her to support the bill. She added that the legislation would provide the federal government with the legal authority necessary to regulate biolab security in the U.S.

“Lax security is very troubling…inadequate security at these labs threatens all of us,” said Collins.

Lieberman said that although he expects some bureaucratic infighting to take place, he hopes that the bill will pass the Senate by the end of this year.

“Threats against the American people are out there and [they are] evolving,” said Lieberman. “Yet the fact is that we’re not properly prepared.”