More Education Needed on Terrorism.

• Author: Taylor, Eric R.
• Position: Readers Forum - Brief Article

In a February 2001 National Defense Magazine article (U.S. Homeland Defense Policy Mired in Competing Interests), John Stanton briefly noted the lack of public education in matters of biological terrorism. In fact, the problem spans the gamut of nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC)--weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Stanton quoted Edward Plaugher, Arlington County, Va. Fire Department official, "We just don't have the resources to educate the community."

We are in trouble. Since 1997, the U.S. government spent about $10 billion a year on the Domestic Preparedness for NBC-WMD terrorism, yet, according to Edward Plaugher, the government doesn't have the resources to educate the public. Then, who does?

In light of September 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, and the anthrax spore attacks through the U.S. mail, isn't it time to "find the resources"?

Since the attacks, government officials issued mixed messages--first urging the public to be ever vigilant for further attacks then, in the same breath, encouraging them to go about their daily "normal" lives. Those uttering these statements offered the public conflicting, even contradictory messages. As Americans understandably responded with anxiety, they were accused of being hysterical. If the public reacted hysterically, whose fault was that?

The public remains at a loss and in the dark. We are treated as mushrooms or as children who must be protected from the facts of life now before us. Government spends a king's ransom every year for NBC-WMD projects, the CDC, FEMA, USHHS, Surgeon's General's Office, DoJ, FBI, DoD, etc. Yet, it does not have the resources to educate the public.

What has passed as public education in NBC-WMD in these past several weeks--a parade of experts throwing out snippets of disjointed, esoteric and sometimes misleading-in-context information--is not education. It is confusion, and it prepares the public for continuation of more of the same. The short sightedness or errors in judgment to which Stanton's article alluded in federal programs designed to confront NBC-WMD terrorism may be coming home to roost. The problem includes the complete omission of any orchestrated public education.

It is true that the average American could not understand the technicalities of NBC-WMD weapons design and development. But educating the public in NBC-WMD terrorism does not mean teaching them a series of graduate courses in chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, genetic...