U.S. should be better prepared for chemical attacks.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Security Beat

A chemical attack is much more likely to occur in the United States than a nuclear attack, and that is what the nation should be prepared for domestically, said Stephen Younger, director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

"For domestic terrorism, I may worry more about chemical and biological weapons," he said. "Nuclear weapons are more difficult to acquire, more difficult to detonate. Nuclear security needs to be improved, but it is not such a disaster as we are made to believe.

"What worries me even more are the very large quantities of poisonous chemicals that are stored and transported in this country everyday," he told a conference organized by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis. "The release of those chemicals into the environment can cause great damage and it could bring hundreds of thousands of fatalities...and there is nothing we can do about that."

He explained that once those chemical materials are released into the environment, they spread very quickly. "Unless you are a marathon run-net, it is unlikely you can get away from them," he said.

"Biological...