- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
United States remains "dangerously unprepared" to protect itself
from major attack, raising the risk of a catastrophic strike that kills
even more people than the September 11 attacks, a panel of national security
experts reports.
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- The task force, organised by the Council on Foreign Relations,
pointed to vulnerabilities at seaports, oil refineries and border crossings.
The report was published on the council's Web site on Friday.
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- Task force members were particularly concerned by the
number of uninspected ships, trucks and containers that could be used to
smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States.
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- "America remains dangerously unprepared to prevent
and respond to a catastrophic terrorist attack on U.S. soil," the
panel reported. "In all likelihood, the next attack will result in
even greater casualties and widespread disruption to American lives and
the economy."
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- The panel also asserted that emergency workers lacked
the training and equipment to respond to biological or chemical attacks
and that local police operated in a dangerous "intelligence vacuum"
without access to terrorist watch lists.
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- "The consequence of this could be the unnecessary
loss of thousands of American lives," according to the 17-member panel,
which was headed by former Sens. Gary Hart and Warren Rudman.
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- Warren and Rudman headed a blue-ribbon panel which released
a report predicting a major attack within the United States about six months
before the hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington.
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- Their latest report recommends an emergency review of
transport security, creation of intelligence centres in each state and
increased federal funding to train and equip local emergency workers.
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- The panel included two former secretaries of state, two
Nobel laureates, and a former director of the CIA and FBI.
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