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CIA not sharing bioterror knowledge
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies are not relaying what they know about potential bioterrorism threats to the appropriate public health officials, making it difficult to plan counter-strategies to deal with an attack and protect citizens, experts told United Press International. Richard Levinson, associate executive director of the American Public Health Association in Washington, said information about the likelihood of attacks is "desperately needed" by public health officials "because it changes your whole planning timeline and the urgency to get materials to protect the population." Levinson added, "The intelligence community and the public health community have never communicated in any important way. And that's something that needs to happen." Jonathan Tucker, a former United Nations weapons inspector who now is with the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, said the lack of information sharing "is a general problem." This is because it hinders the ability of officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which is charged with safeguarding the public from a bioterrorist attack, from knowing which bioterror agents are most likely to be used and which drugs and vaccines should be stockpiled. Both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency have maintained they do share knowledge of bioterrorist threats with appropriate authorities.

posted by West 10:42 AM