Obama's Ebola plan fails to address threat of weaponized outbreak in U.S. [image: Addressing the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, World Health Organization officials didn't mince words.]
Play Addressing the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, World Health Organization officials didn't mince words.*on.aol.com <http://on.aol.com>* [image: http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumb_medium/hash/cf/47/1340404496_8158_jim2.jpg?itok=RGLoMeEK] Jim Kouri <http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/jim-kouri>Law Enforcement Examiner <http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/jim-kouri> [image: Obama's Ebola speech made no mention of how he plans to protect Americans. Will he now secure the borders?] Obama's Ebola speech made no mention of how he plans to protect Americans. Will he now secure the borders?*wn.com/getty <http://wn.com/getty> images* September 16, 2014 During President Barack Obama's televised address on Tuesday to the American people about his deployment of U.S. troops to West Africa to assist in the response to the deadly Ebola virus <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/world/africa/obama-urges-world-powers-to-bolster-ebola-response.html>, the Commander in Chief failed to mention steps being taken to protect the homeland from what some claim is a highly contagious, bloodborne pathogen that continues to mutate. A terrorist state such as Iran or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is capable of turning deadly and contagious Ebola into a weapon of mass destruction (WMD), a federal health expert noted during his testimony before U.S. senators <http://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=9522d319-5056-a032-5290-5a537121c053> also on Tuesday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, informed members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee that it would take highly skilled scientists who work for several rogue nations to weaponize Ebola. He gave the defunct Soviet Union's weaponized hemorrhagic fevers -- the name originally given to Ebola -- during the Cold War. Dr. Fauci told the panel <http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Fauci4.pdf> of senators that any virus is capable of being changed by skilled scientists. The only problem for the "bad guys" would be if somebody attempted weaponization in a makeshift laboratory in which case they'd kill themselves in the process. While he claimed the U.S. is able to handle an outbreak of Ebola, Fauci cautioned that like many viruses it will continue to mutate and become more dangerous unless it's contained. "We never take anything like that lightly," he told the committee. "Changing transmissibility -- from bloodborne to airborne <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/> -- is obviously something that could be a frightening thing." President Obama is deploying about 3,000 U.S. military personnel to the region to assist and provide supplies. The U.S. also will help build as many as 20 100-bed treatment centers and train about 500 health-care providers in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and other nations, according to Obama. But he made no mention of steps being taken to protect the United States from being targeted by terrorists or criminals using a WMD containing the Ebola virus <http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/directors/Pages/default.aspx>. Sadly, the Defense Department's Threat Reduction Program is experiencing a 27 percent reduction in its WMD program. The amount devoted to anti-WMD went from about a half-billion dollars to $365 million in the 2015 budget. And that amount includes nuclear and radioactive WMD as well as chemical weapons. First responders -- law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians -- who at one time were a priority for federal funding and training for handling WMD incidents have seen fewer training opportunities and even fewer federal grants for anti-terrorism or disaster response. "Add the porous borders especially in the southwest and it's no wonder some are prematurely sounding the alarm," said former security director and expert in emergency response Charles Wilkins. __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmMXQxY2ZqBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0MTA5Njg0MDY-> [image: Yahoo! 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