Chemical Weapons in Terrorist Attack
As the fight against terror groups like Al-Qaeda intensifies, various issues have been raised by the U.S. intelligence community (IC) concerning numerous terror organization that could potentially and eventually cause significant destruction in the American soil or its allied countries across the globe (Kelley, 2014). Additionally, the possibility of a secret and sudden attack by the terrorist through use of chemical weapons creates a major risk to the country and its inhabitants. As such, the paper examines the problems in using chemical weapons in the terrorist attack.
Difficulties in Employing Chemical Weapons in Terrorist Attack
The chemical weapons are of various types such as vesicants that burn the skin when in contact to the body, choking agents which influence how the lungs function, and the nerve agents that significantly affects the nervous system and might lead to death (Pitschmann, 2014). However, incorporation of chemical weapons by the terror groups and its possible use by military organizations have been faced with infinite resistance due to the probable health impact on humanity such as deaths and permanent defects to the human genes. Notably, the possibility of using the modern conventional munitions known as intelligent weapons to substitute the chemical weapons significantly creates difficulties in their inclusion to fight terror (Mancini & Revill, 2017). Moreover, the universal medication for the chemical exposure is minimal since the consequence of its destruction can be felt even in long-range thereby limiting its use.
Conclusion
In essence, the significant rise in the possible use of chemical weapons by the terror groups poses a grave threat to the American population and the department of homeland security. The risk is due to the impacts created by the weapons when released to the community like interference with the nervous system, permanent gene defects, and mass mortality. As such, numerous human right organizations have developed various agencies to help deter countries from using these destructive weapons.
References
Kelley, M. (2014). Terrorism and the growing threat of weapons of mass destruction: Al-Shabaab. Anchor Academic Publishing (aap_verlag). Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=R0S5BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP3&dq=chemical+weapons+terrorism&ots=6rntLsbjPD&sig=Q_I-Ul6SY7J2moLDouDCMxqZbqY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=chemical%20weapons%20terrorism&f=false
Mancini, G., & Revill, J. (2017). ‘We’re doomed!’A critical assessment of risk framing around chemical and biological weapons in the 21st century. Retrieved from: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/68913/
Pitschmann, V. (2014). Overall view of chemical and biochemical weapons. Toxins, 6(6), 1761-1784. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4073128/