20 November, PR Newswire:

 U.S. is Ill-Prepared to Deal with Domestic Chemical-Biological Incident,
 Lugar Says Senator Warns of a 'Vast Potential Supermarket of Weapons of
 Mass Destruction' 

 Washington, Nov. 20 -- The U.S. remains ill prepared to manage the threat posed 
 by chemical and biological weapons against American cities, Sen. Richard Lugar 
 (R-IN) said Wednesday. 

 "This threat is real and we must be prepared," Lugar told some 200 participants of
 the Jane's Information Group Conference, Countering Chemical and Biological
 Weapons, at the Washington Hyatt Hotel. "That preparation must take the form of
 help to local 'first responders' -- the firemen, police, emergency management
 teams, and medical personnel who will be on the front lines if deterrence and
 prevention of such incidents fail." 

 While the Cold War is over, Lugar said recent events -- including statements from
 former Russian National Security Advisor General Alexander Lebed regarding a
 lack of accountability for a number of missing suitcase "atomic demolition
 munitions" -- indicate Americans still face the threat of weapons of mass
 destruction. 

 He said "a vast potential supermarket of weapons of mass destruction has become
 increasingly accessible. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the subsequent
 decay of the custodial system guarding the Soviet nuclear, chemical and biological
 legacy has eliminated this proliferation checkpoint. States and even religious sects,
 organized crime, and terrorist organizations can now buy or steal what they
 previously had to produce on their own." 

 Lugar co-sponsored two critical bills which address reducing the threat of
 weapons of mass destruction: the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Act, which led to the
 development of domestic preparedness programs, and the Nunn-Lugar
 Cooperative Threat Reduction Act, which is designed to assist the republics of the
 former Soviet Union in reducing their nuclear arsenals. 

 Lugar's statements come at a time when Jane's Defence Weekly reported in the
 Nov. 19 issue that the U.S. has no conventional weapons that can credibly destroy
 chemical and biological weapons facilities in Iraq. 

 Lugar said the U.S. has three lines of defense against weapons of mass
 destruction, such as the chemical agent sarin, the biological agent anthrax, and
 nuclear weapons: prevention, which includes freezing the flight of Russian
 engineers and scientists to such countries as North Korea, Iran and Libya;
 deterrence and interdiction, including securing borders in Asia's Southern Tier
 encompassing the likes of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan and Turkmenistan; and
 domestic crisis and consequence management. 

 The third step requires properly equipping first responders to deal with nuclear,
 chemical and biological incidents. "We need to plan for the next 'common-sense'
 step -- namely, the provision of appropriate equipment to first responders," Lugar
 said. "Many metropolitan areas have raised this issue, only to learn that
 bureaucratic bottlenecks and federal regulations do not permit it. We must get over
 these hurdles." 

 The first such event sponsored by Jane's Information Group, the conference
 featured nearly 200 federal, state and local government, military and industry
 representatives involved with chem-bio-nuclear issues. Other speakers included
 Dr. Gordon C. Oehler, former director of the CIA Nonproliferation Center; Dr.
 Mitchel B. Wallerstein, deputy assistant secretary of defense for
 counterproliferation policy; Brig. Gen. Walter L. Busbee (Ret.), deputy assistant to
 the secretary of defense for counterproliferation and chemical/biological defense;
 Dr. H. Lee Buchanan, deputy director for the Defense Advanced Research
 Projects Agency; Lt. Col. Arthur Corbett, commander, Chemical and Biological
 Incident Response Force, U.S. Marine Corps; and Lt. Col. Douglas J. Norton,
 battalion commander, U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit. 

 Described by the CBS program Sixty Minutes as "the closest thing there is to a
 commercial intelligence agency," Jane's Information Group (www.janes.com) is
 the leading provider of defense, aerospace, transportation and geopolitical-related
 information to the world's militaries, governments, universities and businesses.
 Jane's is based in London; Washington, D.C.; California; and Singapore. 

 SOURCE Jane's Information Group 

 /CONTACT: Joe Dougherty of Jane's Information Group, 703-683-3700, ext. 236,
 or e-mail, dougherty@janes.com / /Web site: http://www.janes.com/ 

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