Three days ago the Department of Health and Human Services released a paper on developing readiness in the event of a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack. Pretty chilling. (The summary is below; the full text can be found at www.Cryptome.org.)

Of course, another terrorist attack could mean big business for some. Interestingly, presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani is the co-owner of BioONE, a bio-contamination clean-up company, a joint venture between his Giuliani Partners and Sabre Technical Services. BioONE is the company that cleaned up the Boca Raton, Fla., office building that had housed American Media, which was laced with anthrax right after 911 (and which I wrote about in Rosebud #21; see the September, 2006 archive, to the right). Now that was some smart investing on Rudy's part.

Giuliani warns we're in for another 911 if a Democrat is elected to the White House, even though 911 happened when a Republican was in the White House and he himself was mayor of New York. I wonder about the people who see him as a sort of terrorism warrior, after he left New York so unprepared after the first World Trade Center bombing in '93; failed to provide 911 rescue workers with adequate gear, which has led to their many gruesome illnesses and deaths; said nothing when the federal government lied to New Yorkers about the safety of the air quality at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after 911; not to mention his entire mayoral reign up until then, which was characterized by a lack of compassion for the poor and homeless and the militarization of the NYPD (in a classic moment, Giuliani sent a tank down E. 13th Street to evict buildings full of squatters, which included mothers and children)—and yet, by the end of his last term, even cops were taking to the streets to demonstrate against him. How soon America forgets. There's a story online today about how he has the biggest donations of any candidate from casinos; figures somehow. Rent "Giuliani Time" for a Rudy refresher course...


[Federal Register: April 23, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 77)]
[Notices]
[Page 20117-20128]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23ap07-48]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response;
HHS Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise
Implementation Plan for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear
Threats

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and
Response, Department of Health and Human Services

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The United States faces serious public health threats from the
deliberate use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)--chemical,
biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN)--by hostile States or
terrorists, and from naturally emerging infectious diseases that have a
potential to cause illness on a scale that could adversely impact
national security. Effective strategies to prevent, mitigate, and treat
the consequences of CBRN threats is an integral component of our
national security strategy. To that end, the United States must be able
to rapidly develop, stockpile, and deploy effective medical
countermeasures to protect the American people. The HHS Public Health
Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) has taken a
holistic, end-to-end approach that considers multiple aspects of the
medical countermeasures mission including research, development,
acquisition, storage, maintenance, deployment, and guidance for
utilization. Phase one of this approach established the HHS PHEMCE
Strategy for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Threats
(HHS PHEMCE Strategy). The HHS PHEMCE Strategy, published in the
Federal Register on March 20, 2007, described a framework of strategic
policy goals and objectives for identifying medical countermeasure
requirements and establishing priorities for medical countermeasure
evaluation, development and acquisition. These strategic policy goals
and objectives were used to establish the Four Pillars upon which this
HHS Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise
Implementation Plan (HHS PHEMCE Implementation Plan) is based. The HHS
PHEMCE Implementation Plan considers the full spectrum of medical
countermeasures-related activities, including research, development,
acquisition, storage/maintenance, deployment, and utilization. The HHS
PHEMCE Implementation Plan is consistent with the President's
Biodefense for the 21st Century and is aligned with the National
Strategy for Medical Countermeasures against Weapons of Mass
Destruction.