February 14, 2011
WMDs? What WMDs?
So either this San Diego Customs and Border Patrol agent is a full-on loony, or WMDs have been intercepted entering our nations ports.
I rather suspect that Al Hallor, the assistant port director/CBP officer that made these comments is simply being shockingly candid. We know that terrorist groups would love to use WMDs inside America, and that plots have been uncovered around the world where terrorist groups have attempted to acquire nuclear weapons, radiological material, and both chemical and biological weapons. Sooner or later an attempt would be made to bring it into our nation, and I'm not surprised at all that some were intercepted.
Quite frankly, I would be shocked if attempts to use WMDs within the US have already made it past our borders and have been tried, but failed. As easy as it is to smuggle in millions of illegal aliens and thousands of tons of drugs each year over our virtually undefended borders with Mexico and Canada, it is only logical to suspect WMDs have already made it into this nation.
Getting them here is only part of the battle. Deploying them effectively is another matter entirely.
The more likely reason why more are not found is that the USA is a large, wealthy, industrialized country. Everything you need to make a WMD you can get here, or build from components you can buy here. Why bother smuggling it in? Smuggling in WMD from other countries is for amatures.
Posted by: Professor Hale at February 14, 2011 11:49 AMAlso, remember that they are likely counting things like pipe bombs and FA firearms as "weapons of mass effect", since they have taken to using similar language in indicments.
Posted by: Tracy at February 14, 2011 02:24 PMTracy beat me to it.
Taking it a step further Homeland Security has probably set the bar very low - to include precursor type materials, that may or may not be deemed a threat depending on the nature of the shipment (who is sending, who is receiving, etc.)
I also suspect that they do not want to begin to reveal just what types of materials they consider WMD related - to keep the real enemies guessing about our defenses, and also to prevent people from learning just what types of substances may have nefarious uses.
