One of the arguments for invading Iraq was the concern that they might be developing bioweapons.
While weaponizing biological agents for use in a military context is expensive, witness the various sophisticated techniques developed to aerosolize Anthrax both in the former USSR and at Fort Deitrich, its application by a thoughtful group of individuals, requires neither a sophisticated infrastructure, nor a significant amount of funding.
Anthrax is frequently cited as a bioweapon. This is because it is uniquely suited for use in the context of a conventional military action. It is fast acting, and
NOT CONTAGEOUS, so it can be used in much the same way that gas would, without much concern about it's spread, and troops moving into the area can take some fairly basic precautions entering the area.
If you start thinking like a terrorist, and the terrorist I have in mind is more an Earth First campaign against US factory farming than al Queida, you can cripple a crucial industry, the US agricultural industry for about ten thousand dollars.
Think back a few years to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth (in the US, it's called Hoof and Mouth) in the UK. All agricultural exports, including items like leather, were stopped for months.
This is one of the largest exports from the US, and it would likely result in a falling dollar, and higher energy prices as a result.
There are any number of places in the world where Hoof and Mouth are endemic. It is considered a regular disease of juvenile livestock, much in the same way that we used to view chicken pox in children.
Sub Saharan Africa is one such place.
The cost of flying to Kenya, and going out among the Masai to collect samples for culture is very inexpensive. Additionally, the disease is ferociously contagious, but does not affect humans, so handling is simple and inexpensive.
While there are vaccines for this disease, they make the agricultural products impossible to export, as the tests for the disease look for the antibody, which the vaccine produces in the animal.
All you need to do is to bring samples back with you, and then send them out to operatives who make the tours of various state fairs.
Here are some quick and dirty numbers.
Item |
Cost |
Comments |
Round Trip To Niarobi |
$3,500.00 |
Best Guess from Travelocity without an advance purchase |
In Country Expenses |
$1,038.00 |
Pulled up a Full Blown Tour from Google |
Purchase of Reference texts |
$500.00 |
Avoid Checking out of Library because of Paper Trail |
Lab Costs |
$5,000.00 |
A Wild Assed Guess. I don't know how much it costs to Culture
Hoof and Mouth. Assumes used equipment |
Distribution to operatives |
$100.00 |
|
Total |
$10,138.00 |
|