Question 1

With the global AIDS pandemic and the emergence or re-emergence of other deadly pathogens, infectious disease increasingly poses a major threat to U.S. national security. Because emerging infections and bioterrorism are two sides of the same coin.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Many chemicals are considered "dual use." What does that mean?

Accepted Answer

A)  Chemicals can be used twice, so terrorists recycle them. Some chemicals become more deadly with more usage, and some chemicals exhibit this characteristic at an exponential rate. 
B)  The chemical agents that are dual use are both useful for making WMDs but they are also useful to the government to get rid of the terrorists that use them. 
C)  Any given chemical agent can have a perfectly legitimate and even beneficial use on its own and will not be highly regulated. 
D)  Chemical agents are a double-edged sword - they may make a powerful WMD but are hard to control, so terrorists cannot escape the effects after setting them off.

Question 3

Weaponization refers to

Accepted Answer

A)  a terrorist or terrorist group must develop an accurate and widespread system so that their chosen weapon has the widest impact (translation: casualties) possible. 
B)  the process of making the actual agent (bacteria, chemical, fissile material) into a form that can cause the most casualties. 
C)  a terrorist group must obtain the agent or agents they are considering using. The difficulty of this task depends on the nature of the agent. 
D)  how long the effects of the agent will last over what amount of territory and with what strength.

Question 4

How can we keep terrorists from acquiring nuclear materials and nuclear weapons?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How can we keep terrorists from acquiring...

Question 5

Which of the following highlights what may be the greatest threat from RDDs?

Accepted Answer

A)  A terrorist group threatening a weaker government with an RDD could gain access to more dangerous resources. 
B)  The radiation after an RDD lasts a long time and is often described as nothing short of "severe." 
C)  The explosion itself will probably cause more damage than anything else. 
D)  RDDs pose little threat since the explosion is not that big and everyone knows that the radiation from them is minimal.

Question 6

Bacteria and viruses share a common characteristic but are different from toxins. Which of the following explain that difference?

Accepted Answer

A)  Toxins are poisonous and dangerous, while bacteria and viruses are normally safe when found in their natural environments. 
B)  Toxins are not considered living organisms, while bacteria and viruses are. Instead, toxins are non-living chemical substances produced as a by-product by living organisms. 
C)  Bacteria and viruses have a low specificity but toxins have a high specificity because most attack certain organs that only humans have. 
D)  Bacteria and viruses are found naturally occurring in the environment but toxins are synthetic.

Question 7

In addition, beyond acquisition, weaponization, and delivery, there is a fourth key factor; that of the group's

Accepted Answer

A)  leadership. 
B)  political influence. 
C)  motivation. 
D)  popularity of platform.

Question 8

With the advent of groups pursuing a dominantly religious agenda, where they are ordered by divine authority to create as many casualties as possible as a goal in and of itself

Accepted Answer

A)  many people are beginning to see the problems in religion. 
B)  terrorist groups will quickly end because people understand that they cannot be tolerated. 
C)  anyone smart would avoid such religious groups, and those terrorists would lack expertise. 
D)  the motivational line to WMDs may more likely be crossed.

Question 9

The level of lethality/toxicity refers to

Accepted Answer

A)  the extent to which those coming in contact with the agent are likely to die. 
B)  how well the terrorists can control the area over which the agent is spread (and not get caught in it themselves). 
C)  whether or not the agent is specific to a particular animal, plant, or human species and the extent, if any, to which the agent can jump between species. 
D)  how quickly victims will come in contact with and react to the agent.

Question 10

What has the inappropriate use or overuse of antibiotic drugs for treating humans and livestock fostered?

Accepted Answer

A)  Mad Cow disease and E. Coli are neither bacteria nor viruses and because of the complacency caused by antibiotics people are uninformed about the potential harmful diseases in their meat. 
B)  Antibiotics are actually threatening to humans and other living organisms as well, because as their name suggests, they are not friendly to life. 
C)  The evolution of resistant strains of tuberculosis and other bacterial diseases, even as development of new generations of antibiotics has lagged. 
D)  People now think they are immune to everything, which they are not.

Question 11

The facilities, money, expertise, and resources needed to produce plutonium are probably far outside the capability range of non-state actors, but how could they still become a nuclear threat?

Accepted Answer

A)  Dirty bombs are a lot easier to make and have similar radioactive effects. 
B)  Such non-state terrorist organizations will never be a nuclear threat. 
C)  The theft of plutonium is a danger, as only a small amount of plutonium is needed to make a bomb. 
D)  All that is really necessary is the expertise, since resources are not too hard to come by. That is why terrorist groups have been radicalizing universities lately.

Question 12

In a bioterrorism attack, the number of people sick with the same thing make it immediately very obvious that an attack took place.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

What is the difference between a dirty bomb (RDD) and a nuclear bomb?

Accepted Answer

A)  Dirty bombs are full of dirt and waste - they are used by environmentalists trying to call attention to the amount of trash we have. Nuclear bombs are used by real terrorist groups. 
B)  A dirty bomb uses explosives to disperse radioactive material over a large area, a nuclear bomb creates an explosive chain reaction from fissionable nuclear material. 
C)  Nuclear bombs explode radioactive material to spread it out over an area as big as a city, and dirty bombs are just another name for an EMP. 
D)  A dirty bomb requires the use of a nuclear power plant, but nuclear bombs can be made mostly from materials found in hardware stores.

Question 14

Many of the agents available for use in a bioterrorism attack (such as anthrax) occur in nature and are very dangerous if one comes into contact with it.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

The seriousness of a pathogen does not depend on whether it is a bacteria, virus, or toxin.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

Which of the following describes the Ebola virus, considering there is no cure for it?

Accepted Answer

A)  A low specificity 
B)  No controllability 
C)  A high lethality 
D)  High residual effects

Question 17

How can biological attacks be used to hamper or deter U.S. intervention abroad?

Accepted Answer

A)  A nuclear bomb would devastate millions of lives. 
B)  Military in the Middle East do not carry around gas masks due to the heat, therefore they are susceptible to things like Sarin gas. 
C)  Such strategies might involve the use of disease agents to attack troops or civilians, destroy U.S. crops or livestock, or contaminate the nation's food supply. 
D)  Someone could poison the food at a meeting of the UN and eliminate several national leaders at the same time. Western nations, then leaderless, would likely resort to anarchy.

Question 18

As a recent Frontline episode made quite clear, we are very well prepared to mitigate the effects of even a large nuclear attack.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 19

Chemical agents tend to be the hardest of the CBRN agents to acquire; stores limit their availability to prescriptions and they cannot be found online.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

Once the contamination from chemical agents dissipates, or is cleaned up, there is little further threat to the targeted population. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

A)  low lethality. 
B)  a high speed of action. 
C)  low residual effects. 
D)  a high controllability.

Exam 12: The Special Case of Weapons of Mass Destruction Wmd Terrorism

With the global AIDS pandemic and the emergence or re-emergence of other deadly pathogens, infectious disease increasingly poses a major threat to U.S. national security. Because emerging infections and bioterrorism are two sides of the same coin.

Many chemicals are considered "dual use." What does that mean?

Weaponization refers to

How can we keep terrorists from acquiring nuclear materials and nuclear weapons?

Which of the following highlights what may be the greatest threat from RDDs?

Bacteria and viruses share a common characteristic but are different from toxins. Which of the following explain that difference?

In addition, beyond acquisition, weaponization, and delivery, there is a fourth key factor; that of the group's

With the advent of groups pursuing a dominantly religious agenda, where they are ordered by divine authority to create as many casualties as possible as a goal in and of itself

The level of lethality/toxicity refers to

What has the inappropriate use or overuse of antibiotic drugs for treating humans and livestock fostered?

The facilities, money, expertise, and resources needed to produce plutonium are probably far outside the capability range of non-state actors, but how could they still become a nuclear threat?

In a bioterrorism attack, the number of people sick with the same thing make it immediately very obvious that an attack took place.

What is the difference between a dirty bomb (RDD) and a nuclear bomb?

Many of the agents available for use in a bioterrorism attack (such as anthrax) occur in nature and are very dangerous if one comes into contact with it.

The seriousness of a pathogen does not depend on whether it is a bacteria, virus, or toxin.

Which of the following describes the Ebola virus, considering there is no cure for it?

How can biological attacks be used to hamper or deter U.S. intervention abroad?

As a recent Frontline episode made quite clear, we are very well prepared to mitigate the effects of even a large nuclear attack.

Chemical agents tend to be the hardest of the CBRN agents to acquire; stores limit their availability to prescriptions and they cannot be found online.

Once the contamination from chemical agents dissipates, or is cleaned up, there is little further threat to the targeted population. This is an example of