In 1999 he would be told that the population of San Jose is 900,000 and that the antibiotic supply for the entire nation would last approximately three weeks if given exclusively to the citizens of San Jose. The president will then have to decide whether he wants to do this or to take partial measures that might provide a modicum of help to more people. Note that, at this point, our national security apparatus and, to the extent this situation becomes known, the American public are likely to be severely stressed. And that is so even if an attack never occurs. Let me conclude by suggesting five points that are important to bear in mind in thinking about the biological threat.
Biological warfare can be richly ambiguous.
It blurs distinctions. Definitively determining whether an outbreak is an attack or a naturally occurring disease can be a tough challenge. Distinctions between state and non-state actors are critical but often insidious. Moreover, distinctions between home and abroad are no longer operable. Importantly, note that in neither of the two incidents that I described was there an actual biological attack.