Release of a microbial aerosol on the other hand would almost certainly go unnoticed. It would be silent, invisible, odorless and tasteless. As the cases mounted, public health officials would be summoned to diagnose cases, to identify the origin of the epidemic and to organize control measures. The first responders would not be fire and police personnel but physicians, nurses and public health officials. As in today's program, an occasional token physician or public health professional has been included but primary direction has been provided by those who best understand military strategy, chemistry, physics, political science, arms control, law enforcement and fire fighting.
Specific examples help to illustrate the situation.
The Department of Defense was given the lead responsibility for implementing this program. By the end of this year, the program is expected to have reached 72 cities. The training is fundamentally similar to that provided to the already numerous hazardous material teams that throughout the country now deal routinely with accidental chemical spills and leaks of all sorts. The Domestic Preparedness program assumed that the training relevant to handling a chemical release would be equally relevant to dealing with an epidemic resulting from the release of a microbe. The program has not gone well, and now, in a partial mid-course correction, the effort is being recast as a planning exercise to incorporate initiatives pertaining to the biological threat.