Washington - Terrorist organisations are likely to have developed the ability to use biological and chemical warfare, the White House Chief of Staff, Mr Andrew Card, said yesterday. "I'm not trying to be alarmist, but we know these terrorist organisations have probably found the means to use biological and chemical warfare," Mr Card said.
"Americans should be diligent," he advised, adding that the US government was working "to see that we have ongoing stockpiles of appropriate medication and immunisation products."
But the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Mr Joseph Biden, warned that the United States lacked the public health resources to deal with a massive outbreak of diseases such as anthrax and smallpox.
"We don't have the mechanisms in place to quickly corral and quarantine" people if a bioterrorist-led outbreak were to happen, he told NBC's Meet The Press.
"We've got to have plans to deal with these sorts of problems - and the sooner, the better."