| This morning's news that the threats to bomb | | | | |
| various targets in Kissimmee, Florida and | | | | While government officials attempt to placate |
| Greater Osceola County are tied to the | | | | appropriately concerned citizens with the |
| discovery of actual bombs and bomb making | | | | platitude "it's too little to make a nuclear |
| materials proves yet again that the Kissimmee | | | | bomb", anybody who has put together a |
| and Osceola County are not as safe as many | | | | Thanksgiving dinner knows that if you can't |
| would have us and our county government | | | | get enough sweet potatoes at one store you |
| believe. Even more concerning is that much of | | | | just go to another. The terrorists are not |
| the critical equipment needed to respond to a | | | | stupid and little bit of weapons grade |
| Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, | | | | uranium here, a little bit more there and |
| Explosive (CBRNE) event are kept in Orlando. | | | | soon they have the critical mass to actually |
| This equipment, known as a "Push-Pack" is | | | | achieve critical mass. Then there is the |
| stored with other interagency response | | | | claim of the seller that the sample in his |
| equipment and may only be release with the | | | | possession represented a much larger |
| consent of Orange County's Emergency | | | | quantity. |
| Operations Center. | | | | |
| | | | Many security experts and almost every local |
| The purpose of a "Push-Pack" is to place | | | | disaster preparedness professional points to |
| equipment near areas where the need for such | | | | the fact that building a successful nuclear |
| equipment can reasonably be expected. Today's | | | | device is technically difficult. |
| announcement is further proof that Osceola | | | | Unfortunately, a first year undergraduate |
| County's equipment belongs in Osceola County. | | | | physics student in the 1980's proved that |
| | | | with minimal research it is possible to |
| Add to this yesterday's announcement of the | | | | design a viable nuclear explosive. If a |
| first confirmed attempt to sell weapons grade | | | | terrorist, foreign or domestic, were to |
| uranium. American officials attempted to | | | | attempt a nuclear detonation and fail, the |
| reassure the public by stating that the | | | | resultant dirty bomb would still cause as |
| amount of uranium offered for sale was less | | | | much havoc and hysteria as the actual |
| than that required to create a nuclear | | | | mushroom cloud. |
| warhead. It is of note that they did not | | | | |
| deny that this was in fact weapons grade | | | | The medical community and the emergency |
| uranium. | | | | management community throughout Central |
| | | | Florida needs to ramp-up their response |
| Intelligence officials, terrorist and | | | | capability, decentralize their resources |
| response experts, and those of us in the | | | | through strategic deployment of assets and |
| disaster medicine community have long feared | | | | move the level of preparedness into the 21st |
| the verification that weapons grade uranium | | | | century. |
| is available on the terrorist market. | | | | |