Minh A. Luong, assistant director of international security studies at Yale University and a consultant on terror-related threats, told United Press International the biggest risks are food safety, biological or chemical attacks, sniper attacks and cyberattacks -- in that order.

Luong said food safety is a big vulnerability for the United States, especially when compounded with the fact that the nation imports so much food.

"The FDA was given approval for more inspectors and analysts, but there's no coordination with foreign food suppliers and it's hard to inspect all containers," he said. "The goal of terrorism is to get people worried. It can be very random. Terrorists only have to tamper with one container on a cargo ship."

In recent food incidents, the blame was placed on Chinese producers out to make money, which resulted in negligence, Luong said.

"But people aren't making the connection between terrorism and the food supply."

Like agro-terrorism, sniper and cyberattacks require just a few people with malicious intent. Companies aren't generally motivated to invest in cybersecurity, especially in an economic downturn, but a hit on a major financial institution could cause a loss of trust in the financial system, Luong said.

Biological and chemical attacks have been on the national security radar for some time, but they pose a big threat because the type of pathogen used determines much about how to respond and this won't be known immediately, Luong said.

John Wohlstetter, senior fellow of technology an democracy with the Discovery Institute in Washington, is less concerned about food safety but said we have to keep inspecting regularly, and he identified water supplies and the Internet as vulnerable.

Wohlstetter mostly worries about the Internet spreading fanaticism because it "vastly empowers charismatics, by amplifying their emotional intensity and giving them global reach" to the online Islamic community.

But in assessing these threats, he said: "It's difficult to assign probabilities."

For Wohlstetter, the worst-case containment scenario is a radiological bomb detonating in a large city.

While blast damage would be minimal -- limited to a block or two -- radioactive material is dispersed, Wohlstetter explained.

"With the potential for panic, more could die in what comes afterward than in the bomb explosion. Sensationalist news reports and the Internet sow panic among people for whom radiation is automatically presumed highly toxic," he said. This could lead to traffic accidents, extreme anxiety attacks and possibly even looting as disorder spreads. A similar scenario could enfold if a bio-pathogen was spread.

A nuclear explosion is the worst case by far or, down the road, a super-pathogen, said Wohlstetter.

Fortunately, obtaining nuclear material is quite difficult because facilities are well secured and the material is difficult to transport. Further, nukes that may have been on the loose in the 1990s aren't a danger now since the plutonium has decayed.

"Terror groups would essentially require the support of a state to develop a nuclear bomb," Wohlstetter said, but he cautioned: "Every dollar spent to deter is worthwhile."

As Wohlstetter argues in his recent book "The Long War Ahead and the Short War Upon Us," prevention is critical.

"One nuclear attack would scar us permanently."

The United States has applied lessons from recent disasters to its response plans. The National Response Framework became effective on March 22. It builds upon and expands on the National Response Plan, said Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.

"The NRF gives all players, such as government officials and emergency responders, a very straight-forward guide for coordination," Kudwa said. "It's not written inside the Beltway."

"There's lots of feedback from people who'll use it."

She said it takes a bottom-up approach and recognizes that most incidents are handled locally.

Looking at one city's disaster preparation, Seattle's Emergency Response Director Barb Graff told UPI: "Emergencies always land somewhere locally, so response and recovery begin at the local level, are supplemented through State assistance, and supported by federal assets."

For Seattle, a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake or a Seattle Fault scenario are the biggest natural hazards, said Graff. The region was reminded of this with the 2001 Nisqually earthquake that registered 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale.

"The world is also ripe for another 1918 version of a pandemic," she said, "and in the case of a pandemic, not much is expected from the feds."

Seattle is considered a likely target for terrorism and has conducted a number of terror attack drills in recent years, including an explosion of a major highway through the city, a marine terrorism exercise testing operational coordination among many agencies and a federally sponsored exercise focusing on the use of a radiological dispersion device, said Graff.

When it comes to public awareness, Wohlstetter has advocated public information ads on TV featuring celebrities or former presidents from opposing political parties to alert people to possible threats.

Luong suggests a subtler and more diversified approach -- using various media -- because, for one, Americans might tune out the message if they're barraged. And with limited airtime for public service messages, it's difficult to decide how specific to get.

DHS launched an awareness campaign in 2003 called Ready America that aims to increase emergency preparedness through its Web site and a partnership with the National Ad Council that emphasizes knowing local disaster risks and developing a family disaster plan.

Luong said he thinks the campaign is a good way to prepare Americans for any kind of disaster. The toughest part of the terror battle in the United States is complacency because Sept. 11, 2001, is now a distant memory and there's war and terror fatigue, he said. Cynicism has also set in, he added.

"Awareness has now been politicized. There's an identifiable group of people that says it's fear-mongering."

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