Agroterrorism is a threat usually not considered when thinking of conventional terrorism, but John Frank, weapons of mass destruction coordinator for the Mobile field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in his talk Monday evening in the Haley Center that it is something of which the community should be aware.
"Agroterrorism is a very big topic because if you think about the (agricultural) industry it covers a huge span of things," Frank said. "It's not just about animals; it's not just about crops. It's much bigger than that."
Frank said although the food sector is not a likely target for terrorism, access to it would be easy.
"I'll tell you, the threat is really not that high at this point in time primarily because terrorists are looking for a big bang for their buck, meaning they would rather cause mass hysteria and death very quickly through the use of explosive devices more than anything else."
However, acts of agroterrorism, such as spreading a crop disease, can be relatively easy.
"You could go out there and walk through a field that is contaminated and get back on a plane to the United States and go out to another farm field here, and you just spread that disease to other farms," Frank said. "With the potential targets we use the term from farm to fork, so anywhere between there is a target: the trucking industry, shipping industry, crops, livestock and restaurants."
Frank said identifying agroterrorism is difficult because it is usually a lengthy process to determine whether an outbreak is natural or man-made.
Staci Degeer, graduate student in meat science, organized Frank's talk.
"What I was gearing it to is, when I was doing my undergraduate and master's at (Kansas) State, we had an FBI agent come in and he talked a lot about foot and mouth disease," Degeer said. "It travels by air and if someone were to come in and intentionally contaminate a beef herd in Kansas, depending on the wind direction and speed, it could wipe out half the beef, cattle and hog population in the Unites States."
With 56 WMD coordinators across the country, Frank said he is the contact point for the FBI in his district regading WMD incidents.
"Whether state or local agencies, even the private sector, we get involved with special events such as the Super Bowl or Mardi Gras," Frank said. "Anything you can think of-there's a good chance the FBI will have a presence there."
Frank said although terrorism overseas is not typically thought of as engaging in agroterrorism, the evidence suggests otherwise.
"It is accepted within certain terrorist organizations in their mindsets," Frank said. "In 2002, Operation Enduring Freedom recovered a lot of documents overseas that showed their interest in using toxins and biological agents not only against humans, but against animals and crops and food supplies. They have the interest and the desire to do it and they know what they're talking about."
Stopping agroterrorism is difficult, Frank said, but education is a step closer.
"We've got to educate ourselves about the threats and we've got to work together as a team to deal with the threats," Frank said. "Know who your points of contact are, whether it be the CDC or FDA, and if you see something say something."
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