Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (2008) - The Black Vault

Medical Aspects of Chemical WarfareTokyo, where three judges were hearing a real estatelawsuit against the cult. The decision seemed likelyto go against the Aum, who then decided to murderthe judges. Using a modified refrigeration truck thatheld a heater, an electric fan, and 30 kilograms ofsarin, the assassination team arrived at the courthousetoo late to intercept the judges. They traveled to thejudges’ living quarters, an apartment complex, andreleased the sarin near midnight, spreading a cloudof agent over a 500 by 100-yd area. Seven peoplewere killed and 144, including the three judges, wereinjured. 44,45In March 1995 the Japanese police planned to raidAum’s major facilities. In an attempt to disrupt theraid, cult leaders decided to attack the Tokyo subway,focusing on subway stations that served key governmentagencies, including the national police agency.Five teams of two cult members boarded three majorlines of the subway, each with two polyethylene bagsof 600 g of sarin sealed inside a second bag. Once onboard the trains, the terrorists punctured the bags withumbrellas and quickly left. As the sarin evaporated,passengers at more than 15 subway stations wereexposed. Twelve people died, 54 were in critical condition,and about 900 required hospitalization (includingabout 135 emergency responders). More than 5,500“worried well” individuals stormed to the hospitals,demanding screening and treatments. 46Two HCN attacks followed the Tokyo subwayincident in an attempt to cause further panic. Cultmembers also attempted to mix bags containing sulfuricacid and NaCN to release HCN gas in a subwayrestroom. Over a period of 5 years, the Aum probablyattempted to release chemical agent 17 times, includingsquirting VX and phosgene through keyholes andmail slots. 47,48When police finally raided the cult’s chemical agentfacility at Kamikuishiki, near Mount Fuji, they foundextensive amounts of agent precursors, includingaround 500 drums of the sarin ingredient phosphorustrichloride, several forklift pallets of sodium fluoride,and isopropyl alcohol. Other chemicals included 34large containers of acetonitrile, cyanide compounds,and even atropine. Ultimately, around 150 tons ofabout 40 compounds were reported to have beenfound, enough to yield 50 tons of sarin. Furthermore,the Kamikuishiki facility may have been capable ofmanufacturing tabun. The Aum reportedly investedaround $10 million to $30 million toward the developmentof a large-scale sarin manufacturing facility andhad tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit Russian chemicalweapons engineers in the fall of 1994. The building waswell-equipped with state-of-the-art components fromcommercial sources to produce thousands of kilogramsof agent per year. 49There may have been plans for cultists to bring sarininto the United States for attacks on Disney World;New York, New York; and Washington, DC. Investigationsand hearings on the Aum Shinrikyo incidentled directly to the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Act (withinPublic Law 104-210, National Defense AuthorizationAct for FY 1997, dated September 23, 1997 50 ). This actdirected the DoD to initiate a domestic preparednessprogram that included training the emergency respondersof 120 major cities, creating a rapid responseforce, and developing an emergency hotline and anonemergency “helpline,” among other initiatives. TheFBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agencyformalized Presidential Decision Directive 39, issuedin June 1995, which outlined federal counterterrorismplans, and created a terrorism annex in the FederalResponse Plan in 1997.The Aum cult was short lived but enormously successful.51 Immensely wealthy (contributions reportedlyreached $1.4 billion, 52 Aum Shinrikyo was alsowell networked, owned extensive property, and hadeven won the confidence of the head of Russia’s nationalsecurity council. The group had bought accessto Russian television and radio, purchased small armsand a retired Russian military helicopter, sought bothweapons training and technology, and maintainedoffices around the world. If its leadership had beenless impetuous and aggressive, the group might havedeveloped a functional biological weapons capabilityand a better chemical agent capability. The Aum waspoised to evolve into a global menace.Cyanide Plot Against the US Embassy, Italy (2002)In March of 2002 Italian authorities arrested a groupof suspected terrorists, most of them Moroccans, apparentlyplotting to attack the US Embassy in Rome.The group had about 9 lb of potassium-ferrocyanide,a compound used in agriculture, and some explosivepowder possibly intended to create the heat necessaryto release the cyanide. They were said to possessmaps of water pipes leading to the Embassy, althoughpotassium-ferrocyanide will only release cyanide whentreated with acid and high temperatures, does notreadily permeate tissue cells, and was not expected tohave caused significant toxicity if directly applied tothe water system. 53William Krar (2003)In April 2003 federal and state law enforcementagents raided the Noonday, Texas, home and storageunits of William Krar and his common-law wife, Judith128