Page 119 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

C-Kushner.qxd 26-10-02 10:37 AM Page 93

Chesimard, Joanne (1947– )———93

on September 11 could conceivably be used to attack smaller quantities of chemical agents can still cause
a chemical facility near a large metropolitan area. If wide disruption as evidenced by the 1995 Tokyo
initial fires and explosions were not contained, they attacks. The anthrax letter attacks in the fall of 2001 in
could spread rapidly through the facility and cause the eastern U.S. caused effects far out of proportion to
catastrophic releases of toxic material. the size of the attacks or the casualties they produced;
In the absence of terrorist threats, traditional mea- this suggests that the release of chemical agents result-
sures of industrial efficiency usually lead industries to ing in even a few deaths or injuries in any large met-
build large plants to obtain economies of scale. Such ropolitan area subway system would cause a chain
plants are usually located near population centers that reaction of events that would slow and disrupt com-
can provide the thousands of employees needed to merce and other activities, further taxing already
operate them. The September 11 terrorist attacks on strained roadways and key transportation nodes.
the United States may force planners and risk man- -
See also AUM SHINRIKYO; BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM; TOKYO
agers to reconsider the benefits of scale and location
SUBWAY SARIN ATTACK; WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
in light of the potential costs. An insurer, for example,
may be reluctant to provide liability coverage to a Further Reading
large chemical facility near a metropolitan area if the
probability of a major release of toxic material must Alexander, Yonah, and Milton M. Hoenig, eds. Super
be recalculated to take a possible terrorist attack into Terrorism: Biological, Chemical, and Nuclear. New York:
account. Transnational, 2001.
Harris, Robert, and Jeremy Paxman. A Higher Form of
Water supplies would be difficult to attack at their
Killing: The Secret Story of Chemical and Biological
sources because the immense volumes of water in
Warfare. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.
reservoirs would dilute a relatively small quantity of
Homer-Dixon, Thomas. “The Rise of Complex Terrorism.”
agent to the point that it was almost undetectable.
Foreign Policy, January/February, 2002.
(Most water supplies already contain minute quantities Perrow, Charles. Normal Accidents: Living With High Risk
of materials that would be toxic at higher con- Technologies. New York: Basic Books, 1984.
centrations.) Underground aquifers are not readily Stimson Center Chemical and Biological Weapons Non-
accessible. Smaller quantities of water such as supplies proliferation Project. http://www.stimson.org/cwc.
contained in rooftop water tanks on many large city
buildings might be easier to attack and yield more
immediate results, but they would not cause large CHESIMARD, JOANNE (1947– )
numbers of casualties. On the other hand, even a small
aka Assata Shakur
attack on water supplies would generate panic and dis-
ruption. Nevertheless, most terrorists might prefer to
focus on targets that are easier to attack and whose fail- African American revolutionary and writer Joanne
ure would have wide repercussions, such as electric Chesimard was once the leader of the Black Liberation
power generation stations serving metropolitan areas. Army (BLA), a violent offshoot of the Black Panther
Food supplies are also subject to attack by chemi- Party. She has been living in Cuba since 1986 when
cal terrorists. Contamination of animal feedstocks and she escaped from the prison where she was serving a
other grain supplies with chemical carcinogens would sentence for murder.
lead to the disruption of food supply chains and Raised primarily by her grandparents in North
produce economic disorder and panicked reactions Carolina, Chesimard moved to Queens, New York,
far out of proportion to the actual amount of damage. when she was a teenager to live with her mother and
Food supplies would have to be tested over a long stepfather. As a young adult, Chesimard developed
period to ensure that they were safe. strong political convictions that led to her participa-
What is the probable future of chemical terrorism? tion in the black liberation movement and eventually
It is not very likely that terrorists can make or dispense to her membership in the Black Panther Party in 1970.
the large quantities of chemicals needed to cause mass Around that time, she assumed the name Assata
casualties. Nor are they likely to have access to the Shakur.
weapon delivery platforms (artillery, aircraft, missiles) Between 1971 and 1973, Chesimard’s involvement
available to organized military units. But attacks with with the BLA became widely known, as did the various