The possibility of a human-borne with bioagent terrorist at foreign Forward Operating Bases entry control point: the perceptions of U.S. military or security personnel, a preliminary report

George Edafese Alakpa; John W. Collins Jr

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

The possibility of a human-borne with bioagent terrorist at foreign Forward Operating Bases entry control point: the perceptions of U.S. military or security personnel, a preliminary report

RESEARCH | Updated：2026-03-12

- The possibility of a human-borne with bioagent terrorist at foreign Forward Operating Bases entry control point: the perceptions of U.S. military or security personnel, a preliminary report
- Military Medical Research Vol. 3, Issue 1, Pages: 22-27(2016)
- Affiliations：
  
  Department of Professional Security Studies, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ, USA
- Author bio：
  
  *: edafe05@gmail.com
- Funds：
- DOI：
  CLC：
- Published：2016-03
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
George Edafese Alakpa, John W. Collins Jr. The possibility of a human-borne with bioagent terrorist at foreign Forward Operating Bases entry control point: the perceptions of U.S. military or security personnel, a preliminary report[J]. Military Medical Research, 2016, 3(1): 22-27.
DOI：

George Edafese Alakpa, John W. Collins Jr. The possibility of a human-borne with bioagent terrorist at foreign Forward Operating Bases entry control point: the perceptions of U.S. military or security personnel, a preliminary report[J]. Military Medical Research, 2016, 3(1): 22-27. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

Background:

The global war on terrorism has prompted an increase in the deployment of security personnel from multi-national forces on foreign lands

especially in places where known terrorist groups are based. The aim of this study was to obtain U.S. military and security personnel’s perceptions of the possibility of encountering a human-borne with bioagent (HBBA) terrorist at an entry control point (ECP).

Methods:

This study was a mixed-method

cross-sectional

survey-based

time-limited study. A validated

five-option Likert scale questionnaire with Cronbach’s alphas of 0.82 and 0.894 for Constructs 1 and 2 was distributed to over 113 respondents with combat experience.

Results:

The results indicated that 92.3% of the respondents thought it was possible for a terrorist to employ a biological agent to cause terror; 61.5% claimed it was either possible or very possible

and 26.9% claimed it was somewhat possible for a terrorist carrying a biological agent to successfully breach a combat Forward Operating Bases (FOB) ECP undetected. 26.9% of the respondents agreed that "ECP soldiers are knowledgeable about bioagents (BA)"

only 15.4% responded that ECP soldiers have effective devices for detecting a BA on a terrorist at an ECP.

Conclusion:

Despite some limitations

this pre-study tends to indicate that while many U.S. military or security personnel acknowledge the possibility of an HBBA terrorist breach and the vulnerability of U.S. combat post ECPs to a BA breach

the soldiers at the ECPs lack adequate knowledge or devices to effectively detect a BA on a terrorist at an ECP.

关键词

Keywords

references

Department of Defense . DoD Base Structure Report Fiscal Year 2010 Baseline (A summary of DoD’s Real Property Inventory) , 2010 . www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/bsr/bsr2010baseline.pdf www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/bsr/bsr2010baseline.pdf . Accessed on 6 June 2013 .

Cobb DR . Op-Ed: American – The Real Lord of War. Digital J. 2012; http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317549 http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317549 . Accessed 10 February 2013 .

Ashford DA , Kaiser RM , Bales ME , Shutt K , Patrawalla A , McShan A , et al . Planning against biological terrorism: lessons from outbreak investigations . Emerg Infect Dis . 2003 ; 9 : 515 - 9 .

Kostadinov R , Galabova A. Bioterrorism . History and threat assessment . In: Tonev S , Kanev K , Dishovsky C , editors . Medical management of chemical and biological casualties, J Med Chem Bio Radiol Defense , vol. 8 . 2010 . p. 295 – 303 .

Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) . Bureau of emergency preparedness & response: History of biowarfare and bioterrorism 2005 . http://azdhs.gov/phs/edc/edrp/es/bthistor2.htm http://azdhs.gov/phs/edc/edrp/es/bthistor2.htm . Accessed 7 June 2012 .

Lim DV , Simpson JM , Kearns EA , Kramer MF . Current and developing technologies for monitoring agents of bioterrorism and biowarfare . Clin Microbiol Rev . 2005 ; 18 : 583 - 607 .

Phillips MB . Bioterrorism: A brief history. In focus on bioterrorism 2005 . Northeast Florida Med . 2005 ; 56 : 32 - 5 . https://www.dcmsonline.org/jax-medicine/2005journals/bioterrorism/bioterrorism_history.pdf https://www.dcmsonline.org/jax-medicine/2005journals/bioterrorism/bioterrorism_history.pdf . Accessed 7 June 2012 .

Galamas F . Profile bioterrorism: Present and potential threats . Comparative Strategy . 2011 ; 30 : 70 - 93 . doi: 10.1080/0149533.2011.545689 http://doi.org/10.1080/0149533.2011.545689 .

Dembek ZF , Pavlin MD , Kortepeter MG . Epidemiology of biowarfare and bioterrorism . In: Dembek ZF , editor . Textbook of military medicine: Medical aspects of biological warfare . Washington, DC : Published by the Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army. A TMM Publications, Borden Institute, Walter Reed Army Medical Center ; 2007 . p. 39 - 68 .

Tucker JB . Historical trends related to bioterrorism an empirical analysis . Emerg Infect Dis . 1999 ; 5 : 498 - 504 .

Dudley JP . Tularemia: A case study in medical surveillance and bioterrorism preparedness . J Med Chem Bio Radiol Defense . 2010 ; 8 : 17 . www.jmedcbr.org/issue_0801/Dudley_09_10.pdf. Accessed 3 July 2012 .

Bresnahan J , Gibson G . Letter sent to Roger Wicker tests positive for ricin . Politico . 2013 . http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=57E009CF-BEEF-4CB5-8DDD-2D70A68D9 http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=57E009CF-BEEF-4CB5-8DDD-2D70A68D9 . Accessed 16 April 2013 .

Maglio T . Walking dead, vampires diaries actress arrested in obama-bloomberg ricin case . WRAP . 2013 . http://tv.yahoo.com/news/walking-dead-vampiresdiaries-actres-actress-arrested-obama-bloomber http://tv.yahoo.com/news/walking-dead-vampiresdiaries-actres-actress-arrested-obama-bloomber . Accessed 16 April 2013 .

Martin JW , Christopher GW , Eitzen EM . History of biological weapons: from poisoned darts to intentional epidemics . In: Dembek ZF , editor . Medical aspects of biological warfare, Martin JW, Christopher GW, Eitzen EM . Washington, DC : A TMM Publications, Borden Institute, Walter Reed Army Medical Center ; 2007 . p. 1 - 20 .

Lynch DM . The cost of amnesty: they come to America II film . Distributed by TV36 OLLC . 2013 .

Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) . Jihadi Chatter Online, Including on Social Media, About Using Ebola, Poisons As Weapon Against the U.S. and the West” . Special Dispatch No 5854, of October 03, 2014 . hppt://www.memri.org/report/en/print8171.htm hppt://www.memri.org/report/en/print8171.htm . Accessed 23 October 2014 .

Mease LE , Baker KA . Monkey bites among US military members, Afghanistan, 2011 . Emerg Infect Dis . 2012 ; 18 : 1647 - 9 .

Aerssens A , Vos DD , Pirnay J , Yansouni C , Clerinx J , Gompel AV , et al . Schistosomiasis in Belgian military personnel returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo . Mil Med . 2011 ; 176 : 1341 - 6 .

Chretien J , Blazes DL , Coldren RL , Lewis MD , Gaywee J , Kana K , et al . The importance of militaries from developing countries in global infectious disease surveillance . Bull World Health Orga . 2007 ; 85 : 174 - 80 . www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/3/06-037101.pdf. Accessed July 23 2013 .

Alakpa GEU . Perceptions of military personnel: Analysis of the department of defense’s counter bioterrorism measures at the tactical level for the enhancement of civil security leadership, management, and Policy . New Jersey USA : Doctor of Science Dissertation, New Jersey City University ; 2015 . p. pp186 .

Beaumier MC , Gomez-Rubio AM , Hotez PJ , Weina PJ . Unites States military tropical medicine: extraordinary legacy, uncertain Future . PLoS Negl Trop Dis . 2013 ; 7 : e2448 . doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002448 http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002448 .

Vento TJ , Cole DW , Mende K , Calvano TP , Rini EA , Tully CC , et al . Multiple-resistant gram-negative bacteria colonization of health US military personnel the US and Afghanistan . BMC Infect Dis . 2013 ; 13 : 68 . doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-13-68 http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-13-68 .

Schmaljohn CS , Smith LA , Friedlander AM . Military vaccines in today’s environment . Hum Vaccin Immunother . 2012 ; 8 : 1126 - 8 . http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.20503 http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.20503 . Accessed 21 June 2013 .

Alakpa GEU . Possibility of human with a bioagent breaching a country’s point of entry: perceptions of security officers at the Murtala Muhammad International (MMI) Airport, Lagos, Nigeria-Preliminary report . EC Microbiol . 2015 ; 4 : 195 - 202 .

Hylton WS . How ready are we for bioterrorism? The New York Times , October 26, 2011 . (Reprint) . http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/how-ready-are-we-for-bioterrorism.html? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/how-ready-are-we-for-bioterrorism.html? Accessed 17 July 2012 .

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . Press release. CDC and Texas Health Department confirm first ebola case diagnosed in the U.S . http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s903-ebola-confirmed-case.html http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s903-ebola-confirmed-case.html . Accessed 30 September 2014 .

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

The effectiveness of the department of defense’s field manual 3-11 in detecting, deterring and degrading the breach of a combat base by a human-borne with bioagent (HBBA): perceptions of security personnel

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰