HR 5057 Introduced

Last week Rep. King (R, NY) introduced HR 5057, the WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2010, but the GPO version of the bill just became available yesterday. Since this bill was being aimed at preventing terrorists from using weapons of mass destruction in attacks on the United States, I was hoping that this bill would address the issue of chemical weapons and attacks on chemical facilities as a cheap and ready form of employing chemical weapons in attacks on the homeland. Too bad. As is usual with recent WMD concerns in Washington, this bill focuses on almost completely on bio-terror weapons and just briefly touches on preventing nuclear WMD. The word ‘chemical’ is used a couple of times in the bill, but never substantively. I don’t understand the politicians’ concern with weapons that are inherently difficult to develop and deploy while ignoring potential WMD attacks that can be affected by a couple of crazies armed with AK-47s or RPGs. I will watch this bill, just in case someone decides to add provisions to deal with the more likely chemical threat.