Bjerklie, D., Gorman, C., & Park, A. (2001). DIAGNOSING THE RISKS. Time, 158(16), 42.

Ever since the attacks of 9/11 on the World Trade Center, Americans have been very weary as to when another attack would take place. The people were most worried about the threat of a massive-scale chemical or biological attack. However, experts fear more frequent smaller-scale attacks. Smallpox is an example of a posing threat because many people in the US are not vaccinated and it can spread very quickly. As soon as the public knew about it, Anthrax had put fear into many people’s heads with the threat of it being spread from planes above. Many people also were scared that terrorists may do something to our livestock, in turn seeping into our food supply. Since the early 1950’s and 1960’s, the threat of nuclear attack has been looming over all of our heads. A few other threats that could make their way onto American soil would be contamination of dams and water reservoirs, an outbreak of Sarin or E. Coli, or the explosion of IED’s or roadside bombs.

I feel the Author made very good points on how possible these attacks are. He acknowledged many real fears that Americans had about terrorism and then questioned the reality or possibility of theses coming true. Even though technology is changing every day, and new innovations in weaponry  pose great threats to our society as a whole, our minds get so wrapped up on the possibilities that we sometimes overlook the current reality of certain technology.