U.S. remains "dangerously vulnerable" to attack chemical, biological and nuclear seven years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, concluded an independent study to spread on Wednesday. And a report from legislators Democrats in the House of Representatives said that the government of George W. Bush has squandered an opportunity after another to improve national security.
The recent political rupture between the U.S. and Russia only serves to aggravate the situation, said Lee Hamilton, former Indiana Democratic legislator who helped lead the Commission on September 11 and now chairs the independent study group.
Efforts to reduce access to nuclear technology and materials to manufacture bombs have fallen, thousands of chemical plants in the United States remain unprotected, and the U.S. government remains opposed to an international treaty to prevent bioterrorism, according to the report produced extrapartidario by the group Partnership for a Secure americas (Society for a U.S. insurance).
The group includes members of the Commission desbandada of September 11, the independent panel that investigated the government failures before the terrorist attacks of 2001 to the United States.
"The threat of a new major terrorist attack in U.S. remains very real," concludes the report which will be broadcast on Wednesday, the day when a committee of Congress ventilation a hearing in New York on nuclear and biological terrorist threats.
"A nuclear weapon, chemical or biological into the hands of terrorists, remains the greatest threat to our nation," says the report. "Although progress has been made to control these weapons and materials, we remain dangerously vulnerable."
The Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, have strongly criticized the efforts of the Bush administration. His report, written by the staff of the committees of foreign affairs and internal security of the lower house, found little or no progress on national security.
