Hitting America's soft underbelly : the potential threat of deliberate biological attacks against the U.S. agricultural and food industry

Assesses the vulnerabilities of the agricultural sector and the food chain to a deliberate act of biological terrorism and explores the likely outcomes of a successful attack. Over the past decade, the United States has endeavoured to increase its ability to detect, prevent and respond to terrorist threats and incidents. The agriculture sector and the food industry in general, however, have received comparatively little attention with respect to protection against terrorist incidents. This study aims to expand the current debate on domestic homeland security by assessing the vulnerabilities of the agricultural sector and the food chain to a deliberate act of biological terrorism and exploring the likely outcomes of a successful attack.