A new study by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government reveals that al Qaeda agents went to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario during their search for nuclear and biological weapons.  According to the study’s author, known operatives Adnan el-Shukrijumah, Abderraouf Ben-Habib Jdey and Zacharias Moussaoui  were at the University in 2001. Mr. Shukrijumah and Mr. Jdey are still at large.  Moussaoui is serving a life sentence without parole at the Federal Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado for plotting “to murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.”

The study provides a glimpse into al Qaeda’s search for the world’s most destructive weapons.  As the author notes, “Organizing a coherent strategy to prevent this nightmare from occurring begins with a clear recognition that WMD terrorism is a real and imminent threat.”  McMaster University has filed a $2 million defamation suit against the study’s author.

Click here to see the study.

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A bipartisan Congressional commission has given the Obama Administration an “F” for its efforts to prevent biological terrorism.  “The clock is ticking and time is running out,” the Commission reported.  “We are not where we need to be…our major metropolitan areas are not prepared.”  Congress established the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism two years ago.  Led by former Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO), its creation was one of the recommendations from the 9/11 Commission.  According to the newly released report, the Administration must stop acting as if the problem is too hard to fix.

The Commission’s most recent findings are eerily similar to the government’s failure to stockpile KI, and the danger to the American public is just as great. What will it take for Congress and the Administration to wake up?

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Yesterday evening, during his State of the Union Address, President Obama called for the construction of a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants.  His request echoed similar statements by top Administration officials, including Carol Browner, the Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy.  The number of facilities being proposed is not yet known.  Currently, there are 104 plants in the country.  The co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, former governor Christine Todd Whitman, has suggested the number could be as high as 32.

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Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked President Obama to revisit the Bush administration’s decision to ignore a 2002 law requiring that the inexpensive and highly effective anti-radiation drug potassium iodide (KI) be provided to all communities living within 20 miles of our nation’s 104 nuclear power plants.

“We need to be fully prepared for any type of nuclear emergency,” said Rep. Markey. “Potassium iodide is a simple, cheap, proven drug that can save lives in the event of a radiological release. Without it, millions of Americans are needlessly at risk in the event of a terrorist attack or a serious accident at a nuclear reactor.”

“The Bush White House – intent on politicizing every scientific decision possible – ignored the will of Congress, the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, and the findings of its own Health and Human Services Secretary,” Rep. Markey continued.  “Instead, President Bush chose to deny communities free access to this potentially life-saving drug.  I urge President Obama to fulfill his legal and moral obligation by reversing this decision and providing those living within 20 miles of nuclear reactors the protection they deserve.”

For a copy of the Markey letter, click here.

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