the logic of developing weapons and, eventually us[ing] these weapons in terrorist acts, then biological weapons could be undetected. A person or group of people who use it can escape from a place of appl[ication], even from a country of application, undetected. In my opinion, biological agents and biological weapons are very terrifying weapons ... we don't have a capability to detect these weapons before they're applied, before they're used. They're very attractive for possible application, they're not very expensive and [they're] relatively easy to manufacture.What would happen to New York City, for instance, if a smallpox attack happened?It might be a full destruction of any vital activity. A lot of dead people. Full paralysis of medical system. Huge panic. People would try to escape from the city. And because they're contagious, they would form new foci of epidemics around. We would see a fast developing epidemic.Could the Aum Shinrikyo have been successful in the use of biological weapons? How close did they come and what are the effects of the existence of such a group and what they tried to do?In my opinion, ... it was just a matter of time that this group (I mean Aum Shinrikyo group) [became] successful. Because after each application you learn what was done incorrectly. Eventually you come to a right decision [about] how to apply effectively. For example, if this knowledge becomes common knowledge for some other groups, they would study what was done incorrectly. For them it was a new starting point, because they wouldn't do anything that was done incorrectly by Aum Shinrikyo ... year by year, these groups would get more information [on] how to use these weapons more effectively. The problem is that the 21st century is the century of information technologies and biotechnology. More people and more countries will get knowledge by technology. But when a level of general biotechnology becomes high, it's [said] that the level of s...
