Agroterrorism A Growing Concern In DC

What’s being done to keep the American food supply safe and allow farmers to continue to produce the food and fiber the nation needs?  That was one of several topics discussed during a Senate hearing Wednesday.  General Richard Myers, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for President George W. Bush, was asked what currently keeps him up at night when concerned about national safety.

“Agroterrorism, bio agroterrorism, would do the same thing that terrorists today try to do, which is create fear in people’s minds, which gives them less confidence in their governance and political processes.  It could have devastating effects, it would go right down the list of things we were worried about right after 9/11.”

He added he’s concerned how attacks on our processing facilities could be relatively easy, since so few are guarded.  General Myers stressed that, like any form of terrorism, fighting and winning starts with intelligence.

"We do not have the number of subject matter experts with the right clearances at the right places to focus on this.  But as the Chairman [Sen. Pat Roberts] said, for the intelligence agencies, this is not something that keeps them up at night.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, Montana Republican Senator Steve Baines stressed that one small incident could have huge impacts for the global food supply chain.

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