...Sarin Revisited: Attacking America’s Mass Transit The following paper is a work of fiction for an academic exercise and in no way is meant to imply actual terrorist plans or intents. BACKGROUND: Sarin is one of the most lethal and effective nerve agents available. It can be used in liquid or gas forms, and it can kill within 1 to 10 minutes (CDC). Sarin is flexible and can be used to poison the air both indoors and outdoors, attached to an explosive, sprayed over crops or added to water supplies. Even those who happen to receive immediate medical attention will likely be permanently physically and or mentally handicapped (LaFranchi). Sarin would be an excellent addition to our organization’s stockpile as it can be used in a wide variety of situations across the globe with high effectiveness. ACQUISITION: Sarin gas has been declared illegal by the UN since the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 and it was declared a weapon of mass destruction by UN Resolution 687. As such, it is illegal for just about any state (who has signed onto the convention) to manufacture, own, stockpile or distribute sarin. While this may seem like it will complicate acquisition, there are currently sources to exploit where we already have control and/or influence. According to Woodward, Aum Shinrikyo was able to create a facility to produce sarin gas with only $30 million USD. This is a paltry sum now that we have allies and subgroups consolidating and commanding territories in Syria and Iraq...
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...HOW TO RECOGNIZE WHEN YOU ARE IN A CONTAMINATED AREA AND HOW TO PROTECT AND DECONTAMINATE YOURSELF Chemical warfare is a place where you do not want to be in ever in your life. It is a situation that I pray no one will ever have to be in during their lifetime. When I was in the Army, the last few months of my time was to teach soldiers that were on their way to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan about Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare. When you are in a situation where you have to protect yourself from NBC, you have less than two minutes to protect yourself. There will be no time to think about anything else but to make sure that you protect yourself properly. What I want to do is to teach the reader on how to recognize if they are and a contaminated area. Once they recognize they are and a contaminated area, I want the reader to know how to properly protect and decontaminate themselves after the ordeal is over. The two types of chemical weapons that will be discussed will be sulfur mustard, also known as mustard gas and nerve agents. They are the two most popular types of chemical agents that are used during chemical warfare. I urge the reader to be sure that they do everything right the first time when it comes to recognizing when they are in a contaminated area and they protect themselves from contamination. The way people in the military protect themselves from chemical agents will be different from the way civilians when the protect themselves. I will inform...
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...PMI Project of the Year Award The Umatilla facility was asked to safely destroy one of the largest stockpiles of U.S. chemical weapons inventory in the country. They were asked to complete the task by April 29, 2012. The world would be watching as the company took on this colossal assignment. Jackson II (n.d.) The Project Team Exhibited Exceptional and Ethical PM Practices There are five project management process groups and the Umatilla facility initiated each of these activities to achieve their goal. The process was initiated, planned, executed and monitored. Schwalbe (2011) To initiate the process the U.S. Army brought in the engineering firm of URS because they realized the extent of the risk that would have to be undertaken. Through the planning process, the team came up with a plan for the first phase which would be to package each nerve agent into different categories or “campaigns” whereas only the designated chemical could be incinerated. By executing this plan the risk would be reduced. This process would be executed over a designated span of months. Forming campaigns assisted the Umatilla factory in terms of safety because it helped them to know at all times what was being destroyed. Jackson II (n.d.) Obstacles that Could Adversely Impact the Triple Constraints One of the problems that URS faced was that even though they were able to recruit about 20 percent of employees who were to work on this problem from their current workforce, the majority of...
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