ABSTRACT
Assaults on the public health can have catastrophic consequences. The destruction of the water supply by the delivery of a toxic substance, the release of a chemical or bacteriological agent into the air, impacts many. Catastrophic health events, such as a terrorist attack with a weapon of mass destruction, or a naturally occurring pandemic, or a calamitous meteorological or geological event, likely would inflict death and destruction in incalculable numbers. These same events would undermine the economic and social fabric, weaken the infrastructure of defense, cause tens or hundreds of thousands of casualties or more, damage public morale and confidence, and threaten our national security. When one considers the draconian potentiality for a public health attack, it no longer seems folly to connect its prevention to the world of homeland defense.
