ABSTRACT
In 1995, two incidents raised the specter of post-modern terrorism. First, on March 20, 1995, members of a nihilistic but well-financed cult-Aum Shinrikyo-released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, killing nine persons and injuring many others. Just weeks later, a disgruntled U.S. Army veteran-Timothy McVeigh-destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 persons. These two events prompted governments to take the issue of terrorism more seriously. For instance, the Anti-Terrorism Law of 1996 increased penalties for terrorism. Around this same time, then President Bill Clinton read Richard Preston’s novel Cobra Event, about a rogue scientist who genetically engineered a bio terror agent. Suddenly, there was greater awareness of the potential threat posed by weapons of mass destruction (WMD).2 As the new century approached, the specter of terrorists employing WMD seemed less and less far-fetched. By the late 1990s, nihilistic and apocalyptic individuals wanting to create or help others create mayhem were emerging. People who only years earlier would have been excluded from the WMD club were now making headlines as potential terrorists with these capabilities.
