Background:The global war on terrorism has prompted an increase in the deployment of security personnel from multi-national forces on foreign lands,especially in places where known terrorist groups are based.The aim o...Background:The global war on terrorism has prompted an increase in the deployment of security personnel from multi-national forces on foreign lands,especially in places where known terrorist groups are based.The aim of this study was to obtain U.S.military and security personnel's perceptions of the possibility of encountering a humanborne with bioagent(HBBA) terrorist at an entry control point(ECP).Methods:This study was a mixed-method,cross-sectional,survey-based,time-limited study.A validated,five-option Likert scale questionnaire with Cronbach's alphas of 0.82 and 0.894 for Constructs 1 and 2 was distributed to over 113 respondents with combat experience.Results:The results indicated that 92.3% of the respondents thought it was possible for a terrorist to employ a biological agent to cause terror; 61.5% claimed it was either possible or very possible,and 26.9% claimed it was somewhat possible for a terrorist carrying a biological agent to successfully breach a combat Forward Operating Bases(FOB) ECP undetected.26.9% of the respondents agreed that "ECP soldiers are knowledgeable about bioagents(BA)",only 15.4% responded that ECP soldiers have effective devices for detecting a BA on a terrorist at an ECP.Conclusion:Despite some limitations,this pre-study tends to indicate that while many U.S.military or security personnel acknowledge the possibility of an HBBA terrorist breach and the vulnerability of U.S.combat post ECPs to a BA breach,the soldiers at the ECPs lack adequate knowledge or devices to effectively detect a BA on a terrorist at an ECP.展开更多
文摘Background:The global war on terrorism has prompted an increase in the deployment of security personnel from multi-national forces on foreign lands,especially in places where known terrorist groups are based.The aim of this study was to obtain U.S.military and security personnel's perceptions of the possibility of encountering a humanborne with bioagent(HBBA) terrorist at an entry control point(ECP).Methods:This study was a mixed-method,cross-sectional,survey-based,time-limited study.A validated,five-option Likert scale questionnaire with Cronbach's alphas of 0.82 and 0.894 for Constructs 1 and 2 was distributed to over 113 respondents with combat experience.Results:The results indicated that 92.3% of the respondents thought it was possible for a terrorist to employ a biological agent to cause terror; 61.5% claimed it was either possible or very possible,and 26.9% claimed it was somewhat possible for a terrorist carrying a biological agent to successfully breach a combat Forward Operating Bases(FOB) ECP undetected.26.9% of the respondents agreed that "ECP soldiers are knowledgeable about bioagents(BA)",only 15.4% responded that ECP soldiers have effective devices for detecting a BA on a terrorist at an ECP.Conclusion:Despite some limitations,this pre-study tends to indicate that while many U.S.military or security personnel acknowledge the possibility of an HBBA terrorist breach and the vulnerability of U.S.combat post ECPs to a BA breach,the soldiers at the ECPs lack adequate knowledge or devices to effectively detect a BA on a terrorist at an ECP.
