NATO to finance water terrorism research

On 19 April 2007, the Israeli financial news organisation 'Globes' reported that NATO and the Israel Water Commission will finance an interdisciplinary research project by Technion - Israel Institute of Technology on protecting water supplies against biological and chemical terrorism. This is the first research project of its kind in Israel, and is in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax attacks in the US.

Globes reported that the project has a budget of $300,000 and is due to be completed at the end of 2008. It quoted one of the researchers, Prof. Israel Schechter of the Faculty of Chemistry, who said that

"After al-Qaida documents and plans were discovered in Afghanistan, the FBI warned that the organization was planning to attack water sources. It turns out that water dispersal systems in the US, Israel, and other developed countries in the world are completely exposed. They are outdoors, with no guards. The systems are large and numerous, and guards cannot be placed at all of them. An expert panel examined the issue and gave its recommendations to Congress, which allocated $608 million to solve the problem."

We have not yet found any further information on this research project, but as soon as we found additional materials it will be posted on this blog.