AMERICA THE VULNERABLE

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Even before the U.S. went to war in the gulf, the CIA was eyeing the bioweapons threat apprehensively. In a now declassified study sent to the White House in September 1990, the agency warned that Iraq could use "special forces, civilian-government agents or foreign terrorists to hand-deliver biological or chemical agents clandestinely." Saddam would hardly produce such weapons if he never intended to use them. And when might he unleash them? The CIA thought it would be when he felt his survival was in danger. "He would want to take as many of his enemies with him as he could," the agency predicted.

In an interview with TIME last week, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz brushed off any suggestion that his government might engage in terror attacks. "No," he said, "we are not in the business of terrorism. You know that." But then he went on to speculate that various groups might sympathize with Iraq's plight and strike on their own. "There are," Aziz said, "people in other countries who are not satisfied with the situation about Iraq. If a military attack is waged against Iraq, that will increase the resentment against the Americans, and more people would be in that mood."

If such attacks do come, they will find the U.S. largely unprepared. In 1996 Congress passed the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, which called for government action to block assaults on U.S. territory and help for local governments to prepare to deal with them. The Pentagon is beginning to work on better detectors, masks, filtration systems and vaccines. The Army and Marine Corps have created special task forces to respond to germ or gas threats. But earlier this year President Clinton reported to Congress that local authorities are not properly trained. In fact, he said, the first police and paramedics on the scene were likely to become casualties themselves. Antidotes and other medical supplies should be stockpiled around the country, but so far they are not.

New York City was getting with the program last week, trying to face up to the danger. The city has spent millions for training and equipment since the World Trade Center bombing, much of it from grants provided by the Defense Department, which paid for the VX exercise. Even so, some experts are unimpressed. "The New York region," says Isaac Yeffet, former head of security for El Al, the Israeli airline, "is no better prepared for a terrorist attack today than it was before the World Trade Center bombing." Building security is very poor, and "the airports are still wide open." Police commissioner Howard Safir agrees about the airports. "The airlines are responsible for their own security," Safir says, "and that is wrong. If you hire $5-an-hour security guards, you get $5 security."

In Washington the emphasis is on perimeter security: more guards, better fences, metal detectors, no-parking zones around key buildings. At the CIA there is a big, new guardhouse outside the gate. The agency has also beefed up what is probably the most effective line of defense, its efforts to gather every sort of intelligence to pinpoint terrorist plots before they can be carried out. The Counter Terrorism Center, run by the CIA and FBI, has been expanded and put on round-the-clock operation.