[.ca] Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert ... (ISBN 0385334966)

From Amazon.com:
In this fast-paced memoir, Ken Alibek combines cutting-edge science with the narrative techniques of a thriller to describe some of the most awful weapons imaginable. The result will remind readers of The Hot Zone, Richard Preston's smart bestseller about the Ebola virus. That book focuses on the dangers of a freak accident; Biohazard shows how disease can become a deliberate tool of war. Alibek, once a top scientist in the Soviet Union's biological weapons program, describes putting anthrax on a warhead and targeting a city on the other side of the world. "A hundred kilograms of anthrax spores would, in optimal atmospheric conditions, kill up to three million people in any of the densely populated metropolitan areas of the United States," he writes. "A single SS-18 \omissile\c could wipe out the population of a city as large as New York." Chilling passages like these, plus discussions of proliferation and terrorism, make Biohazard a harrowing book, but it also has a human side. Alibek, who defected to the United States, describes the routine danger of his work: "A bioweapons lab leaves its mark on a person forever." An unending stream of vaccinations has destroyed his sense of smell, afflicted him with allergies, made it impossible to eat certain kinds of food, and "weakened my resistance to disease and probably shortened my life." But it didn't take away his ability to tell an astonishing story. --John J. Miller

Could this book be a hoax?:
I might be wrong but I think this book is an hoax. I do not doubt that the Soviets had a biowarfare program and that they were good at it. I also believe that the program has killed innocent people. I just don't believe Ken Alibek's story. The book is written for maximum shock, not for maximum information. It starts with the "in your face" dust jacket. The book is peppered with the "toxins du jour". Ebola, Botulism, Black Death (sounds more horrific than bubonic plague), Anthrax: if you can name it, it is in there. No time is wasted on little known toxins, uninformed people would not recognize them. The book feeds on fear and conspiracy: leaks, cover-up, secret weapons, misterious deaths. Look at the pictures carefully: people in uniforms, non-descript buildings, some old piece of machinery. There isn't a single detail linking them to a biological program. Russia was never short of people in impressive uniforms, it doesn't mean they were cooking mutant chimeric ebola viruses spewing Black Death. For all you know they were part of an army marching band. Same comment about the buildings: take any newsreel from Communist Russia and you'll see big, ugly, formal looking buildings. For all you know, that's where they were storing the medals for the marching bands. The only picture which shows "biowarfare paraphrenalia" (people in scary looking biosafety suits) comes from an exercise in New York. Anyone with a camera who happened to be there could have taken it. Of course, none of the horror stories can be proven or disproven, allowing the authors to say anything they want. How convenient.

Informative. Believable. Not Pleasant.:
While the prose and presentation of the book's style is a bit clunky, the information contained within is crucial to understanding what may face us in the future. An important expose of 'normal military operations' and the infrastructure of the bioweapons program within the former Soviet Union - operations that now have been or may be compromised. This information is dated, but the technology, people who worked with the technology and the weapons themselves as described in this book may still be viable. 15 year old technology to make hundreds of kilos of anthrax a day is still very dangerous technology.

Great Book!!!:
I think every one in the United States should read this book. Reading this book makes Biological warefare seem suddenly not so far fetched. Another person reviewing this book claimed that he thought that the contents of this book could be a hoax. I have read most of every book on Bio-warefare out there, and every thing in this book is very credible according to the information contained in the other books on this topic. This is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. I would definitly recommend this book to any body who is interisted in reading it.

Everyone should know this.:
When reading this book, remind yourself that things have moved on in 20 years. Current day threat is far, far worse. Won't go into details, but the Cobra Event by Preston says why pretty well.

Cold War secret for the end of mankind:
I read this book for a research a paper for a graduate class - the paper now appears on Global Security . com under WMD, Library, 2002 listed as the Soviet Unions Bio-warfare Program. Read the paper first and then decide if you you need the book, Any one in the biological/military area of interest should have this book in their library. If terrorist's are to strike - I believe this is the means of how they will do it.