Talking to God?: Members of the 10,000-strong Aum Shinrikyo cult, led by Shoko Asahara (above), killed 12 and left thousands ill after a nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. Members also had plans to attack New York and Washington, D.C. (AP Photo)

By David Phinney
ABCNEWS.com

An Ohio microbiologist with ties to white supremacists anxiously awaits a shipment of mail-order vials containing bubonic plague—until federal authorities find and arrest him. 
     In Oregon, investigators now believe an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning in Portland salad bars that made more than 700 ill and hospitalized dozens was the work of a religious cult hoping to sabotage voter turnout on Election Day.
     In Long Island, New York, authorities say a small group plotted to put radioactive material in the toothpaste and food of a small town’s local government officials.
     Police in Washington, D.C., cordoned off a city block and quarantined workers when a petri dish oozing with a red substance labeled anthrax arrived in the mail at the headquarters of B’nai B’rith, a national Jewish organization. The event was later found to be a hoax. 

A Troubling New Wave
Not surprisingly, these sorts of bizarre occurrences—and their random, anonymous nature—severely frighten law enforcement officers and defense analysts. As they count the mounting numbers of similar incidents, they see a troubling new wave of terrorism emerging—its soldiers able to choose from a gruesome arsenal of biochemical weapons that could potentially kill thousands of unsuspecting citizens. In addition, the more familiar brand of terrorist still exists. 
At the same time, access to biological and chemical agents has gotten easier. Technical information on making and acquiring them is easily available over the Internet. Ingredients can be purchased through the mail. And the process of making them can be seen on homemade videos and discussed at gun shows and survivalist meets.
     “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. There are people out there thinking about using these weapons,” observes Amy Smithson, an expert on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction at the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington. “It is very possible someone might go to a sporting event or convention and decide to put some sarin or anthrax next to the ventilation shaft.”
     Defense analysts now fret over scenarios of small groups sneaking over the nation’s borders with biochemical weapons provided by rogue nations. For decades such terrorists have usually been state-sponsored groups who attack to manipulate public opinion and emotions. Or they may be in the mold of the Irish Republican Army or the Palestine Liberation Organization, seeking political legitimacy. 

Longing for Greater Violence
But a new kind of terrorist also has stepped on the stage. They lack the ideological anchor to a defined political movement. They frequently long for violence as a way to cleanse society or express racial hatred. They are willing to spawn large-scale destruction and kill more people than ever before—and they feel little need to claim credit for an attack.
     “The increase in anonymity may be because terrorists are carrying their act out in the name of God and they don’t need an audience in the Washington Post or on ABCNEWS,” offers Dr. Jerrold Post, a prominent profiler of terrorists and author of Political Paranoia: The Psychopolitics of Hatred. 
     Analysts claim this new kind of terrorism already has arrived, demonstrating a greater willingness to commit wholesale murder and exposing the vulnerability of Americans to sudden, far-reaching attacks. “Instead of having a lot of people watch, they want a lot of people dead,” notes Brad Roberts with the Institute for Defense Analysis, in Washington, D.C. 

Mass Destruction on the Rise
The 1993 bombing of the 110-story World Trade Center left six dead and 1,000 wounded. But had the terrorist ringleader Ramzi Yousef succeeded in his goal to topple one of the world’s tallest buildings, perhaps 250,000 could have been murdered. 

Ramzi Yousef was convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that left six dead and 1,000 wounded. Authorities now estimate the cost of the destruction near $1 billion, but Yousef said he failed. He sought to destroy one of the world’s tallest buildings and kill up to 250,000 people. (AP Photo)

Two years later, a two-ton fertilizer bomb blew open the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. As Timothy McVeigh fled the scene of his crime, he left 168 people dead, 500 wounded, and an entire nation in shock.
     Though both have been found guilty, neither McVeigh nor Ramzi ever claimed credit. The act became an end unto itself.
     “Terrorists used to identify themselves—now they don’t,” notes Dr. Richard Ward, who heads the Office of International Criminal Justice with the University of Illinois. “We probably won’t have mass movements or guerrilla activities as in the past. And because of the sophistication of intelligence, the more effective way for terrorists to work is in cells and small groups.”
     But others worry about religious groups possessed with notions of bringing on the apocalypse—especially at the turn of this century. 

Talking to God
“These new terrorists have no clear political constituency—they think they talk to God and it’s a god that seems to encourage violence. That’s what’s new,” says Jessica Stern, a former chemical and biological weapons specialist with the National Security Council. Her job inspired the Hollywood movie, Peacemaker. 
     “These kinds of groups might turn to extreme violence and weapons of mass destruction because they believe Armageddon is coming in the year 2000,” she says. “They want to hasten the appearance of the Messiah.” 

End of the World As We Know It
Many view the cult Aum Shinrikyo as a group seeking to bring on the end of the world. 
     The religious organization, officially recognized in Japan, harbored plans to attack the United States with biochemical agents. The cult leaders planned to produce enough to annihilate a large Japanese city by spraying it from a Russian helicopter they purchased.
     Cult members let loose a bag of low-grade sarin nerve gas after poking it with umbrellas on a Tokyo subway in 1995. The attack killed a dozen people and left thousands ill. Investigators subsequently discovered leaders of the international, 10,000-member cult had been stockpiling anthrax and botulin toxin, two of the world’s most deadliest germ-warfare agents.
     Aum Shinrikyo had offices in New York and an estimated $1.5 billion in assets. It has now been linked to two biological and five chemical attacks, including a 1994 incident that killed seven and injured 500. 
     But the group’s activities took the FBI and CIA by surprise. At Senate hearings, CIA and FBI officials admitted they were unaware Aum Shinrikyo had been developing chemical and biological weapons. They first heard about the cult’s goal for igniting a cataclysmic war between Japan and the United States from reports in the news media.