The Department of Homeland Terror Document Lists Yawning, Goose Bumps As Suspicious Behavior

foreign animal, emerging, and zoonotic diseases that could threaten the U.S. livestock industry, food supply, and public health,” says Homeland Security Under Secretary for Science and Technology Tara O’Toole, in a departmental risk assessment posted online. “To address congressional requirements, this detailed, updated risk assessment reaffirms that we can build a safe and secure facility to meet this important mission.”

The department contends that, according to its risk analysis, “calculated risks have been significantly reduced by incorporating mitigation measures into the risk assessment and updating the analysis to allow for a cumulative risk calculation.”

In other words, DHS says it is prepared to adopt a facility design that includes “significant changes beyond the industry standard to reduce risk.” Reducing risk isn’t, of course, the same as eliminating it.

‘Groundbreaking’ facility?

All of this babble is, of course, designed to make us feel better about having a plant that conducts research on incurable viruses located smack dab in the middle of a volatile region of the country.

What the department isn’t saying is that the part of Kansas being considered for this new facility is prone to a number of natural disasters and occurrences, each of which could cause considerable damage.

“Manhattan, Kansas, faces a number of worrisome hazards that should influence the architecture and construction of the BSL-4 laboratory. These hazards include flooding, dam failure, earthquakes, and tornadoes,” says an assessment by the Suburban Emergency Management Project (SEMP), located in Chicago.

The last time the region suffered major flood damage was in 1951, but, SEMP notes, the area is still in a flood plain and, given the record floods last summer in neighboring Missouri, the potential for disaster is there.

Also, SEMP notes that while “Kansas is not widely