Liberian Woman Ebola (Photo : Reuters)
A new report from the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense (MoD) said British military experts believe terrorists could eventually "weaponize" the deadly Ebola virus disease and unleash it as a biological weapon against civilians.
The heavily redacted report making this claim was prepared by the MoD's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), an MoD executive agency whose job it is to ensure innovative science and technology contribute to the defense and security of the United Kingdom.
There are a number of scenarios dealing with a terrorist attack against the UK using weaponized Ebola, as DSTL listed. Much of the sensitive information in the report released to the public has been censored.
What is clear from the information left untouched, however, is the UK acknowledges "the feasibility of a non-state actor (NSA) exploiting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa for bioterrorism."
The British military leadership is most concerned the Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) might find a way to weaponize Ebola and use it against the West. This despite the prevailing scientific consensus it's extremely difficult and too costly even for Western nations to turn Ebola into a bio-terror weapon.
In 2014, Peter Walsh, a biological anthropologist at Cambridge University in the UK, said the world should take the threat of an Ebola bomb very seriously. He said terrorists could harness the virus as a powder load it into a bomb and explode the bomb in a Western city.
On the other hand, Captain Al Shimkus, a Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College, recently warned terrorists could use "Ebola suicide bombers" infected with the virus to attack large civilian populations.
The prevailing scientific belief, however, is weaponizing Ebola is more science fiction than fact.
"The chance of the Zaire strain of Ebola being made into a biological weapon is less than nil," said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, COO of SecureBio, a biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear security firm in the UK to Live Science. "It's just not going to happen".
The Zaire strain refers to the strain of Ebola causing the current outbreak in West Africa. The outbreak centered in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea has infected 22,369 persons and caused 8,936 deaths in nine countries as of Jan. 31.
