Patt Morrison Mon, 8/4

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Monday, August 4, 2008

1-3 p.m.

 

 

1:00 – 2:00

OPEN

 

 

 

[NPR NEWS]

 

 

2:00 – 2:30

The Long, Strange, Tragic Anthrax Investigation

In the days after September 11, 2001, the anthrax-stuffed envelopes turning up at Senator’s offices and media outlets felt like the second wave of a massive terrorist attack.  The public hysteria over mysterious white powder eventually died down and the investigation into who was responsible for killing five people with military-grade anthrax seemed to go nowhere for seven years.  One government scientist was accused and eventually exonerated while another scientist at the Fort Detrick biodefense lab fell under suspicion.  That researcher, Bruce Ivins, committed suicide this week right as a murder indictment was about to be handed down.  We’ll retrace the steps of one of the most frightening and convoluted terrorist events in American history, and ask whether we’ve learned anything to protect ourselves from the next biological attack.

 

Guests:

Norman Covert, retired director of public affairs at Fort Detrick in Maryland

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• Covert retired in 1999, but served on the Animal Care & Use Committee with Dr. Bruce Ivins until 2004.  He worked professionally with Dr. Ivins for 14 years and knew him pretty well.

 

 

Col. Randy Larsen, director of the Institute for Homeland Security and the national security advisor to the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

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• Larsen was one of the first witnesses to testify before the 9-11 Commission and since 9/11 has served as an expert witness to various Senate and House committees on homeland security, terrorism and bio-terrorism affairs.
• Larsen designed and led the “Dark Winter” bioterrorism simulation war game in 2001, and has since assisted defense officials in various follow up simulations.
• Of his many books, his latest is “OUR OWN WORST ENEMY:  Asking the Right Questions about Security to Protect You, Your Family & America” that focused on the threat of a chemical or biological attack against the U.S.

 

 

 

 

2:30 – 3:00

Flirting with Disaster

Chernobyl, Katrina, Challenger, Columbia and Enron....were these catastrophes unavoidable? In "Flirting With Disaster," author Marc Gerstein looks at the series of preventable mistakes that created these tragedies.  He explains how intelligent, high-powered people--scientists, doctors, engineers, politicians--get it so wrong when it comes to reading the warnings signs and preventing disasters.  Patt sits down with the author and finds out why accidents are so rarely accidental--and what steps can be taken to prevent them from happening at all.

 

Guests:

Marc Gerstein (steen), author of Flirting with Disaster

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