The effectiveness of the department of defense’s field manual 3-11 in detecting, deterring and degrading the breach of a combat base by a human-borne with bioagent (HBBA): perceptions of security personnel

BACKGROUND The department of defense's FM 3-11 is among the military's field manuals for preparing for, reacting to and recovering from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. Since post 9-11, U.S. military service members have been deployed in the global war on terrorism. This study attempted to determine the effectiveness of the FM 3-11 in detecting, deterring or preventing a human-borne with bioagent (HBBA) terrorist breach at an entry control point (ECP). METHOD This time-specific, cross-sectional study disseminated a validated survey tool with Cronbach's α > 0.82 to respondents who have had antiterrorism training and combat ECP experience. The return rate was greater than 75.0 %; however, many of the respondents failed to meet the inclusion criteria. Consequently, only 26 questionnaires were included in the sample. RESULTS The results revealed that while over 60.0 % of the respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that biointelligence, the deployment of biodetectors and the use of biowarning systems could be effective in preventing an ECP breach by a terrorist with a bioagent, the use of protective equipment and immunization to decontaminate service members or other TTPs would never prevent a breach. A large percentage of respondents claimed that soldiers at the ECP lacked the devices or the knowledge to detect an HBBA at an ECP, and 72.0 % suggested modifying current ECP TTPs to include education, training and equipment for security personnel at military base ECPs. CONCLUSION If obtained from appropriate sources and communicated to the personnel at the ECP in an effective or timely manner, the possible effectiveness of certain TTPs in the FM 3-11, specifically FM 3-11.86 (intelligence), might increase.