Clinton Plans Vaccine Stockpile Against Germ Terrorism

Against a timeless backdrop of U.S. military power, President Clinton plans to announce Friday a series of steps to prepare the nation for the high-tech terrorism of the future, notably biological attack and computer sabotage.

In a commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Clinton is expected to announce that he is ordering vaccines stockpiled to protect civilians and soldiers from biological agents, as well as greater national surveillance against such threats. He also plans to propose an increased research effort to protect key computer systems in the public and private sectors from invasion by criminals or terrorists.

Clinton will name Richard A. Clarke, senior director for global affairs in the National Security Council, as “national coordinator” to watch over the varied anti-terrorist efforts that already encompass numerous government agencies and the military.

“Basically, what he [Clinton] will do is try to help the midshipmen understand how the world is different from the world of their predecessors . . . how we face different [security] challenges as we enter the 21st century,” said an administration official.

Although the White House will use Clinton’s appearance at the Naval Academy to focus on nontraditional threats to national security, the president also is likely to address India’s nuclear tests.

“He will once again call for India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and he will urge Pakistan to exercise restraint and avoid a nuclear arms race in South Asia,” said the administration official.

Clinton has said repeatedly that some of the greatest perils of the future, such as terrorism, international organized crime and global threats to health and the environment, differ greatly from a world in which armies squaring off in battle seemed the greatest of dangers.

During Clinton’s presidency, at least three terrorist acts have underscored the changing nature of security threats: the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City, the deadly nerve-gas attack in the Tokyo subway system in 1995 and the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, also in 1995.

In the aftermath of such disasters, federal agencies have attempted to coordinate an array of policies, sometimes battling behind the scenes over issues of turf and authority. Clinton’s speech Friday is expected to be a noteworthy attempt to pull together the government effort and set forth policies on national preparedness for the terrorist threats of the future.

“We need to make sure we have a significant stockpile--and I don’t think we do, of vaccines and other medications,” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said last month in congressional testimony. Both Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh told the Senate Intelligence Committee that there is a need for more training of state and local officials to confront an attack by chemical or biological weapons.

Another area of concern to the administration is the vulnerability of “critical infrastructure”--power networks, transportation, financial systems, telecommunications and computers--to terrorist threat. Moreover, the spread of data links among computer systems creates greater areas of vulnerability.

“If we aren’t vigilant, cyber-crime will turn the Internet into the Wild West of the 21st century,” Reno declared earlier this week when an Argentine computer hacker who had invaded U.S. military and academic computer networks was sentenced.