WMD strike 'likely' in five years

An anthrax attack is a particular danger, the commission warns

The chance of a nuclear or biological attack on a major world city in the next five years is now much greater, a report has warned.

A commission set up by the US Congress is due to reveal that America's "margin of safety" is shrinking, not growing.

One of the report's authors says enemies of the US are moving quickly to gain weapons of mass destruction.

The report, entitled World at Risk, singles out Pakistan as the weakest link in world security.

"Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan," the report says.

The bi-partisan Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism was set up after the attacks of 11 September 2001.

Attack 'likely'

Its report is due to be presented to Vice-President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, but its contents have already been widely reported in the US media.

It says terrorists are "likely" to stage a nuclear or biological weapons attack somewhere in the world in the next five years.

Without urgent action, "it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013," the commission says.

Barack Obama is urged to appoint a new official to oversee the threat

The threat to the US and the rest of the world, the report says, is from the rapid spread of nuclear technology in countries such as Pakistan and Iran and poor security in biotech industries worldwide.

It says that the threat from biological weapons is greatest, adding that the US should be less concerned that terrorists will become biologists and far more concerned that biologists will become terrorists.

One of the report's authors - former Democratic Senator Bob Graham - said that the threat was growing because America's adversaries were moving at a faster pace to get access to weapons of mass destruction.

Time, he says, is not America's ally and the US needed to move with a sense of urgency.

The commission wants President-elect Barack Obama to appoint a senior official to co-ordinate intelligence to combat the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

Pakistan is highlighted as a country of particular concern. The report says there is a grave danger is could become "an unwitting source of a terrorist attack on the United States, possibly with weapons of mass destruction."

The commission will also brief President George W Bush on its report.

However, it accuses his administration of failing to treat possible biological attacks with the same priority as the spread of nuclear weapons.