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Phil Gunby
JAMA contributor

JAMA. 1998;279:1855.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

COMING MONTHS will be busy for some state National Guard and other military reserve members who are forming RAID teams for medical and other responses to possible urban terrorism.

RAID is the acronym for "rapid assessment and initial detection" of chemical, biological, or other agents that might be used in such an attack. It implies the role of first-response decontamination, treatment, and evacuation of those exposed, plus determination of what additional resources are needed in response. Some team members would assist in trying to control panic, securing the area, and communications.

With the bombings of New York City's World Trade Center and Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal Building, as well as the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack, federal officials have grown increasingly concerned about terrorists and other criminals who might attack US cities with unconventional weapons of mass destruction. This concern also has been expressed at several medical meetings, . . . [Full Text of this Article]