Case Study – Greece

Biological terrorism and the need for biological defence is a relatively new concept for Greece. Although defence against weaponized pathogens was part of CBRN training in the military, it was the 9/11 massacre followed by the anthrax letters horror that triggered a more active involvement of the Greek public health sector. In that historical moment a third bullet was added to the already existing disease outbreak classification – naturally, accidental and now deliberate. These incidents and the subsequent 2004 Olympic Games in Athens drove the Greek government to focus on biodefence and revise existing civil emergency planning by inclusion of new emerging threats.