Behind Duct Tape and Sheeting, an Unlikely Proponent
Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, said, "We did not create a new Department of Homeland Security just to be told, `Buy duct tape and plastic.' " Late-night comedians had a field day. "This means the only people who are going to survive an attack are serial killers," Jay Leno said. "Who else has duct tape and plastic sheeting in their car?"

Many experts are die-hard skeptics and say the government is being irresponsible.
"If there were a serious large-scale attack with biological and chemical weapons, duct tape is not going to do anyone any good," said Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, chairman of the Federation of American Scientists' working group on biological weapons.

Also, Dr. Rosenberg said, "There are no terrorists who have the capability to launch that kind of attack." Dr. Gomory takes the skepticism in stride, although he does point out, a bit testily, that duct tape and plastic were only 2 of more than 25 suggestions. After all, it was skepticism that got the Sloan Foundation into the business of finding possible responses to the threat of biological and chemical attacks.

Dr. Gomory, 73, who was the senior vice president for science and technology at I.B.M. when he retired in 1989, simply refused to accept the prevailing wisdom on the subject, which was either that there was no threat or that nothing could be done to respond to it.

"I was not impressed by either argument," Dr. Gomory said. "Experts could go up to a board and list 20 really very powerful diseases that could be spread relatively easily, but when you asked them what to do about it, they shrugged and said nothing could be done."

The ready availability of recipes for disaster on the Internet made Dr. Gomory almost certain that an attack would take place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/national/23DUCT.html