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The 2008 bioterrorism report, titled World at Risk, was issued by the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which was created by an act of Congress and is commonly referred to as the “Graham-Talent Commission” after its chairman and vice-chairman -- former Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.).

The report, which indicated that a biological attack was more likely than a nuclear attack, reported that an attack could be initiated by terrorists through the use of aerosolized weapons and recommended aggressive government action to reduce the threat of bioterrorism.

“Without immediate and serious attention, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used someplace on Earth between now and the end of the year 2013,” Graham said at the press conference Monday.

“Almost a year has passed since that recommendation, that finding was made,” zgraham noted, adding: “The clock is not our friend.”

Speaking in regard to biological terrorism, Talent said the U.S. knows that “terrorists want to do this.”

“It fits their strategy of asymmetrical attacks,” he continued. “We know they have the organizational sophistication to do it.”

Talent and Graham were joined at the press conference by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the committee’s ranking Republican. Lieberman and Collins announced that they would be introducing a bill to implement the recommendations made in the report.

“The bottom line is this,” said Lieberman, “we’ve got to be direct an honest with the American people about the risks facing this country from a terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction.”