SAVE YOUR BREATH

Imagine that you’re strolling by a large city park near your home on a beautiful sunny day. There’s a popular museum across the street and a busy metro line on the corner, crowded with locals and tourists throughout the day. Your heart skips a beat when you hear a muted bang. You turn to see a large white delivery van parked at the curb with smoke and mist starting to billow out of the back.

Something else seems odd about the van — then it dawns on you that there’s no driver. Suddenly, screams begin to fill the air. Some people appear to be choking, grasping at their throats while their eyes tear up; others begin vomiting. The pedestrians closest to the vehicle collapse to the ground and start convulsing. Is this really happening? What’s actually going on? You’re at the epicenter of a nerve gas attack.

Terror attacks have unfortunately become more common in metropolitan cities. There are terrorist manuals regarding chemical weapons on the Internet. Toxins can be made with household items available at local supermarkets and hardware stores. Because lone wolf or non-state actors can obtain them, these are no longer events that might only be encountered by soldiers in faraway battlefields. The reality is that the fight can be brought to your city, as evidenced time and again in the news.

This type of danger needn’t take the form of a deliberate terrorist attack — it might be the far more common industrial accident. A freight train or tanker