The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism has given the White House and Congress a grade of an "F" for not putting together the ability to quickly respond to a biological terrorist attack, The Washington Post reports.

President Obama immediately responded in his State of the Union address by declaring new measures to prepare for such an attack.

"…we are launching a new initiative that will give us the capacity to respond faster and more effectively to bioterrorism or an infectious disease, a plan that will counter threats at home and strengthen public health abroad," Obama said.

In late 2008, the same commission released a report warning that there was a significant danger of WMD terrorism being carried out in the near future.

"Without greater urgency and decisive action by the world community, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013," the report said.

Last June, an Al-Qaeda recruiter named Abdullah al-Nafisi gave a lecture where he said that the group was looking into ways to deliver biological weapons to the United States through the Mexican border. He suggested that an operative with four pounds of anthrax could kill over 300,000 Americans, although experts doubt the group's ability to effectively use such weapons on a mass scale.