The risk of a biological attack using weapons of mass destruction on a major city somewhere in the world is now greater than ever and we might see a tragedy like that by the year 2013. At least this was the conclusion of a panel mandated by the U.S. Congress.

The study carried out by the Congress-backed Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism said that the threat from rogue states and nuclear smuggling rings is now higher than ever and it’s still increasing.

The main hot spot according to the panel is now Pakistan. This state became a very big concern because of its network of terror groups, its instability and its nuclear capabilities. Iran and North Korea are also on the black list of the panel.

“Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan,” the report, which was ordered by Congress last year, underlines.

The panel said that terrorists will most likely carry out an attack using biological or nuclear weapons somewhere in the world in the next five years, of course, if the United States and its allies won’t do something about it.

“America’s margin of safety is shrinking, not growing,” the panel concluded.

The members of the commission, which included former Sen. Bob Graham (Fla. D) and former Rep. James Talent, a Missouri Republican, urged United States’ President Elect barrack Obama to take decisive action” to reduce the risk of a devastating attack.

“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 commission’s report said.

The staff of the panel conducted more than 260 interviews with government officials and experts around the world to establish the current state of the problem of weapons of mass destruction.