With only one pistol, and Sunny to one side of him, he couldn't handle an attack from more than two directions.

The Emperor could be testing him under fire, to see how he handled such an attack.

The alien seemed pensive, but finally said "What would be your method of handling an attack by the enemy on the ship itself?"

She'd handled the murder of her aunt, three odd women coming to her door, a change in her worldview, and an attack by an enemy she didn't even know.

Some of that training focused on handling a terrorist attack, but the lessons learned can be applied to any catastrophic incident, he said.

In Texas, Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, the commissioner of health, is trying to determine how to handle an attack that would involve the state's neighbor, Mexico.

"Yes, George is reliable, but I'm not sure how he would handle a physical attack," Soong said.

Anthrax Concerns Validated Terrorism experts warned for years that federal, state and local governments were ill prepared to handle a biological attack.

"I can't handle an attack," she said.

In an interview, Mr. Thompson agreed that improvements were needed, although he said the government was prepared to handle an attack right now.