IP 573: Chemical and Biological Weapons Survey
4 credits
During the last decade, accusations have been made that various nations and terrorists have employed biological, chemical, and toxin weapons in international warfare, internal conflicts, or terrorist operations. Most prominently, the UN found conclusive evidence that Iraq has used chemical weapons against Iran and, eventually, vice versa. As to terrorism, an as yet unidentified person or group sent envelopes containing Bacillus anthracis spores to various public figures during September-October 2001. As for the future, because of revolutionary advances in biotechnology, fears have arisen that the scientific/technical means are at hand to perfect biological weapons; similarly, biological production techniques makes possible the large-scale manufacture of toxins, which may then be used as exceedingly powerful chemical weapons.
These two types of weapon systems, biological and chemical, have one similarity -- they are anti-personnel weapons that leave equipment and facilities largely intact. Especially chemical weapons are likely to see increased use in future conflicts involving Third World nations, while biological weapons may become the weapon of choice for terrorists. If and when either is used, most of the resulting damage will be suffered by civilians. For all these reasons, security experts active in the international arena ought to be familiar with the health and environmental effects of these weapons, circumstances which favor their use, the international laws that seek to prevent these weapons from being used and, when laws fail, how to determine whether one of these three weapon systems has indeed been used and the appropriate response to their use.