Oct. 1, 2009

President Nixon’s Decision to Renounce the U.S. Offensive Biological Weapons Program

The nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union was a prominent feature of the Cold War. A lesser known but equally dangerous element of the superpower competition involved biological weapons (BW), living microorganisms that cause fatal or incapacitating diseases in humans, animals, or plants. By the late 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union had both acquired advanced BW capabilities. The U.S. biological weapons complex, operated by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, consisted of a research and development laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland, an open-air testing site at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and a production facility at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas that manufactured biological warfare agents and loaded them into bomblets, bombs, and spray tanks.

Dec. 1, 2001

Adversary Use of NBC Weapons: A Neglected Challenge

This article describes how thinking regarding how an adversary might use nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical weapons against the United States changed in the last decade of the 20th century.

Feb. 1, 2001

Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: the Illicit Use of Biological Arms in the 20th century

This working paper is an updated study of research that began in 1998; it provides a descriptive analysis of the illicit use of biological agents by criminals and terrorists in the 20th century and draws on a series of specific case studies.

Dec. 1, 1999

DOD and Consequence Management: Mitigating the Effects of Chemical and Biological Attack

This article aims to analyze the potential threat of chemical and biological weapons to the U.S. It also offers recommendations on how to approach these situations and respond appropriately.