Biological Weapons

Biological Weapons

Biological weapons are strategic. Agents used in biological weapons are “living organisms or infective material derived from them, which are intended to cause increase or decay in man, animals, and plans and which depend for their effects on their ability to multiply in the person, animal, or plan” (Stern 1999, 21). If used properly, biological weapons can kill a significant number of people, and “their effects are not limited to one area or small target” (Preston 1998, 56). In the new era of biological threats, a photo editor in Florida died of anthrax exposure shortly after the tragic 9/11 events and became the first United States fatality. Shortly after that, four others succumbed to anthrax after handling contaminated mail and at least 17 others became sick, but survived this post-9/11 biological event (Franceschina 2006). As noted during this time, biological events are problematic to manage.  Any exposed individual requires being immediately isolated and quarantined to avert others from being exposed to the biological agent. Given the incubation period of biological agents and the current detection capability, it is difficult to determine who is or isn’t contaminated. This highlights the “diabolical genius” of potential biological weapons attack.

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Chemical Weapons
“Agents used in chemical weapons are liquid, gaseous, or solid chemical materials that cause death in plants, animals, or humans and hinge on on direct toxicity for their consequence” (Stern 1999, 21). In 1990, in the new era of chemical threats, the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used chemical agents, which were canisters filled with chlorine, in a paramilitary campaign when they attacked a military camp of Sri Lankan Army soldiers (Hoffman 2012). More recently, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult disseminated Sarin nerve agent in a suburban neighborhood in Japan that resulted in the death of seven people and injured 144 others (Kaplan 2000). The death and destruction didn’t stop there, in 1995, Aum Shinrikyo members used sharpened umbrella tips to penetrate plastic bags filled with sarin aboard various Tokyo subway cars and as a result, 12 people died and 1,039 people sustained injuries in what remains as the biggest non-conventional terrorist attack in history (Pangi 2012).

Radiological and Nuclear
In the 1890s, radioactivity was discovered, but the complete prospective capacity for danger was not acknowledged until considerably later. Exposure to low-level radioactive material for a brief time causes little injury; however, prolonged exposure increases the probability of illness and cellular damage or destruction. Thankfully, as of today, a radioactive device (also commonly referred to as a “dirty bomb”) has not been used as a weapon. Having said that, the resources essential to construct such a device are easily accessible and available at hospitals, research facilities, mining and industrial sites. A dispersal of even minimal quantities of radioactive materials by a conventional explosion in a populated area would have significant effects beyond the physical effects of the event.

In comparison, the effects of the more recent phenomenon of nuclear weapons is very well known. Nuclear weapons have only been used twice in the history of warfare when the first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Augusts 6, 1945, and the second one was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. It has been estimated that the instantaneous effects of the explosive blasts killed 40,000 in Nagasaki and 70,000 in Hiroshima and incalculable others were sickened and later perished as a result of the after-effects of the explosions, including radiation and fires (Cole 2006).

The security community, in the 1980s, was mainly concerned with the proliferation of explosives, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, small arms, and rocket-propelled grenades as the primary choice of terrorist. Today, the concern is about CBRN weapons that are all dangerous, with the potential exception of a “dirty bomb,” that have the prospective to cause massive causalities and catastrophic destruction.

A 2010 poll found that “53 percent of Americans believe that there will be a major terrorist attack on the US involving nuclear weapons by 2050” (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press). Many experts agree that these types of fears related to potential WMD events in the future are not exaggerated. Acquiring WMDs have been made easier due the availability of suppliers and to Information Age technologies (Myers 2002). Findings have established “that al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are actively pursuing biological agents for use against the United States and its allies” (Miller 2002). And in other countries, there have been historical examples where radical religious groups, such as Aum Shinrikyo, that have obtained and deployed biological and chemical agents against ordinary citizens. Or a terrorist group that have potential radiological devices (“dirty bomb”) in foreign countries, such as the Chechen rebels that lead media crews to a package of cesium-137 buried in a local park.

References/Works Sited:

Cole, Leonard A. “WMD and Lessons from the Anthrax Attacks.” In The McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Handbook, by David G. Kamien, Editor. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006159.

Franceschina, Peter. 2006. Anthrax Attacks Remain Unsolved. Baltimore Sun. October 15, 2006.

Hoffman, Bruce. “CBRN Terrorism Post-9/11.” In Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Kaplan, David E. Aum Shinrikyo, in Jonathan Tucker ed. Toxic Terror. London: MIT Press, 2000.

Miller, Judith. “Lab Suggests Qaeda Planned to Build Arms, Official Say,” New York Times. September 14, 2002.

Myers, Richard B. “Fighting Terrorism in an Information Age,” International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, August 19, 2002, 2.

Pangi, Robyn. “Consequence Management in the 1995 Sarin Attacks on the Japanese Subway System.” In Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Pells, Richard. “Not With a Whimper: Visions of Mass Destruction in Fiction and Film.” E-Journal USA-Foreign Policy Agenda, (March 2005).

Preston, Richard “Annals of Warfare—the Bio Weaponeers,” The New Yorker, March 9, 1998.

“Public Sees a Future Full of Promise and Peril,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, June 22, 2010.

Stern, Jessica. The Ultimate Terrorists. London: Harvard University Press, 1999.