This article describes a brief history of chemical warfare, which culminated in the signing of the Chemical Weapons Convention. It describes the current level of chemical weapons and the risk of using them. Furthermore, some traditional technology for the development of chemical weapons, such as increasing toxicity, methods of overcoming chemical protection, research on natural toxins or the in...

Throughout the 1990s, the United States national security establishment gradually espoused the idea of a growing threat posed by the proliferation of a variety weapons and weapons technologies that could cause mass casualties to combatants and noncombatants alike. Nuclear weapons had long occupied the rhetorical space used by policy makers to describe weapons that could kill on a mass scale, bu...

his background paper explores the technical pathways by which states might acquire nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the systems to deliver them. It also assesses the level of effort, commitment, and resources required to mount such developments. The paper is a companion to the OTA report Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks, which describes what nuclear...

The attractiveness of both ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to various actors throughout the world represents a serious threat to U.S. security. These weapons and delivery systems are popular in part because they are highly visible symbols of military prowess. As such, they provide significant influence on regional balances of power, even among friends and allies. Furthe...

A radiation detector constructed of common household materials was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) by Cresson H. Kearny and has been referred to as the Kearny Fallout Meter (KFM). Developed during the height of the Cold War, the KFM was intended to place a radiation meter capable of measuring fallout from nuclear weapons in the hands of every U.S. citizen. Instructions for the...

"Innovative approaches such as 'weapons for development' and 'weapons for food' programmes are yielding concrete results as practical disarmament measures at the community level." (UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan)

■ In its early years, Lincoln Laboratory developed critical components of an airdefense system to guard North America against the threat of intercontinental bombers carrying nuclear weapons. Lincoln Laboratory used digital computer technology to automate several functions of the air-defense system and improve the quality of digitized radar data processed by the air-defense system. This article ...

Dr. Jonathan B. Tucker directs the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies. Prior to this appointment, he worked on chemical and biological weapons issues at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and on the staff of the Presidential ...

The debate over the past five years on how to limit national ownership and control of nuclear fuel-cycle facilities is largely a response to the perceived risk of a growing number of countries to acquire these sensitive technologies. This prospect is seen as a challenge to the nonproliferation regime by leading nuclear weapon states and their allies, by non-weapon states seeking both to stem pr...