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However, there is a divide between the operational community and the policy makers when it comes to WMD policy issues. The operational community, recognizing that contemporary security threats continue to be overwhelmingly conventional in nature, does not often worry about the possibility that their personnel will face an adversary using nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) weapons. The saying...

As a direct result of the conscious decision to refer to all nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons as well as chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) hazards as “WMD,” we have lost the ability to accurately develop, assess, and discuss policy concerns relating to the contemporary use of unconventional weapons on the battlefield and within the homeland. Concurrently, our...

At a past National Defense University conference, I made a comment to the effect that we needed more direct, clear terminology that clarified what WMD means to homeland security as opposed to major combat operations. Another participant bluntly responded, “We know what we mean when we say ‘WMD.’” At a break in the conference, a State Department official...

Dr. Kerry Kartchner suggests that one must examine the strategic culture of a nation to better understand why its leaders might want to develop and stockpile NBC weapons and pass on knowledge and techniques to other nations. Political leaders have differing motivations for developing unconventional weapons, often not centered on deterring the United States....

Certainly Congress is interested in ensuring that the U.S. military can succeed in any operations against adversaries with NBC weapons, and given situations in the past when U.S. military forces were not prepared (for instance, during the first Gulf War), they will demand answers and expect actions. Most people interested in defense issues understand in general terms that NBC weapons have...

Congress’s oversight and funding of national security programs is an important aspect of legitimizing the U.S. government’s approach to countering WMD. Congress appropriates and authorizes all federal funds, provides advice and consent on certain key national security positions, has broad investigatory powers, provides advice and consent on treaties, and enacts legislation on national...

In 2001, President George W. Bush brought in a new team of foreign policy professionals who would change the national security strategy shaped by American internationalism and built on idealistic views of moral superiority. The new administration did not lack for advice on how to posture the United States to face the national security threats of the new century. The U.S. Commission on...

The challenge in developing this new direction is twofold—we have an unclear definition of WMD and too many conflicting, poorly written strategies. The very term WMD causes confusion and misdirection of resources because it covers just about every CBR hazard—natural and man-made—to include effects from industrial chemicals, natural diseases, and high-yield explosives. The...

The first area to be examined involves nuclear deterrence operations. On February 12, 2013, North Korea conducted its third nuclear test at an underground testing site. Estimates based on seismic monitoring stations suggested that the yield of the nuclear device was less than twelve kilotons—considerably larger than the first two nuclear tests conducted by North Korea...

The M8A1 chemical alarm was notorious for false-alarming, leading the Army to buy M1 Chemical Agent Monitors from the Canadians and NBC reconnaissance vehicles from the Germans. The Air Force had no collective protection at its air bases unless the Saudis had it installed in the command buildings. The Army’s water-based decontamination systems were ill-prepared for a...

Irregular warfare operations is a phrase that covers how the U.S. military would deal with terrorists, substate groups, violent extremists, freedom fighters, insurgents, militias, all those armed political groups who are not officially sanctioned by a civil government. There have been numerous studies, analyses, discussions, and debates on irregular warfare over the past fifteen years....

A less well-known post-9/11 project was the attempt to increase the capabilities to protect against and respond to CBRN incidents on domestic military installations and facilities. As the Pentagon was attacked and anthrax spores circulated through the mail, policy makers were concerned about the preparedness of U.S. military installation and facilities against such a threat. Protecting the...

The DoD in particular develops military capabilities in terms of concepts, not threats, and that poses a problem in developing counter-WMD policy and strategy. Since multiple operational concepts cannot clearly articulate the need for counter-WMD initiatives and programs, it becomes increasingly unclear as to who is supposed to champion and develop these competencies (see figure 12.1). As a...

Al Mauroni is the director of the U.S. Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies. In this position, he oversees education and research on counter-WMD and nuclear deterrence operations at the Air War College. He has more than thirty years’ experience in Department of Defense (DoD) counter-WMD policy and program development. In his current position, he oversees the...