Nuclear Weapons and Warfare | RAND RAND > Topics > Nuclear Weapons and Warfare Nuclear weapons, the means of producing them, and their potential use play significant roles in international relations and homeland security. Throughout its history, RAND has provided detailed analyses and recommendations for defense planners and helped policymakers make informed national security decisions with regard to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the nuclear activities of India, Pakistan, China, North Korea, Iran, and other nations. By Type Domestic Political Discord Now the Greatest Threat to U.S. Global Leadership Faced with traditional threats from opponents such as Russia and emerging threats from non-traditional adversaries such as the Islamic State, the United States needs a comprehensive foreign policy strategy that can provide stability and improve policymakers' ability to manage in today's more complex and turbulent times. Jan 18, 2017 The post–Cold War era is over. The United States faces new challenges abroad and rising political polarization at home. How should America advance its interests and pursue new opportunities around the world? Jan 18, 2017 The United States needs a coherent international strategy for today's turbulent world. But this will be hard to pursue without more domestic political consensus on America's global role.

Jan 18, 2017 Trump Should Confront Kim Over ICBM Tests Whether successful or not, an ICBM test by North Korea would be very much against U.S. interests and President-elect Trump should act to counter it as early as possible. A turn to the basics of deterrence would be the path most likely to succeed. Jan 6, 2017 No Quick Fix with Russia A series of small steps is more likely to improve Western and Russian security than an attempt at a total reset. At the same time, sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, and NATO actions to reassure and protect allies, must continue. Jan 3, 2017 Beijing's perceptions and assessments aren't static. They evolve as China's standing in the world increases and its interests grow. U.S. leaders should focus on understanding and managing competition with China on a global scale. Dec 6, 2016 The Return of a Cold War Threat The danger of blundering into a nuclear war through miscalculation or human error has returned, said former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry at RAND's Politics Aside event.

No leader is seeking nuclear war, but there are new dangers that didn't exist during the Cold War that could lead to one. Nov 15, 2016 After the Cold War and nearly 70 years of waging war against communism, the United States and its key allies have adopted the war against terror as their new organizing principal. Oct 28, 2016 Could the Kashmir Standoff Trigger Nuclear War? Militants trained in Pakistan have been raiding the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for over a quarter of a century, but the recent attack was the deadliest in years. A short-term return to peace remains uncertain and the longer term is even harder to predict. Oct 10, 2016 Strong and viable global nuclear nonproliferation norms should remain a cornerstone of U.S. security now and into the future. Friends and allies must continue to have confidence in the U.S. strategic nuclear guarantees. Oct 9, 2016 America's next president will face challenges that test the fundamentals of world order. RAND experts have outlined key decisions, the dangers involved, and the least-bad options that now often pass for good ones.

Oct 7, 2016 Whoever Wins the Presidency, the Next Big International Crisis Will Come from Iran The next U.S. president is likely to meet many international crises after taking office, and Iran may be one of the most challenging. The continuing climate of repression, the next Iranian presidential election, and Khamenei's eventual demise may provide some important opportunities for him or her. Sep 29, 2016 China has been a major proponent of regional security for Northeast Asia but appears disinterested in Republic of Korea (ROK) security against North Korean missile and nuclear weapon threats. Sep 23, 2016 Science and technology is only partly at the point of reliably detecting a nuclear weapon in cities — for some weapons and some adversaries. The solutions for this problem are only partial and are complicated by the nuances of the science. Sep 21, 2016 North Korea's fifth and biggest nuclear test could have implications for U.S. policy toward the North, China's role in the region, and the stability of the Kim regime. Sep 9, 2016 The End of Nuclear Proliferation?

As the last case of nuclear proliferation fades further into history, it may become politically difficult to allocate resources to preventing it as other pressing threats, such as bio- and cyber-terrorism, continue to emerge. The time to act to keep nuclear proliferation a thing of the past is now. Jul 26, 2016 Weighing the Potential Value of Theater Ballistic Missiles in the Pacific The U.S. Department of State concluded in 2014 that Russia is in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty. If the treaty cannot be revived, the U.S. Army should assess the value of adding conventional land-based theater ballistic missiles to its portfolio of strike capabilities. Jun 28, 2016 Critical issues Critical issues Efforts to ban biological weapons What are biological weapons? Biological warfare is the deliberate spreading of disease amongst humans, animals, and plants. Biological weapons (BW) introduce a bacteria or virus into an environment for hostile purposes, that is not prepared to defend itself from the intruder. As a result, this agent can become very effective at killing plants, livestock, pets, and humans.

There are a huge variety of genetically or traditionally modified bacterias and viruses to withstand antibiotics, that could be used as biological weapons, but some of the most common types today are bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, toxins, and fungi. Deadly and Cheap When compared to the cost of a nuclear weapons program, biological weapons are extremely cheap. It is estimated that 1 gram of toxin could kill 10 million people. A purified form of botulinum toxin is approximately 3 million times more potent than Sarin, a chemical nerve agent. As a comparison, a SCUD missile filled with botulinum toxin could affect an area of 3700 sq.km, an area 16 times greater than could be affected with Sarin. It is important to note that while it is relatively cheap to produce the biological weapons agents in large quantities, sophisticated weapons are slightly more difficult to develop and produce. For example, when a missile is flying it gets very hot, biological agents are killed. Therefore, the missile has to be fitted with a cooling system. In addition, storing biological weapons agents requires much effort, due to the quick decay of many of these sorts of agents.

However, as far as weapons of mass destruction are concerned, biological weapons are relatively cheap to develop and produce. In one analysis, the comparative cost of civilian (unprotected) casualties is "$2,000 per square kilometer with conventional weapons, $800 with nuclear weapons, $600 with nerve-gas weapons, and $1 with biological weapons." Not surprisingly, biological weapons have long since become known as the poor man's atom bomb. Any nation with a reasonably advanced pharmaceutical and medical industry has the capability of mass producing biological weapons. This fact also leads to problems with determining what countries have programs. Anything from a piece of fruit to a ballistic missile could be used to deliver a biological weapon to a target. Along with this is the fact that with certain organisms, only a few particles would be needed to start an infection that could potentially cause an epidemic. Conventional weapons explode once and are finished. With a few particles of Hanta virus many thousands of people could become carriers that infect thousands more people. A seed culture of anthrax bacteria could be grown to mass quantities in around 96 hours. The level of technology needed to do this kind of work is also much lower when compared to Nuclear weapons.

Most of the techniques used can be found in textbooks and journals available worldwide. The information is not considered "hot" like certain kinds of nuclear information. The techniques are taught in undergraduate courses in Colleges and Universities worldwide. When have biological weapons been used - a short history The first recorded use of biological agents is the Romans using dead animals to foul the enemies water supply. This had the dual effects of decreasing enemy numbers and lowering morale. 1346-1347 - Mongols catapult corpses contaminated with plague over the walls into Kaffa (in Crimea), forcing besieged Genoans to flee. Some historians believe that this event was the cause of the epidemic of plague that swept across medieval Europe killing 25 million. 1710 - Russian troops allegedly use plague-infected corpses against Swedes 1767 - During the French and Indian Wars, the British give blankets used to wrap British smallpox victims to hostile Indian tribes. 1916-1918 - German agents use anthrax and the equine disease glanders to infect livestock and feed for export to Allied forces.

Incidents include the infection of Romanian sheep with anthrax and glanders for export to Russia, Argentinian mules with anthrax for export to Allied troops, and American horses and feed with glanders for export to France 1937 - Japan begins its offensive biological weapons program. Unit 731, the BW research and development unit, is located in Harbin, Manchuria. Over the course of the program, at least 10,000 prisoners are killed in Japanese experiments. 1939 - Nomonhan Incident - Japanese poison Soviet water supply with intestinal typhoid bacteria at former Mongolian border. First use of biological weapons by Japanese. 1937 - Japan begins its offensive biological weapons program. Unit 731, the BW research and development unit, is located in Harbin, Manchuria. Over the course of the program, at least 10,000 prisoners are killed in Japanese experiments. 1940 - The Japanese drop rice and wheat mixed with plague-carrying fleas over China and Manchuria 1942 - U.S. begins its offensive biological weapons program and chooses Camp Detrick, Frederick, Maryland as its research and development site.

1945 - Only known tactical use of BW by Germany. A large reservoir in Bohemia is poisoned with sewage. 1951 - In a test of BW dispersal methods, biological simulants are sprayed over San Francisco. 1966 - The United States conducts a test of vulnerability to covert BW attack by releasing a harmless biological simulant into the New York City subway system. 1969 - President Nixon announces unilateral dismantlement of the U.S. offensive BW program. 1970 - President Nixon extends the dismantlement efforts to toxins, closing a loophole which might have allowed for their production. 1978 - In a case of Soviet state-sponsored assassination, Bulgarian exile Georgi Markov, living in London, is stabbed with an umbrella that injects him with a tiny pellet containing ricin (a highly toxic, natural protein). 1979 - Outbreak of pulmonary anthrax in Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union. 1992- Russian president Boris Yeltsin acknowledges that the outbreak was caused by an accidental relase of anthrax spores from a Soviet military microbiological facility.

1985-1991 - Iraq develops an offensive biological weapons capability including anthrax, botulium toxin, and aflatoxin. How can biological weapons be defended against? Biological defense may be divided into the following categories: prevention, protection, detection, treatment, and decontamination. Prevention may take several forms. In the case of biological warfare, international disarmament and inspection regimes may deter production and dissemination of biological warfare agents. Intelligence assets may indicate potential threats and allow for preventative action to be undertaken. Protection against biological warfare agents is limited. Protective suits, clothing, gas masks and filters may provide limited protection for short periods of time. However, the persistence of biological agents such as anthrax makes such protections mainly useful for military personnel and first responders. Anthrax can remain active and potentially lethal for at least 40 years. (source: Biological Warfare: A Historical Perspective) It should be noted that anthrax is an exception, as most other agents do not live that long. Protection (as detection and treatment) of Biological Warfare is the establishment and maintenance of a good health care system.

In addition, vaccination is a form of protection, which may provide substantial protection against naturally occurring agents, although vaccines often provide limited or no protection against genetically engineered variants designed to defeat such vaccines. Detection. During the Gulf War, US and allied forces suffered from a lack of reliable biological agent detection systems. Subsequently, a number of detection systems have been developed. Often it takes from a few hours to a few days to detect exposure to a biological weapon. However, advances in biotechnology will help develop improved and quicker detectors. Current detectors include: SMART (Sensitive Membrane Antigen Rapid Test) JBPDS (Joint Biological Point Detection System) BIDS (Biological Integrated Detection System) IBAD (Interim Biological Agent Detector) (source: Biological Warfare and Detection Capabilities) Treatment options after infection depend on whether or not the infectious agent is identified. If not identified, massive doses of antibiotics may be given in hopes that something may work. Again, treatment of victims of biological warfare largely depends on the establishment and maintenance of a good health care system. Decontamination. Unlike chemical weapons, which disperse over time, biological agents may grow and multiply over time.

Anthrax can remain active in the soil for at least 40 years and is highly resistant to eradication. (Source: Biological Warfare: A Historical Perspective) However, the anthrax contaminated Gruinard Island in the UK was decontaminated - decontamination is possible, using chemicals, heat or UV rays. Efforts to ban biological weapons Using biological and chemical weapons was condemned by international declarations and treaties, notably by the 1907 Hague Convention (IV) respecting the laws and customs of war on land. Efforts to strengthen this prohibition resulted in the conclusion, in 1925, of the Geneva Protocol, which banned the use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, usually referred to as chemical weapons, as well as the use of bacteriological methods of warfare. The latter are now understood to include not only bacteria, but also other biological agents, such as viruses or rickettsiae which were unknown at the time the Geneva Protocol was signed. However, the Geneva Protocol did not prohibit the development, production and stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons. Attempts to achieve a complete ban were made in the 1930s in the framework of the League of Nations, but with no success.

The prohibition of chemical and biological weapons appeared on the agenda of the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament in Geneva (now called the Conference on Disarmament ) in 1968. One year later, the United Nations published an influential report on the problems of chemical and biological warfare, and the question received special attention at the UN General Assembly. The UN report concluded that certain chemical and biological weapons cannot be confined in their effects in space and time and might have grave and irreversible consequences for humans and nature. This would apply to both the attacking and the attacked nations. Due to interest in the topic in the end of the 1960s, the Biological Weapons and Toxin Convention was signed in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) entered into force in March 1975 after 22 governments had ratified, and was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.

The Convention, about four pages long, bans the development, production stockpiling, or acquisition of biological agents or toxins of any type or quantity that do not have protective, medical, or other peaceful purposes, or any weapons or means of delivery for such agents or toxins. Under the treaty, all such materiel is to be destroyed within nine months of the treaty's entry into force. The BTWC currently has 163 states parties and 110 signatories. Since the entry of the Convention, seven review conferences have taken place. On the Seventh Review Conference in December 2011, 103 states parties to the Convention participated in the conference. The Atomic Bomb About Watch and Favorite Watch Watching this resources will notify you when proposed changes or new versions are created so you can keep track of improvements that have been made. Favorite Favoriting this resource allows you to save it in the “My Resources” tab of your account. There, you can easily access this resource later when you’re ready to customize it or assign it to your students. The Atomic Bomb Atomic bombs are nuclear weapons that use the energetic output of nuclear fission to produce massive explosions.

Learning Objective Describe the chemical reaction which fuels an atomic bomb Key Points Atomic bombs are nuclear weapons that use the energetic output of nuclear fission to produce massive explosions. Only two nuclear weapons have been used in the course of warfare, both by the U.S. near the end of World War II. In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material is assembled into a supercritical mass either by shooting one piece of sub-critical material into another (the "gun" method) or by compressing a sub-critical sphere of material using chemical explosives (the "implosion" method). Terms Full Text Atomic Bombs Atomic bombs are nuclear weapons that use the energetic output of nuclear fission to produce massive explosions. These bombs are in contrast to hydrogen bombs, which use both fission and fusion to power their greater explosive potential. History Only two nuclear weapons have been used in the course of warfare, both by the United States near the end of World War II. On August 6th, 1945, a uranium gun-type fission bomb code-named "Little Boy" was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Three days later, on August 9th, a plutonium implosion-type fission bomb code-named "Fat Man" was exploded over Nagasaki, Japan. These two bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 Japanese people—mostly civilians. The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender, and their ethical status, remain the subject of scholarly and popular debate. Nuclear Chemistry Behind the Explosion Atomic bombs are made up of a fissile element , such as uranium, that is enriched in the isotope that can sustain a fission nuclear chain reaction . When a free neutron hits the nucleus of a fissile atom like uranium-235 (235U), the uranium splits into two smaller atoms called fission fragments, plus more neutrons. Fission can be self-sustaining because it produces more neutrons with the speed required to cause new fissions. This creates the chain reaction. The uranium-235 content of "weapons-grade" uranium is generally greater than 85 percent, though inefficient weapons, deemed "weapons-usable," can be made of 20 percent enriched uranium.

The very first uranium bomb, Little Boy, dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, used 64 kilograms of 80 percent enriched uranium. In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material, either enriched uranium or plutonium, is assembled into a supercritical mass—the amount of material needed to start an exponentially growing nuclear chain reaction. This is accomplished either by shooting one piece of sub-critical material into another, termed the "gun" method, or by compressing a sub-critical sphere of material using chemical explosives to many times its original density , called the "implosion" method. The implosion method is considered more sophisticated than the gun method and only can be used if the fissile material is plutonium. The inherent radioactivity of uranium will then release a neutron, which will bombard another atom of 235U to produce the unstable uranium-236, which undergoes fission, releases further neutrons, and continues the process.The uranium atom can split any one of dozens of different ways, as long as the atomic weights add up to 236 (uranium plus the extra neutron).

The following equation shows one possible split, namely into strontium-95 (95Sr), xenon-139 (139Xe), and two neutrons (n), plus energy : $^{235}U+ ^1_0n\rightarrow \ \ ^{95}Sr+^{139}Xe +2\ ^1_0n+180 MeV$ Nuclear arsenals | ICAN Nuclear arsenals > NEWSLETTER Nuclear arsenals Nine countries together possess around 15,000 nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia maintain roughly 1,800 of their nuclear weapons on high-alert status – ready to be launched within minutes of a warning. Most are many times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. A single nuclear warhead, if detonated on a large city, could kill millions of people, with the effects persisting for decades. The failure of the nuclear powers to disarm has heightened the risk that other countries will acquire nuclear weapons. The only guarantee against the spread and use of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them without delay.

Although the leaders of some nuclear-armed nations have expressed their vision for a nuclear-weapon-free world, they have failed to develop any detailed plans to eliminate their arsenals and are modernizing them. How many nuclear weapons are there in the world? COUNTRY SIZE OF ARSENAL United States The first country to develop nuclear weapons and the only country to have used them in war. It spends more on its nuclear arsenal than all other countries combined. 6,800 warheads Russia The second country to develop nuclear weapons. It has the largest arsenal of any country and is investing heavily in the modernization of its warheads and delivery systems. 7,000 warheads United Kingdom It maintains a fleet of four nuclear-armed submarines in Scotland, each carrying 16 Trident missiles. Its parliament voted in 2016 to overhaul its nuclear forces. 215 warheads France Most of its nuclear warheads are deployed on submarines equipped with M45 and M51 missiles. One boat is on patrol at all times. Some warheads are also deliverable by aircraft. 300 warheads China It has a much smaller arsenal than the US and Russia. Its warheads are deliverable by air, land and sea.

It appears to be increasing the size of its arsenal at a slow pace. 260 warheads India It developed nuclear weapons in breach of non-proliferation commitments. It is increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal and enhancing its delivery capabilities. 110–120 warheads Pakistan It is making substantial improvements to its nuclear arsenal and associated infrastructure. It has increased the size of its nuclear arsenal in recent years. 120–130 warheads Israel It has a policy of ambiguity in relation to its nuclear arsenal, neither confirming nor denying its existence. As a result, there is little public information or debate about it. 80 warheads North Korea It has a fledgling nuclear weapons programme. Its arsenal probably comprises fewer than 10 warheads. It is not clear whether it has the capability to deliver them. <10 warheads William Gay, “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Global Studies Encyclopedia, eds Weapons of mass destruction typically refer to nuclear, chemical, and biological means for killing large numbers of people. The target is generally civilians or noncombatants. However, when nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons are used, they sometimes only kill a few persons or even no one.

Nevertheless, the intent of those who use such weapons is to strike terror into the population. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons have all been used in war. Nuclear weapons were used at the close of World War II. Chemical weapons were used in World War I. Biological weapons have been in use in warfare for over two millennia. The United Nations and many countries have called for bans against such weapons, even terming them genocidal. Several significant treaties have also been ratified that ban the use or even the production and stockpiling of various weapons of mass destruction. Of course, nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons are not the only possible weapons of mass destruction. In some police jurisdictions weapons of mass destruction can even be defined legally as ones that potentially can kill two or more people, and conventional explosives have been used for many years to kill large numbers of people. More recently, the use of commercial aircraft on September 11, 2001 to attack the World Trade Center illustrates the difficulty of anticipating all the means that can be employed to strike terror or to function as weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, instead of targeting civilians, weapons of mass destruction can have military or political targets.

The attack on the Pentagon on September 11th can be viewed as a military target, while such an attack against the White House would be a political target. While the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took over 3,000 lives, some analysts deny that commercial aircraft, even when used as weapons to kill thousands, are technically weapons of mass destruction. These attacks, however, underscore the variety of delivery systems that can be used. The commercial aircraft involved in these attacks carried large quantities of fuel, and gasoline is a chemical. In this case, both the chemical agent and the delivery system were hijacked. Debate is likely to continue on what to include under the heading of weapons of mass destruction and on whether a minimum level of damage can be quantified for classifying an attack as involving a weapon of mass destruction. However, given the current literature and for brevity, this article will focus on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Chemical and Biological Weapons vs. Traditional and Nuclear Weapons Nuclear weapons represent a distinct type among weapons of mass destruction.

Leaving nuclear weapons aside for the moment, some very sharp contrasts can be drawn between chemical and biological weapons, on the one hand, and traditional (conventional) weapons, on the other hand. Five key contrasts can be made. From the point of view of maximizing damage and minimizing cost, although three of the differences favor traditional weapons, the two that favor chemical and biological weapons make them much desired by groups with limited resources that wish to inflict great harm. First, while traditional weapons typically have to be used in large quantities to kill lots of people, chemical and biological weapons can require only a few weapons to kill large numbers of people. Second, while traditional weapons can be used almost anywhere, most chemical and biological weapons require airborne dispersal that restricts their targeting and control. Third, while traditional weapons can be used in almost any weather conditions, chemical and biological weapons are generally affected considerably by weather conditions.

Fourth, while traditional weapons typically can be focused on enemy targets, chemical and biological weapons can blur the distinction between the target and the attacker and can take as great a toll or even a greater one on the aggressor as they do on the “enemy.” Fifth, while traditional weapons are relatively expensive and complicated to produce, chemical and biological weapons are typically much easier to produce and much less expensive to produce. Nuclear weapons are like traditional weapons in four of the five areas. Unlike traditional or conventional weapons, they do not have to be used in large quantities to kill large numbers of people. Like other conventional weapons, they can be delivered almost anywhere, under almost all conditions, sometimes only against enemy targets, and are both expensive and technically difficult to produce. Nuclear weapons also share some features with chemical and biological weapons. All three have high lethality but are difficult to store and to deliver. However, their differences are equally important. While nuclear weapons are difficult to manufacture or procure and are easy to detect if stockpiled or deployed, chemical and biological weapons are much easier to make or buy and are much more difficult to detect when amassed and when dispersed.

Moreover, whereas chemical weapons rely on toxic properties of chemical substances rather than explosive properties to produce physical or psychological effects and biological weapons rely on infectious agents such as bacteria, nuclear weapons produce large explosions and hazardous radioactive byproducts. Nuclear Weapons Nuclear weapons are the most grave among weapons of mass destruction. Atomic bombs were first used in World War II and were targeted against civilians. The 14 kiloton uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 7, 1945 and the 20 kiloton plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 each killed 50,000 to 100,000 people and ushered in the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union tested its first atomic or fission weapon in 1949, and the United States tested the first hydrogen or fusion bomb in 1952.

At the height of the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union each possessed about 10,000 strategic nuclear weapons with blast yields on the order of 150 kilotons to over a megaton and many times more tactical nuclear weapons deployed around the world with blast yields of roughly 0.1 kiloton to 15 kilotons. Both countries could deliver strategic nuclear weapons by aircraft, from land based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and by submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and many of their conventional forces deployed in Europe and elsewhere were “dual capable,” meaning they could fire conventional or nuclear shells. Throughout the Cold War, the United States retained an option of first use of tactical nuclear weapons in the face of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. This era, with the development of vast nuclear arsenals under the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), has also been termed as being based on a “balance of terror.” By unleashing its strategic nuclear arsenal, in only a few hours, either nation could obliterate 100 to 200 cities and kill 50 to 100 million civilians.

Moreover, either side, even after being so devastated by the other, could launch a second strike that would inflict equivalent destruction on the nation that launched a full-scale first strike. Not surprisingly, throughout the nuclear age, many ethicists and scientists and even some political and military officials have voiced grave concern over the prospects of the intentional or even accidental use of nuclear weapons. The end of the Cold War may have ended the “balance of terror,” but it did nothing in itself to end the terror of nuclear weapons. In fact, the “balance of terror” may have fostered nuclear self deterrence by the United States and the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War could also end that era’s self deterrence; so, ironically, quite apart of the risks posed by continuing nuclear proliferation, the prospect especially of U.S. use of nuclear weapons could now even be greater. Chemical Weapons Chemical weapons are composed of compounds that have been artificially constructed, as opposed to compounds that exist naturally in either an inorganic or organic state. In chemical facilities around the world, disabling and deadly compounds (such as phosgene, chlorine, and mustard gas) are engineered for use almost exclusively against human beings.

Unlike nuclear weapons and many traditional or conventional weapons, chemical weapons (in a manner analogous to the neutron bomb) destroy people rather than property, though clean up can be a significant problem. Chemical weapons are heavily weather dependent; for example, rain can dilute them or wind can disperse them. Especially since the Vietnam War, the definition of chemical weapons has also come to include as well the use of various herbicides for purposes of large-scale defoliation. We know about the consequences of chemical weapons from their actual use. In 1915 the British initiated the first “successful” allied use of gas. Soon thereafter, pre-Soviet Russia, France, and the United States used gas. In 1917 the Germans were the first to use mustard gas. By 1918 the United States had produced 3,600 tons of gas projectiles. During World War I, that witnessed the first large-scale use of chemical weapons, over 100,000 deaths and 1,300,000 casualties resulted from the use of chlorine gas and other chemical agents.

As a consequence, the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits poisonous gases and bacteriologicals, though its implications for biological weapons have been given little emphasis. Despite the Geneva Protocol, various countries subsequently used chemical weapons, especially during the 1920s and 1930s. Countries charged with such use include Egypt against Yemen, Italy against Ethiopia, Japan against China, and the Soviet Union in Southeast Asia. Remarkably, chemical weapons were not used during World War II. The rather limited post-war use of chemical weapons is also surprising, since the United States did not ratify the Geneva Protocol until 1976. In fact, a 1956 army manual and a 1965 army pamphlet noted that the United States was not a party to any treat that prohibited the use of chemical or biological weapons. Even after the Geneva Protocol was ratified, a revised army manual still observed that the United States reserves the right to determine which chemicals are included in the ban and maintained that that the ban only prohibited first use. Then, in 1987 the United States resumed making chemical weapons.

More recently, Iraq used poison gas against Kurds in 1988, while terrorists used nerve gas to attack the Japanese subway system in 1995. So, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the prospects for slowing the drift back toward use of chemical weapons are not good. Biological Weapons Biological weapons are living microscopic organisms and are largely uncontrolled once they are released. They use infectious agents, such as bacteria or viruses, to inflict physical or psychological damage or death on their victims; the diseases that they can cause include tetanus and diphtheria. They are generated by microorganisms or plants or are animal in origination. Like chemical weapons, they are heavily weather dependent; rain can likewise dilute them and wind can likewise disperse them. A further problem with the use of bacteria, viruses, and toxins is that these poisons are usually unstable; so, their long-term storage often presents greater challenges than the storage of chemical weapons. However, like chemical weapons, they too destroy people rather than property. Biological weapons, which include ones for germ warfare, are actually much older than chemical weapons. Toxins were used as poisons on arrows by aboriginal South Americans and by other neolithic peoples.

As is frequently noted in the literature, in the sixth century B.C.E. Assyrians poisoned wells with a fungus disease and in the fourteenth century C.E. a Tatar army that was attacking a city in what is now the Ukraine catapulted the plague-ridden corpses of their own troops over the city’s castle walls. Some researchers charge that in the fifteen century C.E. the English intentionally spread smallpox to reduce American Indian tribes hostile to British rule. According to former Soviet scientists, from 1973 to 1990 the Soviet Union had an extensive covert biological weapons program run by Biopreparat that had over two dozen biological weapons research facilities, about eight production facilities, and about four testing facilities. The United Nations contends that, though on a much smaller scale, Iraq has also had a biological weapons program for at least twenty years. Recently, the mailing of anthrax to government and media offices as well as other locations in the United States after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 has led to renewed responses to the threats posed to civilians by biological weapons. Among biological agents anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) has received the most attention.

Cutaneous forms (malignant pustule) have a 20% mortality rate, while inhalational forms (which result in mediastinitis) have nearly a 100% mortality rate. Concerns are also growing that highly contagious and frequently lethal diseases could be released. For example, plague (Yersinia pestis) has a 50% mortality rate in the bubonic form and nearly a 100% mortality rate in the pneumonic form. Among toxins, botulinum (Clostridium botulinum), which can be weaponized as an aerosol, can have a 60% morality rate for those who inhale or inject it. (Iraq, in fact, weaponized this toxin prior to the Gulf War.) The number of viral agents is staggering. Among viral agents the possible reintroduction of small pox (Variola major) is currently receiving the most attention. Vaccination against small pox ended in 1981 when governments thought it had been eliminated. The mortality rate for unvaccinated individuals who are exposed to small pox is about 40%. Some viral hemorrhagic fevers also have high mortality rates.

Included in this group are Ebola and yellow fever, and they can even be spread by aerosol. Vesicants (Sulfur mustard) have been used in war, as have been pulmonary agents. Beyond the warfare use of chlorine gas, the 1984 accidental release of 50,000 pounds of methylisocyanate (phosgene and methylamine) at the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, India affected 150,000 people, severely injuring over 10,000 people and killing around 3,300 people. And the list goes on, even including a range of “riot control” agents, such as tear gas. So, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the prospects for avoiding increased use of biological weapons appear to be even more bleak than efforts to restrain the use of chemical weapons. Prevention of the Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction Various treaties and agreements exist that aim to prevent the production, stocking piling, deployment, and use of weapons of mass destruction. Government agencies can also set up procedures designed to thwart attacks which use weapons of mass destruction.

One of the tasks of the new Office of Homeland Security, created in the United States following the attacks of September 11, 2001, is to protect Americans from terrorist attacks including ones that might employ weapons of mass destruction. Whether such efforts can be effective or whether they will be merely quixotic remains to be seen. A quick review of past efforts to prevent the use of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons shows how far we have actually come but also how very far we still have to go. Preventing Nuclear War Despite the Nonproliferation Treaty, more than a half dozen countries now possess nuclear weapons. Nuclear states include the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, China, Israel, India, and Pakistan. South Africa had some nuclear weapons during the period of apartheid but dismantled them before Nelson Mandella became President. Several more countries and terrorist groups have tried to develop or obtain nuclear weapons, including Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Al-Qaeda. Some nuclear materials have been bought or stolen making possible at least radiological devices that could use conventional explosives to broadly disseminate radioactive contaminants. So far, however, no further use of nuclear devices has occurred since the U.S.

atomic bombings of Japan (if one excludes items such as the depleted uranium shells the United States used during the Persian Gulf War). The Partial Test Ban Treaty, on the other hand, is one of the great success stories of citizen action in the twentieth century. Although a Comprehensive Test Ban has continued to elude the global community, the very high compliance with a ban on above ground tests of nuclear weapons has protected both human life and fragile ecosystems. Likewise, efforts to reduce strategic arsenals, both near the end of the Cold War and since the formation of the Russian Federation are a basis for some reduction in our worry over at least the prospect for large-scale thermonuclear war. Preventing Chemical War The fact that chemical weapons were not used in World War II serves as an illustration that humanity does not always continue to rely on every more pernicious weapons at its disposal. While some use of chemical weapons has continued, other significant agreements have also been reached since the Geneva Protocol of 1925. Significantly, in 1990 the United States and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to stop producing chemical weapons and to reduce their stockpiles to 5,000 agent tons.

The Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by over 165 countries, went into effect in 1997. Nevertheless, the low cost and easy production of chemical weapons means that while agreement among superpowers may be necessary, it will not be sufficient. Unless militarily weak and economically impoverished states and subnational groups feel they have a voice in international decision making, the prospect for escalating use of chemical weapons will continue to haunt us. Preventing Biological War With respect to biological weapons, from the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic Church Councils have prohibited the use of poisons that indiscriminately kill noncombatants. Nevertheless, agreements that constrain the production and use of biological weapons are less developed than ones pertaining to chemical weapons. The most significant is the U.N. resolution entitled “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction” which, by 1997, had already been ratified by 142 countries. Despite this and related treaties, events at the beginning of the twenty-first century portend that biological weapons may increasingly become the weapons of choice for the weak to use against the strong.

Ethical Issues Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction All attempts to protect populations from existing weapons of mass destruction face formidable challenges. Once delivered to their targets little can be done for the immediate victims. Admittedly, some measures can be taken for populations significantly downwind from nuclear fallout or airborne chemical and biological agents. The best prospect for protection involves the eradication of such weapons. However, since human beings know how to produce these weapons, eliminating them does not prevent their reintroduction. What Jonathan Schell noted about nuclear weapons is also true for chemical and biological weapons—for all weapons actually. The materials needed for their production and delivery, as well as the knowledge of how to produce them, remain. However, philosophers have gone one step further in their assessments. The obstacles are more than physical and epistemological; they are also moral. For this reason, some of the most important work in preventing catastrophic use of weapons of mass destruction may not be what is being done by scientists and politicians but what can be done by moralists and ethicists. Fundamentally, weapons of mass destruction are instruments of terror. As moral philosophers have noted (Robert Holmes, in particular), both subnational groups and governments can resort to the use of weapons of terror.

Clearly, wars generally kill far more people than do what are generally termed terrorist attacks. Principles of just war forbid the intentional killing of noncombatants. Nevertheless, especially since the obliteration bombing in Europe and against Japan at the close of World War II, cities and their civilian populations have become targets. So, one of the important ethical lessons about weapons of mass destruction is that they can be (and have been) used by individuals and by governments. In this regard, the difference is not so much one of kind as it is of degree. The end is the same in the terrorist acts of individuals and governments; the goal is to cause fear among civilians by doing violence to them or threatening them with violence. Twentieth-century civilizations engaged in barbarism—in genocides, politicides, and ecocides that took the lives of well over 100 million people. The beginning of the twenty-first century may well suggest that it will be the harbinger of even more violence, terrorism, and war. With the advent of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the scepter of species self-destruction has been raised.

Philosophers have written passionately about the meaning and roots of violence, terrorism, and war, including actual and possible uses of weapons of mass destruction. Many have written with equal passion on the need to take social responsibility. From a moral perspective, more has been written about nuclear weapons than other weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, see the entry on “Nuclear Warfare and Morality” in this encyclopedia. More literature is becoming available on chemical and biological weapons and warfare. An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics, edited by Donald Wells in 1996, has articles on biological and chemical weapons and war, nuclear deterrence and proliferation, and weapons of mass destruction. Given the range of linguistic use, the term “weapons of mass destruction” needs some special philosophical analysis. When we refer to weapons of mass destruction, we are drawing on a condemnatory connotation. Moreover, the prospect for and reality of special pleading in using this term needs to be highlighted.

For example, the United States presented its use of nuclear weapons in World War II as a means to end the war and save lives, yet the United States condemns as weapons of mass destruction ones with far less destructive capability when they are possessed by “rogue” states or terrorist groups that are perceived as a military threat. Perhaps, the time has come to realize that most violence, terrorism, and war needs to be condemned, regardless of whether we term the instruments of violence, terrorism, and war as weapons of mass destruction. Philosophers and others have recognized that if we are to avoid devastating wars, especially ones involving weapons of mass destruction, we must first change our attitudes toward one another, especially toward what we regard as alien cultures. Various activities can promote the pursuit of the respect, cooperation, and understanding needed for positive peace and social justice. Open dialog, especially face-to-face conversation, is one of the most effective ways of experiencing that the other is not so alien or alienating. Beyond having political leaders of various nations meet, we need cultural and educational exchanges, as well as trade agreements among businesses and foreign travel by citizens.

We can come to regard diversity in the expression of cultural and religious traditions and economic and political systems, along with the diversity of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation, as making up the harmonies and melodies that together create the song of humanity. If we do not learn to respect the diversity and open-endedness of life, we are likely to harvest the sameness and senselessness of violence, destruction, and death. Will the twenty-first century witness the escalation of violence, terrorism, and war and the use of weapons of mass destruction or will it usher in their renunciation? The choice is ours, but casting our lot will not be easy. Whatever we choose will involve struggle and hardship; yet, hope remains that we can avoid the wholesale slaughter of millions or even billions of innocent lives through reckless reliance on weapons of mass destruction. Bibliography Alibek, Ken with Stephen Handelman. Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World—Told from the Inside by the Man Who Ran It. New York: Random House, 1999. Combs, Cindy C. Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. Cole, Leonard A. The Eleventh Plague: The Politics of Biological and Chemical Warfare. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1997. Cordesman, Anthony H. Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East. London: Brassey’s, 1991. Dando, Malcolm. Biological Warfare in the 21st Century: Biotechnology and the Proliferation of Biological Weapons. London: Brassey’s, 1994. Gay, William and Michael Pearson. The Nuclear Arms Race. Chicago: The American Library Association, 1987. Gay, William and Ronald E. Santoni. “Philosophy and the Contemporary Faces of Genocide: Multiple Genocide and Nuclear Destruction.” Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review, ed. Israel W. Charny (London: Mansell Publishing Limited, l988), pp. 172-190. Glasstone, Samuel and Philip J. Dolan. The Effects of Nuclear Weapons. 3rd ed. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977.

Holmes, Robert. “Terrorism and Violence: A Moral Perspective,” Issues in War and Peace: Philosophical Inquiries, eds. Joseph C. Kunkel and Kenneth H. Klein (Wolfeboro, NH: Longwood Academic, 1989), pp. 115-127. Levie, Howard S. “Chemical and Biological Warfare,” Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, ed. Lester Kurtz (San Diego: Academic Press, 1999), volume 1, pp. 213-221. McCuen, Gary E., ed. Poison in the Wind: The Spread of Chemical and Biological Weapons. Hudson, NY: McCuen Pubs., 1992. Osterholm, Michael T. and John Schwartz. Living Terror: What Americans Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe. New York: Delacorte Press, 2000. Pringle, Laurence P. Chemical and Biological Warfare: The Cruelest Weapons. Springfield, IL: Enslow Pubs., 1993. Roberts, Brad, ed.

Biological Weapons: Weapons of the Future? Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1993. Schell, Jonathan. The Fate of the Earth. New York: Knopf, 1982. Solomon, Brian, ed., Chemical and Biological Warfare. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1999. Wells, Donald A., ed. An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. United Nations. Report of the Secretary General. Chemical and Bacteriological (Biological) Warfare and the Effect of their Possible Use (A/7575/Rev. 1, 1969). New York: United Nations, 1969.

Question: How many nuclear weapons have been used in the course of warfare?
Answer: Two