Featured Articles Archive
Seventh Review Conference to the Biological Weapons Convention Concludes
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
and Assistant Secretary for International
Security and Nonproliferation Thomas
Countryman at the BWC Review Conference
in December 2011.
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The Seventh Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) ended on December 22. 2011, and, according to Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas Countryman, the United States is “happy with the results.”
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Decisions of the Conference of States Parties to the CWC
OPCW headquarters building in
The Hague, Netherlands
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The 16th Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) convened from November 28 – December 2, 2011 in The Hague. The conference was attended by representatives of 131 States Parties to the CWC, two Signatory States (Israel and Myanmar), 21 non-government organizations (NGOs) and chemical industry associations, and several international organizations. Ambassador Paul Arkwright of the United Kingdom chaired the conference.
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Biological Weapons: Proposed Changes to the Select Agent Program
On October 3, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a joint proposal to make certain changes to the Select Agent Program. If enacted, it will not be the first time the program has been revised, but only the latest iteration of an ongoing process intended to improve the United States’ ability to prevent, prepare for, and respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.
Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)
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The Select Agent Program emerged in the 1990s as a result of legislation passed in response to acts of terrorism including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. In 1996, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), which included provisions for regulating the transfer between laboratories of certain biological agents and toxins, called select agents, considered threatening to human health and safety. AEDPA made the Secretary of HHS responsible for implementing these regulations. Consequently, in 1997, HHS established the Laboratory Registration/Select Agent Transfer Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). At that time, CDC devised a list of 42 select agents to be covered by the program.
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The BWC Implementation Support Unit (ISU)
The BWC Implementation Support Unit (ISU)
“For many years, the States Parties have debated the need for institutional support for the [Biological Weapons] Convention. Now we have it, built not on a political argument, nor on a perception that ‘something is better than nothing,’ but on the solid basis of the positive and practical contribution the temporary secretariat has made . . .”
Ambassador Masood Khan
President of the Sixth Review Conference to the BWC
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Remembering Jonathan B. Tucker
Biological and chemical weapons expert Jonathan B. Tucker was found dead in his Washington, D.C. home on July 31, 2011, at the age of 56. At the time of this writing, the cause of his death is unknown.
Jonathan B. Tucker
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The name Jonathan B. Tucker’s is well known within biological and chemical defense circles. An expert in arms control and nonproliferation policy, and specializing in the areas of biological and chemical weapons, he served for nearly fifteen years as a research fellow at the Monterey Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in Washington, D.C., having stepped down only last year.
In 2010, Tucker spent a semester teaching and researching at Darmstadt University in Germany as an endowed professor of peace and security studies. Most recently, he was a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) in Washington, D.C., managing its Biosecurity Education Project. At the time of his death, he was awaiting a security clearance for a new job at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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Final Steps: Chemical Weapons Destruction at Pueblo and Blue Grass Army Depots
In June 2011, the U.S. Army announced that it had destroyed 87 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons (CW) stockpile and expects to complete the destruction of 90 percent of the U.S. CW stockpile by the deadline of April 29, 2012.1 By this date, seven of the nine Army installations where CW are, or were, stored will have completely destroyed their CW. The remaining two facilities, the Blue Grass Army Depot, located near Richmond, Kentucky, and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo County, Colorado, are currently in the process of constructing CW destruction facilities. The destruction of the remaining ten percent of the U.S. CW stockpile stored at these two facilities is not expected to be completed until approximately 2021. This article provides a brief history of the events leading up to the CW destruction processes developed for destroying the CW at the Pueblo and Blue Grass Army Depots, and outlines the final steps to be taken.
Constructing the Blue Grass Chemical
Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP).
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Chemical weapons destruction activities began in the United States in the mid 1980s. At that time, the only proven destruction method was incineration. As these activities progressed, environmental and safety concerns were raised by citizens and government regulatory organization s over the incineration process, which ultimately led to the search for safer alternative destruction methods. In 1996, in accordance with Public Law 104-208, the U.S. Congress established the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) program and designated funds to launch a pilot program to identify and demonstrate at least two alternative methods for the destruction and disposal of assembled chemical weapons.2 The ACWA program was to be conducted independently from the Army’s chemical demilitarization program and to report directly to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
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RV-PCR: A New Tool for Anthrax Detection
In the fall of 2001, multiple letters containing viable anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. senators. One of the ramifications of this bioterrorism attack was the forced closure of dozens of buildings, both government and commercial, for decontamination. Cleanup efforts would ultimately cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and some buildings remained closed for more than two years. One of the many lessons learned from the response efforts to these attacks was the critical need for a more rapid method for detecting the presence of viable anthrax spores in environmental samples, in order to determine whether a once contaminated area had been fully decontaminated and was safe to reopen.
PCR Tubes
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More than donning the "general issue" gas mask, McConnell AFB members are taking an historic step by hosting a Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) exercise from March 28 to April 1, 2011.
The exercise will be the Air Mobility Command's first base-wide, CWC 301 Mock On-Site inspection. The CWC is a multi-national arms control treaty that prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, use and preparation for use of chemical weapons.
"The goal of the CWC is to one day make a safer world by eliminating chemical weapons," said Dave Graves, AMC Treaty Compliance Officer. "McConnell is contributing to that goal by preparing and training Air Force base assistance teams [BATs]."
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CWC Mock Inspection at McConnell AFB
The following story was released by the U.S. Air Mobility Command on March 25, 2011, with the title "McConnell AFB Airmen to 'Make CWC History'".
More than donning the "general issue" gas mask, McConnell AFB members are taking an historic step by hosting a Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) exercise from March 28 to April 1, 2011.
The exercise will be the Air Mobility Command's first base-wide, CWC 301 Mock On-Site inspection. The CWC is a multi-national arms control treaty that prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, use and preparation for use of chemical weapons.
"The goal of the CWC is to one day make a safer world by eliminating chemical weapons," said Dave Graves, AMC Treaty Compliance Officer. "McConnell is contributing to that goal by preparing and training Air Force base assistance teams [BATs]."
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The Smallpox Debate
In January, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) met to address, among other issues, the question of whether to require the United States and Russia to destroy the only known remaining specimens of
variola major, the smallpox virus. While the Board’s recommendation was to retain the smallpox stores for the present, this question remains far from settled. A number of countries, led by the African region, are lobbying for the final destruction of all smallpox stocks. When the World Health Assembly convenes in May 2011, the issue will be addressed again, perhaps for the last time.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: 2010 BWC Meeting of Experts
U.S. Representative to the Conference on
Disarmament, Ambassador Laura E. Kennedy and Acting
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Philip Foley at the
opening session of the BWC Experts Meeting in Geneva,
August 23, 2010
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From August 23 - 27, 2010, a Meeting of Experts for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva, Switzerland. This event marked the start of the fourth and final segment of the four year intersessional work program agreed by the States Parties at the Sixth BWC Review Conference in 2006.
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A Note from History: Halabja Chemical Attack
Kurdish cemetery.
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In May of this year, thousands of Iraqi Kurds gathered in the town of Halabja to commemorate and honor the victims of the largest chemical attack directed against civilians in history.
In March 1988, the Iran-Iraq war was coming to a close. Kurdish rebels had seized control of Halabja, a town near the Iranian border in the Kurdish mountains. In response to this action, the Iraqi military, under the orders of Saddam Hussein, launched a conventional campaign against the town, forcing out the militia. Then, on the morning of March 16, Iraqi fighter planes carried out a five-hour attack on the village, releasing a cocktail of chemical gases over it.
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Book Review: Bioterror in the 21st Century
by Daniel M. Gerstein
Since the anthrax mail attacks of October 2001, U.S. spending on biological defense has increased from approximately $500 million annually to over $8 billion in 2008. Is this tremendous increase justified by a real threat? What is the likelihood of a large-scale biological attack in the United States or elsewhere?
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Treaty Issues in Depth: The Obama Administration’s National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats
On December 9, 2009, Ellen Tauscher, U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, unveiled the Obama administration’s new National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats during her address to the Annual Meeting of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The policy seeks to increase health security in order to reduce the impact of infectious disease outbreaks, whether natural or man-made.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: U.S. Progress on Chemical Weapons Destruction
Article IV, paragraph 6 of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) states that "destruction [of a State Party’s chemical weapons stockpile] shall begin not later than two years after this Convention enters into force for it and shall finish not later than 10 years after entry into force of this Convention.” Since the CWC entered into force on April 29, 1997, the destruction deadline was set for April 29, 2007 for the Convention’s original ratifying States Parties, which included the United States. At the 11th session of the Conference of States Parties (CSP) of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in 2006, the CSP accepted the recommendations of the OPCW’s Executive Council (EC), which provided revised deadlines for those States Parties unable to reach the original Convention deadline. For the United States and Russia, the destruction deadline was extended to April 29, 2012.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: 2009 BWC Meeting of Experts
From August 24-28, 2009, a Meeting of Experts for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva, marking the start of the third segment of the four-year intersessional work program agreed upon by States Parties at the Sixth BWC Review Conference in 2006. The topic of focus for the 2009 segment is capacity building in disease surveillance, and the theme for the Meeting of Experts was Information for Action.
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Agents and Ammo in Depth: Lewisite (L)
Chemical structure of lewisite |
It was during World War I (WWI) that modern military chemical warfare emerged. Once immersed in that "Great Conflict,” the United States’ need for chemical warfare research became a priority and the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) was established. (For more information, see Featured Article Chemical Warfare in World War I.) The need for research chemists quickly grew, and, before the war’s end, more than 10 percent of all chemists in the United States become involved in this effort.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: Worldwide Progress on Chemical Weapons Destruction
Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility Munitions Handlers watch the last Enhanced Onsite Container carrying VX M55 rockets being lifted by an overhead crane into the disposal facility's container handling building. Photo courtesy of CMA |
On March 26, India notified the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) of the completion of the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile. With this achievement, India became the third nation to eliminate its declared chemical weapons stockpile. Albania completed its destruction in July 2007, and another State Party followed suit in 2008.
Seven States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) have declared possession of chemical weapons (CW).
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A Note from History: Chemical Weapons in World War I
French soldiers making a gas and flame attack on German trenches in Flanders, Belgium, 1917. Image courtesy of www.Archives.gov.
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"It was Thursday evening, April 22, 1915. . . . As we gazed in the direction of the bombardment, where our line joined the French, six miles away, we could see in the failing light the flash of shrapnel with here and there the light of a rocket. But more curious than anything was a low cloud of yellow-grey smoke or vapour, and, underlying everything, a dull confused murmuring. Suddenly down the road from the Yser Canal came a galloping team of horses, the riders goading on their mounts in a frenzied way; then another and another, till the road became a seething mass with a pall of dust over all. Plainly something terrible was happening. . . ."
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Agents and Ammo in Depth: Ebola Virus
Ebola Virus |
In 1976, two large outbreaks of a mysterious disease occurred almost simultaneously in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (then known as Zaire). Over 500 total cases of disease were reported, with death rates of 53 percent in Sudan, and 88 percent in the DRC. One doctor recording details of the outbreak in the DRC wrote, "the illness is characterized with a high temperature of about 39°C (102°F), hematemesis (vomiting of blood), diarrhea with blood . . . and rapid evolution death after a mean of three days.” This disease was later named Ebola hemorrhagic fever, after a river in the Congo near the outbreak location, and the causative virus was named Ebo
la virus.
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CW Issues in Depth: Toxic Industrial Chemicals and the CWC
Highly Toxic Chemical
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The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, or transfer of toxic chemicals intended for use as chemical weapons. At the same time, the Convention also protects the rights of States Parties to develop, produce, store, and transfer toxic chemicals intended for peaceful purposes. This article examines the measures in place within the CWC to accomplish both of these objectives.
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BW Issues in Depth: Emerging Dual-Use Technologies
Biological research conducted for defensive purposes relies on the same scientific principles and technology that could be used to develop offensive biological weapons. The difference between peaceful and hostile use of any technology, process, or instrument is that of intent, which is difficult, if not impossible, to measure. This dual-use phenomenon presents unique problems for balancing scientific advancement against measures to prevent the development of biological weapons.
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Agents & Ammo in Depth: Hydrolysate: Wastewater Byproduct of CW Neutralization
Hydrolysate: Wastewater Byproduct of CW Neutralization
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Hydrolysate is a wastewater byproduct of a chemical agent neutralization process called caustic hydrolysis. This technology was developed as an alternative to incineration as a means for destroying chemical weapons. However, the caustic byproduct, hydrolysate, produced by hydrolysis must also be eliminated.
Currently, the Army has elected to transport hydrolysate waste to off-site facilities for final treatment.
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A Note from History: Aum Shinrikyo
Shoko Asahara
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On March 20, 1995, during morning rush hour, five men entered different trains on the Tokyo subway system, each carrying two or three plastic bags covered with newspapers. At a given time, the men removed the newspapers and punctured the bags using sharpened umbrella tips, and quickly exited the trains. As the liquid from the packages spread and evaporated into the air of the subway trains, people began to cough, choke, convulse, and collapse. By the end of the day, twelve people were dead, and almost 4,000 people were injured.
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Agents and Ammo in Depth: Nerve Agents
VX Structure
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In the early 1930s, a German company called I. G. Farbenindustrie began investigating chemical compounds called organophosphates for potential use as insecticides. In December 1936, Dr. Gerhard Schrader, who headed this research effort for the company, synthesized a highly toxic organophosphate that would later be given the name Tabun. Over a year later, he synthesized a second organophosphorous compound that he called Sarin.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: Second Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention
The Second Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) convened from April 7-19, 2008 in The Hague. Ambassador Waleed Ben Abdel Karim El Khereiji of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia served as Chairperson. In addition to the States Parties represented, the Review Conference extended observer status to three attending non-signatory states: Angola, Iraq, and Lebanon. Twenty-eight non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participated in open sessions and several international organizations, including the United Nations, the Council of the European Union, and the League of Arab States, participated in a special session.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: Biological Weapons Convention Update
Last year, two meetings were held in Geneva concerning the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BWC). A Meeting of Experts was held from 20 to 24 August 2007, and a Meeting of States Parties to the BWC took place from 10 to 14 December, both concerning the topics of national implementation and regional cooperation for implementation. These meetings completed the first segment of the four-year intersessional work program agreed upon by States Parties at the Sixth BWC Review Conference in 2006.
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A Note from History: Yellow Rain
Bee droppings,
resembling yellow rain
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1975, following the Vietnam War, the communist governments of Vietnam and Laos launched a retaliatory campaign against Hmong tribesmen in northern Laos, who had sided with the United States during the war and continued to resist communist rule. That summer, reports came from Laos claiming that government forces were using Soviet-supplied chemical weapons to drive the Hmong out of their mountain hideaways. Refugees reported that toxic agents were being delivered by low-flying aircraft; most described an oily, yellow liquid that sounded like rain when it struck leaves or roofs, earning it the nickname "yellow rain."
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Agents & Ammo in Depth: Toxins
Castor plant:
Ricinus communis
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Toxins are poisonous biochemicals that are produced by living organisms. Toxins are distinct from other chemical agents in that they are more structurally complex and are naturally occurring (although a few toxins can be synthetically produced in laboratories). Unlike other types of biological agents—bacteria, viruses, fungi, and plants—toxins are not living organisms. This is significant in that toxins do not self-reproduce, and do not respond to antibiotic drugs. Because of their unique characteristics, toxins are prohibited by both the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
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Chem-Bio Book: Review Microterrors: The Complete Guide to Bacterial, Viral, and Fungal Infections that Threaten our Health
By Tony Hart, MBBS, BSc, PhD, FRCPCH, FRCPath
From its title, a reader might surmise that Microterrors was a science fiction thriller. Instead, this small, 192-page volume is actually a compact reference guide profiling over 150 pathogens that can cause disease in humans. Systematically organized information and colorful graphics combine to make Microterrors an easy-to-use guide suitable for either quick reference or cover-to-cover reading.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: Chemical Weapons Convention Update
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) will hold its second review conference from 7-18 April 2008. Since its entry-into-force in April 1997, the CWC went from 87 States Parties to 182 Member States, which represents over 98 percent of the world’s population. Currently there are only six signatory states and seven non-signatory states to the Convention.
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Agents & Ammo in Depth: Foot and Mouth Disease Virus
Since the beginning of August, around 2,000 cows in the United Kingdom have died as a result of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Trade restrictions have caused significant losses to the British meat industry. The current outbreak is small in scale compared to an earlier outbreak in 2001, in which over six million animals died and which cost the country an estimated £4 billion (around $6.4 billion). In both instances, the animals did not die from infection, but were killed in order to prevent further spread of the disease. FMD is considered the most economically devastating livestock disease in the world, and the virus that causes it could potentially be used as a weapon of agroterrorism.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: BWC Sixth Review Conference
Last December, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, more commonly known as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), held its Sixth Review Conference (RevCon) in Geneva. The three week meeting ran from November 20 to December 8, 2006, and was considered to be a moderately successful RevCon. The States Parties reached consensus on a number of key issues. These included: a new intersessional work program; creating an implementation support unit; promoting confidence building measures (CBMs), and promoting universalization of the Convention.
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Agents & Ammo In Depth: Tularemia
Last fall, biohazard sensors on the Mall in Washington, D.C. detected low levels of the bacteria Francisella tularensis which causes tularemia. Although these levels were too low to be a health threat to the public, authorities were still notified in order to be on the outlook for possible cases. The presence of the bacteria was not deemed intentional; the detection of it was suspected to have been due to environmental factors.1 This incident highlights F. tularensis and its possible use as a biological weapon.
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Agents & Ammo In Depth: Sarin
Last month an artillery shell containing sarin exploded in Iraq, exposing several U.S. troops to this deadly chemical. The bomb is believed to have been left over from the Iran-Iraq war, but since it was unmarked, it is not known whether the attackers knew the bomb contained sarin. This incident brings into focus a potent chemical weapon that has been, and continues to be, pursued for nefarious reasons.
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A Note from History: The Siege of Caffa
The siege of the Crimean city of Caffa in 1346 CE by invading Mongol hordes is often cited as the most important and recognizable among the first recorded incidents of biological warfare—and the primary cause of the spread of the plague to Europe.
The city of Caffa (now Feodosija, Ukraine), established in 1266 CE by agreement with the Mongols on the Black Sea, was an important trading hub between Genoa and the Far East. In 1289 CE the city fell under the suzerainty of the Khan of the Golden Horde.
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Treaty Issues in Depth: Deadly Legacy: Japanese ACW in China
Japanese scientists began to develop chemical weapons in 1917. By World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army had a chemical weapons arsenal of five to seven million munitions, containing phosgene, mustard, lewisite, hydrogen cyanide, and diphenyl cyanarsine. [Japan color-coded its chemical weapons shells. Click here to find out more.] China claims that Japan used chemical weapons 2,900 times during World War II, killing both Chinese soldiers and civilians. The latest casualty of Japanese WWII-era chemical shells died in August 2003.
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Agents & Ammo In Depth: Binary Chemical Munitions: U.S. and Chinese Notional Designs
Compared to traditional unitary chemical ordnance, binary chemical weapons have been traditionally viewed with having advantages in terms of logistical safety in their handling. About 20 years ago during the Cold War, the United States invested large sums of money and effort into developing binary chemical weapons as part of a modernization program. It also appears that the Chinese military also seriously considered the idea of developing its own binary weapons, including a rocket for a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). Due to per unit cost and other factors, however, it is not likely that China produced any of these in quantity....
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A Note from History: Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky: Russia's "Red Napoleon"
Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky, one of the most brilliant—if ruthless—generals of the Soviet Red Army, was among the first to have formulated a doctrine combining elements of mechanized warfare with offensive chemical weapons. As early as 1921, Tukhachevsky saw the role of chemical warfare agents for various operations, including the pacification of a peasant rebellion in the Tambov region (central Russia). Reported Tukhachevsky,...
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Treaty Issues in Depth: The BWC Intersessional Work Plan
The intersessional work plan of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is the program of activity agreed to by the States Parties to fill the interval between the Fifth Review Conference (Fifth RevCon) and the Sixth Review Conference (Sixth RevCon). The intersessional work plan consists of a series of meetings designed to provide the States Parties with the opportunity to discuss ways of increasing cooperation and strengthening compliance with the Convention following rejection of the draft Protocol during the Fifth RevCon.
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A Note from History: Early Use of Chemical Weapons in Warfare
In the form of poisoned arrows, toxic roots and even windblown dirt, chemical weapons have been in use for thousands of years. As early as 590 B.C., Solon of Athens is said to have used hellebore roots (a purgative) to poison a water aqueduct during the siege of Cirrha, and later on, the ancient Chinese, Romans, and Greeks employed their own chemical warfare tactics and agents. Although crude by today's standards, early chemical weapons were nonetheless effective enough to play a valuable role in warfare throughout the course of history.
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The Horror of Chemical Weapons Use in Modern War
Chemical weapons (CW) were first used in modern warfare during World War I. Many people in the German scientific community, such as Fritz Haber, were convinced that chemical agents were needed to end the war more quickly by breaking the stalemate of trench warfare.
Haber, who practically invented the concept of modern CW, organized and directed the first major chlorine assault against the Allies. On April 22, 1915, the Wehrmacht released a barrage of chlorine gas against Allied forces at Ypres. The French Army (in this case, mostly comprised of Algerian troops) and Canadian soldiers suffered thousands of casualties at this first attack.
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