Author: Albert J. Mauroni Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 1442273313 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
The Cold War phrase “weapons of mass destruction” continues to be used despite significant changes in international political cultures, military concepts of operation, and technology advances. Today, the term “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) is used to address many things, from grams of ricin and barrels of industrial chemicals to megaton nuclear weapons. As a direct result of the decision to refer to all nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons as well as biological, chemical 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. This book uses a public policy framework to examine how the U.S. government, and in particular the U.S. military, should address the potential use of unconventional weapons in the 21st century. It defines the problem, identifies the policy actors and reviews policy options. It discusses past policy efforts before offering a critical review of current strategies and how WMD issues are integrated into the current military Joint Operating Concepts (deterrence, cooperative security, major combat operations, irregular warfare, stability, and homeland security), and proposes new national framework for countering WMD. The aim is to answer such questions as what does counterproliferation mean and whether the U.S. government is adequately prepared to protect U.S. citizens and its armed forces from adversaries developing unconventional weapons.
Author: U. S. Military Publisher: ISBN: 9781521171127 Category : Languages : en Pages : 283
Book Description
This unique book is a compendium of eight outstanding reports from the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD Center). The reports include: Part 1: Defining "Weapons of Mass Destruction" * Part 2: Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: Looking Back, Looking Ahead * Part 3: International Partnerships to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction * Part 4: Can al Qaeda Be Deterred from Using Nuclear Weapons? * Part 5: Eliminating Adversary Weapons of Mass Destruction: What's at Stake? * Part 6: Iraq and After: Taking the Right Lessons for Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction * Part 7: The Future Nuclear Landscape * Part 8: The Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Their Nature and Role in 2030 The phrase "weapons of mass destruction, "for example, is an amorphous one, changing meaning according to the whims of the speaker. Raising the specter of WMD is more a way by which politicians assign blame or take a stand on seemingly objective moral standards than a way by which they assess a particular weapons system. Because many analysts find fault with existing definitions, they offer new definitions that differ in some radical way from those commonly accepted.8 Still others, believing that the traditional definitions for WMD are intellectually problematic, propose dropping the term altogether. Recognizing these disagreements, the 2004 British government review of Iraq WMD intelligence offered the following comment: There is a considerable and long-standing academic debate about the proper interpretation of the phrase "weapons of mass destruction." We have some sympathy with the view that, whatever its origin, the phrase and its accompanying abbreviation is now used so variously as to confuse rather than enlighten readers. In important ways, the world is at a nuclear crossroads. The complex and dynamic nuclear landscape presents us with challenges along at least four axes: regional nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, great power nuclear relations, and the security implications of increased interest in nuclear energy. These problems are interrelated in ways that the national security community does not fully understand. Strategy and policy frameworks do not address them in sufficiently integrated fashion. New conceptual thinking is required to develop a more unified understanding of and approach to managing the risks and opportunities posed by these 21st-century nuclear challenges. Today, more than at any other time in the nuclear era, nuclear capacity and potential (knowledge, technology, and materials) are accessible to a growing number of actors with more ambitious goals. The result is a high degree of nuclear latency that challenges traditional thinking about nuclear threats. Whereas 30 or 40 years ago, only a handful of countries were assumed to know how to acquire nuclear weapons, as many as 35 or 40 nations currently are believed to be in the know, and many more could become so based on their participation in civilian nuclear energy programs.
Author: Paul I. Bernstein Publisher: ISBN: Category : National security Languages : en Pages : 54
Book Description
This occasional paper from the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction examines the evolution of U.S. perceptions of the WMD threat and major responses to that threat from the Clinton administration through the first few months of the Obama administration. It also considers why our worst fears for WMD use and proliferation have not been realized and anticipates some of the major WMD challenges that lie ahead. An important basis for the paper are the presentations and discussions conducted during the WMD Center's eighth annual symposium, "WMD Proliferation and Use: Have We Been Effective, Lucky, or Overly Concerned?" held at NDU on May 7-8, 2008. Nearly 20 years have passed since the United States began worrying in earnest about the risks of regional weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation. In the run-up to Operation Desert Storm in 1990, the Department of Defense (DoD) had no systematic understanding of or approach to prosecuting a regional war against an adversary armed with and prepared to use nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. The improvisational efforts to prepare for possible Iraqi WMD use gave way after the war to a concerted effort during the Bill Clinton administration to prepare the Armed Forces to confront WMD-armed regional adversaries, while working to defuse such threats through diplomacy -- coercive and otherwise. The George W. Bush administration brought to the WMD problem a different set of assumptions and beliefs that led to new areas of emphasis and new approaches, many of them shaped by the need, after the attacks of 2001, to confront more directly the threat of WMD use by violent nonstate actors. The Obama administration's principal departures from the Bush administration's approach to WMD issues are its greater emphasis on traditional, treaty-based disarmament and nonproliferation, its reorientation of BMD programs, and how it will ensure the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent for as long as it is needed.
Author: Thanos P. Dokos Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135767920 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 239
Book Description
Examining the accuracy of predictions and perceptions about a possible military threat from the Southern Mediterranean world, this book assesses the impact of such a threat on NATO's political and military posture and the Alliance's key options for dealing with the problem.
Author: Tim Bonds Publisher: ISBN: 9780833089892 Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE Languages : en Pages : 130
Book Description
Although two successive presidents have determined that weapons of mass destruction (WMD)--particularly nuclear weapons in the hands of violent extremists--pose the greatest threat to the American people, and have decided that countering their proliferation is a top strategic priority, neither administration has made countering WMD a priority when it comes to allocating budgetary resources to that overarching national mission. In the public domain, little analysis exists that assesses the capacity and capabilities required by military forces to conduct WMD elimination (WMD-E) operations. As a result, public discussion of what capabilities the military requires for such operations generally omits or gives short shrift to requirements for the WMD-E mission. The purpose of this report is to address and analyze those requirements, namely, the ground force capacity (force size) and capabilities (force structure) needed to accomplish WMD-E missions and tasks. In particular, these analyses provide an informed description of the types and size of U.S. Army forces required to conduct WMD-E operations in a wide range of situations.
Author: United States Department of Defense Publisher: CreateSpace ISBN: 9781503016811 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 30
Book Description
Actors of concern pose a threat of developing, acquiring, proliferating, or employing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and related capabilities--expertise, materials, technologies, and means of delivery. These activities present a clear threat to the strategic objectives of the United States. State or non-state actors may use WMD to conduct a catastrophic attack on U.S. citizens and infrastructure; to exploit U.S. power projection, sustainment, and force protection vulnerabilities; to deny access to an area or region and limit the ability of the United States to respond to urgent threats; or to undermine the support for U.S. policies and actions by key regional partners. This strategy seeks to ensure that the United States and its allies and partners are neither attacked nor coerced by actors with WMD. It delineates three end states: that no new actors obtain WMD, those possessing WMD do not use them, and if actors use WMD, their effects are minimized. It is imperative that our political will and military capability to provide security, resist coercion, and defeat aggression are not undermined by the threatened or actual use of WMD. As part of a whole-of-government effort, the Department of Defense (DoD) will continue to build new capabilities, coalitions, mechanisms, and international norms in cooperation with allies and partners to counter WMD. Countering WMD (CWMD) consists of efforts against actors of concern to curtail the conceptualization, development, possession, proliferation, use, and effects of WMD and related capabilities. These efforts emphasize shaping the security environment to influence state and non-state actors to eschew WMD-related activities. They focus on addressing WMD developments as early as possible and protecting the force against operationally significant threats. DoD will closely integrate these efforts into broader plans and operations. This strategy reflects the contemporary and emerging WMD challenge and provides a strong foundation for developing and implementing necessary policies, plans, and programs.
Author: Tamer Renders Publisher: Nova Snova ISBN: 9781536160642 Category : Weapons of mass destruction Languages : en Pages : 306
Book Description
This book is a compilation of government reports on weapons of mass destruction. The first chapter is a bill that seeks to ensure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the structure, authority, and tools it needs to counter the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Chapter 2 discusses the continuation of the national emergency with respect to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Chapter 3 reports on the Department of Homeland Security's organisation to counter weapons of mass destruction. The danger North Korea poses to the world is more than just its rogue nuclear program and ballistic missile brinksmanship as discussed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 examines (1) DHS programs and activities to prevent and protect against domestic chemical attacks and (2) the extent to which DHS has integrated and coordinated all of its chemical defense programs and activities. Chapter 6 examines (1) information the federal government has about the procurement, distribution, use, and disposition of Agent Orange; (2) DOD and VA efforts to make information about where Agent Orange and its components were tested and stored available; and (3) challenges associated with Agent Orange testing.
Author: Albert J. Mauroni
Author: Paul I. Bernstein
Author: U. S. Military
Author: Paul I. Bernstein
Author: John P. Caves
Author: United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Author: Thanos P. Dokos
Author: Tim Bonds
Author: United States Department of Defense
Author: Tamer Renders