Weapons of Mass Destruction

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are weapons capable of causing massive numbers of deaths, injuries, and/or destruction. They are usually classified into three categories: biological; chemical; and nuclear and/or radiological weapons. Biological weapons use bacteria and viruses—toxins found in nature—to kill or incapacitate people. Chemical weapons use manufactured chemicals, such as chlorine gas. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction are nuclear weapons, which release large amounts of energy by splitting the atoms of highly enriched uranium or plutonium in a process called fission, or reaction. The destruction brought about by even a crude nuclear weapon may be devastating due to the enormous amount of heat and pressure released. In addition, nuclear destruction is accompanied by a fallout of ionizing radiation, which damages human cells and can cause health problems long after the nuclear event.

Bioterrorism and chemical weapons

Biological and chemical weapons have existed for centuries. They were used by the warring nations in World War I (1914–18). Germany first experimented with chlorine gas to incapacitate enemy troops. Dispensed into the enemy trenches, it caused violent choking and coughing and was often fatal. When soldiers started wearing masks to protect themselves from the gas, Germany began to use mustard gas. The gas, usually shot onto a trench or battlefield in artillery shells, poisoned its victims slowly and painfully, blistering their skin, blinding them, causing vomiting, internal and external bleeding, and terrible coughing and choking.

The Geneva Protocol of 1925, an international agreement about the rules of war, banned biological warfare. Despite this ruling, during World War II (1939–45) Japanese forces used biological weapons against prisoners of war, infecting them with diseases such as cholera, plague, and anthrax.

In 1972, an international agreement banning chemical and biological warfare, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), was affirmed. By the end of 2000 it had been signed by 160 countries including the United States, Iraq, the Russian Federation, Libya, Iran, and North Korea. But the development of biological and chemical weapons was not halted. Between 1972 and 1992, the Soviet Union undertook significant biological weapons development despite its endorsement of the BWC. This program included research and development of biological weapons such as anthrax, plague, smallpox, and the Ebola virus. When Iraq was defeated by a U.S.-led coalition in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, its leaders acknowledged Iraqi development of many disease-causing bacteria as biological weapons. In 1995 the United Nations (UN) ordered that Iraq's biological weapons facilities be destroyed. In the Iraq War , chlorine gas was used by the insurgents (rebels) against civilians and U.S. troops.

Nuclear and radiological weapons

On August 6, 1945, at the end of World War II, a U.S. bomber released an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated one hundred and thirty thousand people and destroying 81 percent of the city's buildings. Three days later, the United States leveled much of Nagasaki, Tokyo, with a second atomic bomb, killing at least sixty thousand. An additional one hundred and thirty thousand Japanese died within five years from radiation burns and other injuries inflicted during these attacks.

After World War II ended, the Cold War (1945–91) began. It was a period of noncombative conflict between the Communist East—mainly the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China—and the capitalist West—mainly the United States and Western Europe. The two “superpowers,” the Soviet Union and the United States, were pitted against one another, and each developed increasingly sophisticated atomic bombs. This led to the development of the hydrogen bomb in 1952, which is about one thousand times more powerful and destructive than the atomic bomb used in Nagasaki.

The threat of the nuclear bomb dominated the Cold War era, but no nation ever employed atomic or nuclear weapons in battle after the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. One reason the Cold War never became a “hot” shooting war between the main rivals was that both sides were painfully aware that a nuclear conflict could lead to their mutual destruction.

In the early 2000s, two decades after the end of the Cold War, eight nations are known to have nuclear weapons. Five are internationally recognized nuclear powers: the United States, Russia, England, France, and China. Three more have successfully conducted nuclear tests: India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel has nuclear weapons but has not officially declared them. Some nations are suspected of carrying on nuclear development secretly, including Iran and Saudi Arabia. Though there are concerns in the United States about hostile countries such as Iran and North Korea obtaining nuclear weapons, most nations are governed by the same knowledge that persisted through the Cold War—that any attempt to launch a nuclear bomb at an enemy would result in nuclear retaliation and the inevitable destruction of one's own country.

Terrorists and weapons of mass destruction

In the early years of the twenty-first century, international law and peace-keeping agencies reported the presence of a new breed of terrorists who appeared to be more inclined than terrorists of the past to commit acts of extreme violence. Most twenty-first century terrorists are motivated by religious convictions or antigovernment beliefs. Weapons of mass destruction could be especially valuable to these terrorists, who seek to perform large-scale and indiscriminate killing for the sake of revenge, hatred, or to demonstrate their own political or religious convictions.

Toxic biological and chemical agents can be an attractive weapon for terrorists. In March 1995, members of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo cult released sarin, a nerve gas, in a Tokyo subway during rush hour, killing twelve people and injuring thousands. Since the Tokyo subway attack, incidents involving chemical and biological weapons have been on the rise.

On October 2, 2001, just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a photo editor was diagnosed with a fatal case of inhalation anthrax that had been sent in a letter. He was the first known person in the United States to die from inhaled anthrax since 1976. Within days more individuals tested positive for exposure to anthrax and it became clear that letters containing anthrax had been mailed to a series of high-profile addresses. Soon, the U.S. postal service was paralyzed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found no direct link to organized terrorism. Most experts believe the anthrax attacks were the result of domestic terrorism , and possibly the work of a lone American.

Nuclear and radiological terrorist weapons

No known terrorist incidents have ever involved actual nuclear weapons. Security experts are constantly on the alert for nuclear or radiological weapons that may have fallen into the hands of terrorists.

Despite some common features, nuclear and radiological terrorism are distinct. Nuclear weapons require highly sophisticated development and difficult-to-obtain materials. Radiological weapons—devices that spread dangerous radioactive materials—may be a more likely route for terrorists. The best known example of a radiological weapon is the “dirty bomb,” in which radioactive waste is wrapped around a conventional explosive and detonated, spreading poison and contamination. Dirty bombs will instantly kill those in the immediate vicinity, but their primary impact would be in long-term health effects, such as cancer and other diseases, for all who come into contact with their fallout.

Suitcase bombs are far more sophisticated and powerful than dirty bombs. Made with plutonium or highly enriched uranium, they are true nuclear weapons. Weighing up to sixty pounds (thirty kilograms), these nuclear bombs can fit into a small suitcase or large backpack and possibly be smuggled through an airport or, more likely, inside cargo containers aboard a ship or plane. Suitcase bombs were made by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Some have gone missing and could be in the hands of terrorists.

Twenty-first-century WMD concerns

During the Afghanistan conflict , U.S.-led forces found al-Qaeda documents describing production of weapons of mass destruction. Evidence indicates that al-Qaeda had been trying to obtain enriched uranium since the early 1990s. Though al-Qaeda's efforts at establishing a WMD program were probably impeded by the invasion of their headquarters in Afghanistan, it is possible that other domestic and international terrorist groups may be developing weapons of mass destruction.

In March 2003, the United States led a coalition in a massive Iraq invasion , which the administration of President George W. Bush (1946–; served 2001–) claimed had continued to develop weapons of mass destruction even after the United Nations had prohibited it from doing so. No weapons of mass destruction were found.