Weapons of Mass Destruction
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Critics Question Army Readiness for Post-WMD-Attack Domestic Patrols
Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008 WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army's ability to help restore public order after a large-scale domestic terrorist attack -- a mission the president could assign to federal troops during a crisis -- is in doubt, according to a number of critics (see GSN, June 27). The Defense Department, deeply cognizant of public aversion to martial law, has generally been reticent to discuss the possibility that federal troops might be ordered to patrol U.S. streets following a nuclear, chemical or biological attack. In fact, the role is extremely limited, reflecting a nationwide preference for disaster control at the local level. Area police, fire and rescue personnel would almost certainly serve as the "first responders" for preventing or containing chaos after an attack, with National Guard troops under state-level control potentially serving as backup. -
Obama Taps Nonproliferation Expert as Science Adviser
Monday, Dec. 22, 2008An expert on nuclear nonproliferation and climate change has been selected as the lead science adviser to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, according to news reports yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 1). ...
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Bush Aide Accused of Misleading Congress Over Iraqi WMD Claims
Friday, Dec. 19, 2008A U.S. lawmaker yesterday charged a former top aide to President George W. Bush with trying to deceive Congress about whether White House officials knew Bush made an unsubstantiated claim about Iraq's ...
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U.S. Considers Ending Special Trade Rules for Chinese Firms
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008Concerned that Chinese firms could misuse sensitive technology purchased from the United States, the U.S. Commerce Department is considering halting an export program designed to ease trade restrictions, the ...
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Military Forms Special Units to Respond to WMD Attacks
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008WASHINGTON -- U.S. Northern Command, the military organization responsible for defense of the United States, is creating an array of trained and equipped units to respond to any significant event ...
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Upgrades Planned for Dugway Chemical, Biological Defense Testing Site
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008Upgrades are planned for a facility at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah used for testing chemical and biological defense equipment, the Deseret Morning News reported yesterday (see GSN, June ...
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Insurance Firms Avoid WMD Coverage, GAO Finds
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008Firms that provide property and casualty insurance seek to avoid providing coverage for the losses that could be incurred through an incident involving a biological, chemical, nuclear or radiological ...
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White House Prepares Disaster Contingency Plans for Obama
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008The White House has drawn up more than 12 documents listing possible responses for Barack Obama to consider if a North Korean nuclear detonation, terrorist attack or other major emergency unfolds in the early ...
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ASEAN Retains Nuclear Ban in Charter
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008The Association of Southeast Asian Nations retained a decade-old ban on nuclear weapons when it signed a charter declaring the 10-nation group a single legal entity, the Associated Press reported ...
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Former Intelligence Official Faults U.S. Policy-Makers on Iraqi WMD Claims
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008A recently retired U.S. intelligence official said yesterday that the Bush administration must share blame with the intelligence community for failing to strike down erroneous allegations that prewar Iraq ...
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Malaysia Releases Suspected Al-Qaeda WMD Operative
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008Malaysia has freed seven long-imprisoned alleged militants, including an al-Qaeda operative suspected of seeking to organize chemical and biological weapons development programs in Afghanistan, the ...
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Experts Assess Legacy of "Bush Doctrine"
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008Analysts have begun to speculate on the historical impact of U.S. President George W. Bush's stated policy of refusing to distinguish terrorist threats from their state backers and dealing with new ...
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Pipe Bombers Plead Guilty
Monday, Dec. 8, 2008Two people have pleaded guilty to detonating pipe bombs at a federal courthouse and a FedEx site in San Diego earlier this year, the FBI announced Friday (see GSN, Aug. 7). ...
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Rice Regrets Iraqi WMD Claims, Defends War
Monday, Dec. 8, 2008U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday said the invasion of Iraq would ultimately benefit the United States, but that she "would give anything" to alter past claims that the Middle Eastern state ...
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Analyst Takes Issue With Estimate of WMD Risk
Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008 WASHINGTON -- A longtime expert on nuclear threat reduction is questioning a finding released this week asserting the likelihood that a weapon of mass destruction will be used somewhere around the globe within the next five years (see GSN, Dec. 2). The projection, offered Tuesday by the congressionally mandated Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, was that “unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.” “The terrorism report … scared the pants off of most of us in the past couple of days,” Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said at a conference on nuclear deterrence this morning.