The New Terror: Facing the Threat of Biological and Chemical Weapons. - Review - book review

Aerospace Power Journal, Fall, 2000 by Jim Davis, John Terino

The New Terror: Facing the Threat of Biological and Chemical Weapons edited by Sidney D. Drell, Abraham D. Sofaer, and George D. Wilson. Hoover Institution Press (http://www.hoover.stanford.edu/presswebsite/hooverpress2.html). Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-6010, 1999, 511 pages, $24.00.

New books covering the subject of biological and chemical weapons (BCW) are now coming out weekly. Although most of them rehash the subject in a different format or sensationalize the horrifying potential of these weapons, this work is fundamentally different. It provides new information not found in other works. A must read for the soldier, statesman, first responder, or others concerned with the implications of these weapons in the future, The New Terror includes valuable insights about complicated issues surrounding BCW and can easily serve as a textbook.

The book is a compilation of topics covered during the Hoover Institution's National Security Forum of 1998. The 17 articles cover six key areas: dimensions of the biological warfare problem, the role of intelligence, building and implementing BCW control regimes and the regulation of BCW, legal constraints, preparing for BCW attacks, and deterring the use of BCW. The contributors are noted experts in this field, such as Rolf Ekeus (executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission [UNSCOM]), Jonathan B. Tucker (research professor and director of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies), and Michael Moodie (president of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute).

The first section provides a comprehensive analysis of the technical issues that make chemical weapons a viable threat in the future. It also includes an excellent chapter that projects the evolution of biological weapons made possible by biotechnological advances. The section concludes with an average discussion of potential BCW attack scenarios. All three chapters provide the reader with an excellent background in BCW threat assessment.

The intelligence section presents the reader with a breakdown of the myriad challenges that the spread of these weapons and their potential use by nonstate actors force upon the American intelligence community. The section on BCW control regimes contains a long chapter by Jonathan Tucker that describes in rich detail the evolution of international norms regarding BCW. The commentary on page 255 runs contrary to several of his conclusions and must be read to fully appreciate Tucker's contribution. Chapters on the history of the Biological Weapons Convention protocol and the UNSCOM experience in Iraq highlight the difficulties of developing enforceable international safeguards against the proliferation of BCW.

The fourth section discusses the legal issues that permeate effective implementation of international agreements on BCW in the United States. The fifth section, regarding domestic preparedness, may be the weakest section since so much activity has occurred on this front since 1998. Ironically, it may also be the most thought provoking since so much work remains to be done to deal with the issues posed by the chapters in this section.

Discussions on deterrence dominate the final section. Ultimately, success against BCW in the future may depend most on deterring attacks rather than preventing the spread of these weapons, responding to their use, or containing the consequences of an event. Thus, the analysis contained in this section is extremely useful for framing policy debates on the appropriate American responses to the potential of BCW.

The New Terror is wonderfully organized, and the writing is, for the most part, lucid and informative. The major weakness of this work is the fact that it is based on presentations almost two years old. Events and attitudes since then have slightly altered some of the analysis in this work, but overall it is excellent. If we were to recommend a single volume on BCW that would familiarize a neophyte with the major issues or provide interesting insights for a seasoned scholar, this would be the one.