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Framing the Opportunities and the Challenges

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Abstract

From the chlorine gas attacks of World War I through the biological threats of the Cold War to the present day, defense against chemical and biological (CB) weapons has been a part of the US national security strategy. While advances in defensive technology have clearly improved, some capabilities have not changed markedly in nearly 20 years and a few that have changed very little in 60 years or more. The last decade, however, has brought an intersection of two key drivers that require a completely new way to look at CB defense and the challenges of CB proliferation. The first, the changing nature of the threat to the USA and its allies began with the fall of the Soviet Union and was magnified greatly by the events of September 11, 2001. Second is the shifting nature of technological progress that brings entirely new capabilities, many of which are no longer the exclusive domain of the USA. These drivers – ranging from the depth of biological research in the former Soviet Union to the rise of asymmetric attacks – offer new opportunities and new challenges for CB defense.

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  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Center for International Strategy, Marietta, GA, USA

    Margaret Kosal

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  1. Margaret Kosal
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Correspondence to Margaret Kosal .

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Kosal, M. (2009). Framing the Opportunities and the Challenges. In: Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0062-3_1

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