ABSTRACT
Providing an accurate, timely, and verifi able assessment of the threat posed by possible terrorist use of CBRN weapons is an impossible task. It would require not only access to information held by the intelligence and counter-terrorism communities, but also detailed knowledge of the capabilities, intentions and motivations of a wide variety of terrorist groups. It would, in addition, also necessitate a comprehensive historical and scientifi c knowledge of CBRN weapons. In the public domain only the latter is available, and even in this area knowledge is incomplete. As a consequence, the variables involved in what actually constitutes the CBRN threat are too many for those outside the government machinery and/or those without access to intelligence information (complete with its caveats and context(s)) to make any claims with authority.
