ABSTRACT
Introduction Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) refers to the range or specific type of manmade hazards that by their inherent lethality to humans have the potential to cause mass destruction (e .g ., loss of life or property or both) . The historical development and employment of theses hazards as legitimate military weapons has led to the generally accepted terminology weapons of mass destruction (WMD) when referring to CBRN hazards in a domestic environment (Mauroni, 2010) . Within the United States the term WMD has also taken on a legalistic meaning when used for the prosecution of individuals involved with production, dissemination, and use of CBRN hazards to achieve terrorist goals (Mauroni, 2010) . For the purposes of this chapter, whenever WMD is used, it is essentially equivalent to the range of CBRN hazards discussed here .
