ABSTRACT
There is no subject area of the Korean War more difficult to research than that dealing with atomic, chemical, and biological weapons. Though the term “weapons of mass destruction” was not in use in 1950, all belligerents recognized the added danger of resorting to “gas, bugs, and nukes,” and that their use was an escalatory step beyond what was normally acceptable in warfare. Any information pertaining to them had to be carefully protected, and was always classified. That legacy remains today. Information related to atomic weapons is exempt from automatic declassification and most remains inaccessible to public release. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 (9/11) and with the increased concerns about empowering terrorists, access to data about the other categories is also likely to be restricted. Researchers have often had to make inferences based on very limited information, so it is not surprising that many questions remain unanswered, and many early suppositions have been overturned.
