ABSTRACT

The attack by the Aum Shinrikyo cult on the Tokyo metro using a chemical nerve agent awakened international attention to the potential of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) 1 in terrorist and other offensive actions by small groups involved in limited-conflict situations. The threat posed by CBW in regional armed conflicts has been widely recognized since the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in the war with Iran in the 1980s, and the dangers of proliferation have been accentuated by the discovery of the extent of the Iraqi CBW program in the last few years.