ABSTRACT
Chemical weapons are one of the oldest of those capabilities frequently described as “weapons of mass destruction,” also commonly referred to simply as WMD. Strictly speaking, neither chemical nor biological weapons are capable of inflicting mass destruction, and for this reason, a more useful term is chemical biological radiological and nuclear (CBRN) that acknowledges their unconventional nature without overstating the extent to which they have similar destructive capabilities. The history of the use of various chemicals as agents of harm is as extensive as it is eclectic. For example, toxic fumes were used as a weapon in India as far back as 2000 BC. In 400 BC, Sparta reportedly used wood saturated with pitch and sulfur under besieged city walls to choke defenders. In 1591, Germans burned stink bombs containing a mixture of shredded hooves and horns with a fetid gum resin to disrupt enemy forces.1 But it was the chemical scientific revolution of the late nineteenth century that gave chemicals the potential to become a major weapon of war. The
Introduction 131 Chemical Weapons: Technical Dimensions 133 Jihadist Chemical Weapon Acquisition Strategies 134
Theft of Military CW Agents 134 Purchase or Transfer of Military CW Agents 135 Production 136 Aum Shinrikyo 138 Acquisition of Toxic Industrial Chemicals 140
Historical Use by Jihadist Groups 141 Changing CW Terrorist Challenge 145
Challenge of Advancing Science and Technology 145 Central Importance of Knowledge 146 Impact of Globalization 147
Broad Spectrum of Potential Use Options 148 Conclusion 149 Notes 150
crippling potential inherent in chemical weapons was revealed in 1915 near the Belgian town of Ypres when the Germans unleashed clouds of chlorine gas against Allied lines, breaking the defense and inflicting serious casualties. This successful attack led to an everincreasing use of chemical weapons on the battlefields of World War I by all participants; by the final stages of the war, up to one-third of all artillery shells were chemical rounds. The chemical genie was unleashed, and chemical weapons have since been considered a scourge upon mankind. Regrettably, even as the final years of the twentieth century saw reductions in the threat from state-run chemical weapons programs, there were increasing signs that chemical weapons might become a significant weapon in the hands of terrorists, especially jihadists.
