ABSTRACT
The proliferation of ballistic missiles has become a fact of life in many Third World strategic environments. Chemical warheads can greatly increase the effectiveness of ballistic missiles as terror weapons and can significantly enhance their potential utility against unprotected military targets. The 1987 US-Soviet Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty may provide a useful model for limiting the global spread of ballistic missiles. While the INF Treaty eliminated an entire class of US-Soviet weapons, significant activity continues in other countries with nuclear ambitions to produce or deploy missiles in the ranges. The Missile Technology Control Regime remains an insufficient constraint on the global spread of ballistic missiles, in part because the Soviet Union, notwithstanding its agreement to adhere to its limits in other respects, continues to supply Scud-B missiles to Afghanistan. Regional agreements to proscribe missiles within particular range bands may be a promising approach for reducing the dangers of missile proliferation.
