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301. Agricultural Bioterrorism: A Federal Strategy to Meet the Threat

Author:
Henry S. Parker
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The attacks of September 11, 2001, have made Americans acutely aware of their vulnerability to terrorism. Now the Nation is focused on improving defensive measures and rooting out and destroying the global infrastructure of terrorism. In response to the terrorist offensive, the Bush administration has engineered an international coalition against terrorism; dedicated substantial new resources to prevent or deter this blight; undertaken military action against blatant practitioners of terrorism; and established a new Office of Homeland Security, under the leadership of former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, to coordinate the Federal response to terrorism.
Topic:
National Security, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Pennsylvania

302. Winning Without War: Sensible Security Options for Dealing with Iraq

Author:
George A. Lopez, David Cortwright, and Alistair Millar
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:
Advocates of military action against Iraq contend that war is the only certain option for preventing Saddam Hussein from developing or using nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. They claim that diplomacy, containment, and other options have been tried and found wanting. They add that the possibility that Saddam will pass these weapons on to terrorist groups leaves little choice for measures other than prompt military action. This approach was underscored by President Bush in his address of October 7 delivered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and Ohio

303. Maintaining the Effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders, Frida Kuhlau, John Hart, and Ronald Sutherland
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
On 28 April 2003 a Special Conference of the States Parties to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be convened to review the implementation of the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC) and to take into account new, relevant, scientific and technological developments. Whatever specific points may be considered, this Conference needs to address two underlying issues: States Parties' long-term interests in continued participation in the OPCW regime; and how the treaty's effectiveness can be maintained and enhanced given the latest shifts in the security environment (including the new urgency of counter-terrorist efforts), current political and financial realities and the fast pace of technological change. These can best be tackled if the Conference focuses its attention on a small number of manageable, well-conceptualized issues. Otherwise there is a risk that the Conference could become bogged down in open-ended discussions on a myriad of unresolved operational implementation issues. This paper is intended to inform such a conceptualized approach. It was prepared at SIPRI by John Hart, Frida Kuhlau, Ronald Sutherland and Jean Pascal Zanders. It was edited by Andy Mash.
Topic:
Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

304. Managing Proliferation Issues with Iran

Author:
C. Richard Nelson and David H. Saltiel
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Any government in Tehran will be inclined to seek weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missile delivery options given the realities of its strategic environment. These weapons might help Iran to deter potential external threats, to achieve equality with other major regional powers armed with WMD, and to attain self-reliance in national security, given the isolating experience of arms embargoes. A more pluralist leadership in the future, however, may examine broader choices and trade-offs, and perhaps be less likely to cross key thresholds in WMD acquisition. In any event, Iran's WMD behavior is likely to be determined by both external factors, mainly the availability of crucial components, and internal factors, including calculations of costs, risks, and benefits. Among the benefits, psychological factors, such as prestige, will play an important role. Other important factors that might well shape Iran's WMD behavior include developments in Iraq, relations with the United States and other Gulf states, Israeli-Palestinian relations and the future price of oil.
Topic:
Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

305. The Defense Monitor: Victory At An Unknown Cost

Author:
Stephen H. Baker
Publication Date:
12-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Throughout the spring, summer and fall of this year thousands of U.S. military planners have worked on the various contingencies and strategies concerning a possible invasion of Iraq.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

306. The Defense Monitor: The Afghan Campaign One Year On

Author:
Mark Burgess
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
An Afghan Blitzkrieg? Sept. 11, 2001, transformed Afghanistan even more than it did America. The pariah state which harbored Osama bin Laden, and was the base camp for his al Qaeda network, immediately became the focus of the U.S. war against terrorism. The Afghan campaign began amid dire warnings of the dangers historically faced by foreign interlopers in the country that was center stage of central Asia's “great game” during the 19th and 20th centuries and that would become the first battlefield of an even greater one during the first year of the 21st. The experience of the British and the Soviets was held up as an example of what fate potentially awaited any American intervention in Afghanistan. A year later, such warnings seem overstated. Al Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan have been destroyed, the Taliban ousted, and an Afghan Transitional Government rules in their place. Meanwhile, life for the average Afghan is a considerably less nasty and brutish affair than it was a little over a year ago — all in short order and at a relatively low cost in human life. Such successes notwithstanding, the Afghan campaign is not yet over. It has not been without failings, some of which may return to haunt ongoing operations there. Similarly, some of the methods used to achieve this success, while effective in the short term, may yet prove polemical.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

307. The Defense Monitor: How Little is Enough: U.S. End–Use Monitoring and Oversight of the Weapons Trade

Author:
Fleur A. Burke
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
When the united states began airstrikes in Afghanistan in October 2001, U.S. planes were threatened by Stinger missiles that had been provided to the mujaheddin by the United States in the 1980s. Since at least the mid-1990s, the use of legally exported U.S. weaponry to bomb and burn Kurdish villages in southeastern Turkey has been documented. Turkish forces have also used U.S.-supplied light weaponry in specific human rights violations, ranging from torture to indiscriminate firing on civilians.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Turkey

308. The Defense Monitor: Intelligence and Sept. 11

Author:
Dan Smith
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In the aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, the accusation was “intelligence failure.” In the aftermath of the series of revelations in May and June 2002 about bureaucratic bungling in the weeks before the attacks, the accusation was “what did the president know and when did he know it?”
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

309. The Defense Monitor: Nuclear Time Warp

Author:
Dr. Bruce G. Blair
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
President george W. Bush's new Nuclear Posture Review harks back to the stone age, or at least to the 1950s, when America's most beautiful minds struggled to devise a strategy to deal with the original rogue state — the Soviet Union. The latest exercise to devise a nuclear strategy to neutralize threats of weapons of mass destruction wielded by the 2002-class of rogue states such as Iraq and North Korea is proof that time folds over on itself, and that higher-order nuclear intelligence is as elusive as table-top fusion. This repetition of history isn't funny, but it is dangerous.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Iraq and North Korea

310. The Defense Monitor: Exploring the Axis of Evil — Introduction

Author:
Dan Smith
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
IN HIS JAN. 29, 2002 State of the Union Address to Congress and the American public, U.S. President George W. Bush described a tripartite “axis of evil” threatening the United States.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States