Technical Issues and Organizational Demands for Combating WMD Proliferation

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction currently represents one of the greatest threats to international security. Just as the threat of "loose nukes" exemplifies a risk that cannot be countered via sole reliance on traditional safeguards, the threats exemplified by chemical and biological weapons proliferation require the formulation of strategies focused on prevention and preparedness. The emerging international security environment is characterized by overlapping objectives of persons involved in the formulation, implementation and verification of international regimes to counter these threats. Such overlapping objectives create redundancy in effort unless persons involved in nonproliferation initiatives are afforded sufficient opportunities to discuss their concerns and exchange information. This paper discusses four interrelated strategies aimed at countering the WMD proliferation threat and addresses the need for coordination among persons involved in developing and implementing these strategies. These include: (1) denying or controlling access, (2) detection and interdiction, (3) crisis management and (4) consequence management. These four strategies will be discussed in detail for nuclear, chemical and biological threats in order to assess the technical issues involved in effectively implementing such measures. The paper outlines the strengths and weaknesses of current technical capacity in countering the threat and offers guidelines for the further technical developments essential to the effective implementation of prevention and preparedness strategies. The paper further argues that in the formulation of coherent approaches for mitigating proliferation threats there is a need for a forum that brings scientists and policy makers in the nonproliferation arena together to exchange ideas, discuss technical issues and foster greater awareness of their common objectives and concerns.