editorial CBRN just got smaller
CBRN response has to encompass an all-hazards approach to deal with hazmat and toxic releases as well as small and large-scale attacks
he first anniversary of the courageous shooting dead by US Navy Seals of Osama bin Laden was followed days later by news of a foiled plot to deploy
a reportedly non-metallic underwear device on an aircraft. Its seizure was made possible by an insider placement within Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP). Terrorists are being stopped in their tracks in several countries due to enhanced intelligence, surveillance and international cooperation between agencies. Nevertheless, militants based in Yemen, as well as Pakistan, where UK and European terrorists continue to train, now pose a substantial terror threat to the West. Chemicals for new types of explosives and initiation systems are being amassed at new AQAP training sites and bomb factories. An article published posthumously by Anwar al-Awlaki, who having been implicated in several plots aimed at the US and Europe died in a targeted
arsenal nerve and blister agent, and chemical stocks, remain a leading cause for concern for their possible use by either government or opposition forces amid continuing conflict and increased IED attacks. The UN Security Council is the only international body with the authority to examine Syrian CW, and sources at the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) admit that not enough attention is being paid to securing them. CW ending up in Hezbollah hands or in a wider conflict involving Turkey and Israel may raise the threat of their use on civilians, as well as breaking the regional balance of power. The same will result if Iran’s nuclear ambitions are realised which, along with expectation of a third North Korean nuclear test following a failed missile launch in April, form a familiar backdrop of nuclear weapons proliferation. But the real Far East crisis is presently Fukushima. Not nuclear terrorism - but
Anwar al-Awlaki, implicated in several plots aimed at the US and Europe, urged AQ affi liates to conduct chemical and biological attacks...
U.S. aerial strike in Yemen in September, urges AQ affiliates to conduct chemical and biological attacks. As to whether AQ are able to launch them, in this edition we analyse their CBRN intentions and realistic capabilities as well as other sources – such as lone wolves – who create chaos and injury with sporadic and small-scale attacks involving white powder and ricin. But that does not rule out the possibility of another large-scale attack – the Breivik case most recently exemplifying the potential of even one lone extremist to kill en masse. Legacy weapons are an enduring problem as ready-made means of terror. Syria’s reputed arsenal of deliverable
After consulting with readers and advertisers, we have decided to change the title of our magazine from Chemical & Biological Warfare to Chemical, Biological and Nuclear
Warfare (CBNW), as this better refl ects our increased coverage of nuclear and radiological issues. We are also pleased to announce that from this autumn we are publishing an online ‘e-zine’ version of CBNW twice a year in between our winter and summer issues. More details will be posted on www.
chembio.biz, where you can also fi nd the digital edition of this magazine plus previous issues.
an ongoing radiological disaster requiring advanced decontamination and salvage, abandonment of land and property, and a long-term programme of monitoring for all types of radiation into food, water, land and sea. Thus, CBRN response has to encompass an all-hazards approach to deal with hazmat and toxic releases as well as small and large-scale attacks, and other odd events such as chemical suicides, all of which are featured in this issue – published on the brink of Britain’s biggest ever security operation in peacetime. The London Olympics will be a showcase not only of sport but of counter-terrorism – amid new warnings in May about biological or chemical attacks from a small aircraft or an unmanned drone small enough to fit inside a backpack. The officer responsible for community relations during the Games, Lt. Col. Brian Fahy, said: “The range of threats varies in size and capability. It could be a commercial airliner hijacked by somebody with malicious intentions or a protest group using a microlight to get their name in the papers.” This sums up much of the present threat: small is dangerous.
CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR WARFARE | 2012/02 | 5
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