use such as Chlorine and Ammonia. The concentration and quantity of the agent will determine if it is usable as a weapon. However, a terrorist does not need to steal, buy or find a CBRN agent; he can also produce one himself. The internet is full of websites and forums on which recipes for the production of agents are exchanged. Jihadi websites are used to exchange often very dangerous recipes. That making a CBRN agent is not impossible was demonstrated in 1995 with the infamous CBRN terrorist attack perpetrated on the Tokyo subway with Sarin. Aum Shinrikyo terrorists used a low quality agent along with a simple and crude (and ineffective) dispersal device - plastic bags punctured with holes.
This brings us to the second part
of a CBRN weapon, the dispersal device. The simplest device would be a bowl with Sarin placed in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system; the Sarin slowly vaporises and is dispersed through a building, vessel or plane. However, devices that are a little smarter can still be fairly effective. Most agents need to be dispersed as small particles or in a mist of droplets, whilst other agents need to be dispersed as a gas. For all these agents, a simple deodorant spray canister will suffice. One removes the contents of an innocent looking deodorant spray and fills it with a CBRN agent and some pressurised gas. Only basic knowledge for making such simple devices (and basic agents)
is needed. Cooking Sarin is a different story. However, if we match the requisite knowledge, experience and lab equipment to those of an average chemistry student, we seem to have a perfect match. Samir Azzouz was a home grown terrorist who was arrested in The Netherlands in 2004. During the search of his house, plans of Schiphol Airport were seized. He was charged only with illegal possession of a firearm and served three months in jail. In 2005, he was arrested again, at the
“…we have the right to kill four million Americans, two million of them children…and cripple them in the hundreds of thousands… Furthermore, it is our obligation to fight them with chemical and biological weapons…”
Chemistry College in Leiden, where he was studying to be a chemist - the perfect occupation for a CBRN terrorist. We can therefore conclude that it is not that difficult for a terrorist to obtain CBRN capability. Although it may be somewhat difficult to gain entrance to the CDC to steal a of Smallpox, it
sa mpl e will
most likely not be so difficult to dig up some Anthrax, o r
to buy it from a research institute as a biochemistry student. The same is true for chemicals; cooking Sarin might stretch the terrorist capabilities somewhat, but picking up some roadside munitions from World War I is not that hard. When it comes to terrorist motivation,
it is harder to make a proper assessment. Unfortunately, we have limited access to research on terrorist preparedness to use CBRN weapons. However, what we do know is that some terrorist groups have used CBRN agents, or have tried to use them, including Islamist groups such as Hamas, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Riyad us-Saliheyn Martyrs’ Brigade and the East Turkistan Liberation Organisation (ETLO). al-Qaeda’s wish to use CBRN was revealed when Osama Bin Laden stated “Acquiring [chemical and nuclear] weapons for the defence of Muslims is a religious duty” and “It is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to terrorise the enemies of God”. Suleiman Abu Gheith (al-Qaeda spokesman) stated that “We have the right to kill four million Americans, two million of them children… and cripple them in the hundreds of thousands… Furthermore, it is our obligation to fight them with chemical and biological weapons, to afflict them with the fatal woes that have afflicted Muslims because of their chemical and biological weapons”. However, whether these Islamist groups were really motivated to use CBRN agents or were just bragging their way into a NATO target folder will probably never be known. None of these individuals or groups has successfully executed an attack.
CBRN Impact Some actually refer to CBRN weapons as Weapons of Mass Disruption. The
reason for this is their psycho-social impact. Even the threat of a small quantity of an agent being used against a certain target will have a significant impact. Although the Tokyo Subway Sarin attack resulted in only eight casualties, 5510 people reported to hospitals with various complaints. Most of them could be considered ‘worried well’; people who were impacted by the Sarin attack, but not physically injured. This is a typical example of when the use of a CBRN agent did not result in mass destruction, but in mass disruption.
Although we often think otherwise,
terrorists are not psychopaths: they don’t kill for the sake of it. Rather, violence is a means to an end….usually
22 Download your FREE ASI "iPad/iPhone APP" NOW April 2013 Aviationsecurityinternational
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