Basic Level Pre-Course Reading

Chapter 2
CBRN Response Overview
Fourth, many marginalized “Nation States” also see terrorist organizations
as an instrument to do their bidding in hostilities against their enemies.
Supplying CBRN weapons to terrorist groups is a way to attack their enemies
without implicating themselves.
Fifth, CBRN weapons are becoming easier to manufacture with a minimum
amount of knowledge and equipment. Rapid advances in biotechnology also
forewarn of cheaper and easier CBRN weapons in the near future. These
advances along with books, mail-order publications, and Internet accessibility to
information allow amateurs the means and methods to practice without the
requisite training, weaponry, and operational knowledge.
Other reasons CBRN agents may be advantageous to terrorists include:
• the difficulty in detecting them using traditional anti-terrorist sensor systems
(conventional countermeasures);
• the time-lag (in many cases) for biological agents, between release of an
agent and its perceived effects on humans, allowing the perpetrator(s) to
escape;
• in at least some cases, the lack of an agent “signature,” enabling an assassin,
for example, to disguise the cause of death; and,
• their adaptability to small demonstration attacks as an indication of resolve
and capability to be used in a much more devastating attack. 9
2.1.3 Why Would Terrorists Not Choose CBRN Agents?
For the terrorist, one of the major disadvantages to using CBRN agents is their
indiscriminate nature. Most traditional terrorist groups have clearly defined
enemies that can be targeted relatively easily with traditional weapons. Not so
with CBRN weapons, where friends as well as enemies are likely to suffer. “Both
breathe the same poisoned air, drink from the same contaminated reservoir”. 10
These weapons also require the use of safety equipment (protective clothing,
masks, etc.) as well as antidotes, possibly test animals, and lab facilities.
Delivery systems must then be acquired and tested. The potential user of CBRN
weapons must also consider toxicity, ease of acquisition, agent stability,
immunity to detection, rapidity of effects, and communicability.
There may also be reluctance on the part of potential users to learn about new
and relatively complicated weapons when high explosives and automatic
weapons are readily available.
9
10
CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) – Chemical and Biological Terrorism, “First Responders Briefing
Pack”, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 1997.
Laqueur, W. The New Terrorism, Oxford University Press, NY, 1999.
CBRN First Responder Training Program 6 Basic Level Course