Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: TICs & TIMs

Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism
Training Support Package
Participant Guide
Slide 17
Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism:
TICs & TIMs
Limitations with Purpose:
Designed WMD
Aum Shinrikyo – Matsumoto
1994, Tokyo 1995 ( Sarin)
• Spent ~$30 million on chemical
weapons research
• Employed many scientists
• Killed only 19
• Problems with
– Production
– Effective Delivery System
Module One – Toxic Warfare: Looking Beyond Conventional Chemical Weapons
17
One of the worst “chemical terrorism" incidents on civilians involved the release of the
deadly nerve agent sarin in the Tokyo subway in 1995. This terrorist group – often
referred to as a “sect” prior to this incident – was known as Aum Shinrikyo and was led
by what some considered a god-like guru – Shoko Asahara. This group had a number
of highly educated scientists as its members, and they apparently spent ~$30 million or
more on chemical weapons research.
Problems in producing truly weapon-grade sarin (estimates were that the product was