Chemical Warfare - An Urgent Need for a Credible Deterrent.

Abstract

Lethal chemical agents, which caused one million casualties in World War I, have not been used on any significant scale until recently. Evidence that the Soviet Union and its allies employed toxic weapons in Laos, Cambodia, and Afghanistan makes it necessary to evaluate US chemical warfare policy. That policy examined against the history of chemical warfare, arms control negotiations, and the current military threat is deemed to be adequate. Existing military capabilities to implement that policy are, however, held to be seriously inadequate. The conclusion is reached that retaliatory capabilities must be modernized and improved if the policy is to remain effective. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 19, 1982
Accession Number
ADA116271

Entities

People

  • James E. Leonard

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Air Force
  • Arms Control
  • Casualties
  • Chemical Warfare
  • Chemical Warfare Agents
  • Chemical Weapons
  • International Organizations
  • Munitions
  • National Security
  • Protective Equipment
  • Protective Masks
  • Treaties
  • United Nations
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies