Guiding the United States Government Response to an Overseas Chemical, Biological, Radiological, or Nuclear Disaster

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to answer the following question. What factors should senior United States government officials be familiar with, and take into consideration, when making time-constrained decisions regarding the type and extent of a United States government response to a Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) event overseas? In determining these factors, the author researched salient books, periodicals, published and unpublished papers, and credible Internet sites. The author also conducted telephonic interviews and electronic mail exchanges with government officials in the fields of Weapons of Mass Destruction terrorism and Consequence Management. The author argues that the United States has developed significant CBRN response forces, but is hamstrung in projecting a timely response to an event overseas by a fragmented decision-making process at the strategic level. The author also proposes that national interests drive the decision to respond to a foreign nation's request for assistance, and that interests are based predominantly on political and economic concerns.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA409304

Entities

People

  • Roman N. Hrycaj

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Air Force
  • Casualties
  • Department Of State
  • Electronic Mail
  • Emergencies
  • Emergency Response
  • First Responders
  • Governments
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • National Security
  • Security Personnel
  • Terrorism
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Readers

  • Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.
  • Library and Information Science
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics