Adversarial Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons

Abstract

Interactive tabletop planning games and associated efforts are advancing the understanding of counterproliferation issues among military officers and defense officials. The object of one such recent endeavor, designed by the Center for Counterproliferation Research at the National Defense University (NDU), is twofold: to determine if games offer insights into the possible adversarial use options, and to assess the way in which U.S. and allied forces are taking the threat of chemical and biological weapons (CW/BW) into account when planning and performing operational tasks. Examining these issues as well as the manner in which CW/BW proliferation affect service doctrine and operating principles began with workshops involving over 400 participants. As part of the workshop series, NDU cosponsored a major conference with the Air Force. A simple game was developed to indicate how personnel in the field--planners, operators, intelligence analysts, logisticians, and others--thought about the effect of CW/BW proliferation on their individual areas of responsibility. More specifically, the project sought to learn how much, if at all, these military officers and defense officials had considered how adversarial possession or use of CW/BW might affect their ability to operate in peacetime and in war.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA527343

Entities

People

  • John F. Reichart

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Biological Weapons
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Information Operations
  • Intelligence Analysts
  • Joint Military Activities
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Perception
  • Protective Equipment
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Students
  • Surveys
  • Therapy
  • War Colleges
  • Weapons

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Game Theory.
  • Strategic Security Studies