This document focuses on the biological warfare threat and the proliferation of biological weapons.
The Soviet Union maintained an offensive biological warfare program in violation of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, which they initiated and signed without reservation. Defectors from the Soviet Union have confirmed the presence of a vast network of laboratories and factories working on deadly new weapons of war. One goal was to genetically alter known pathogens in the hope of making the pathogens resistant to Western drugs. Doubts linger in the West about Russia's claims that no biological weapons were ever produced and that all activities have been halted. International proliferation of biological weapons programs broadens the range of agents that United States forces may encounter. Eleven nations possess or could develop an offensive biological weapons capability. A military incentive to use biological weapons is the ability to produce large numbers of casualties. A technical incentive is the relative ease of production of many biological warfare agents. The startup costs of producing biological weapons are not prohibitive, which provides an economic incentive. Two political incentives are domestic and international status and a favorable risk-benefit ratio. The purposeful spreading of infectious agents that attack cattle or other domestic animals can lead to serious consequences for a country's food supply or export of animal products. Biological antiplant agents may be used intentionally by an enemy to attack food or economically valuable crops, thereby reducing a nation's ability to resist aggression. Antimaterial biological warfare, such as fungi, might be attempted to degrade some item of material. The nations currently believed to have an offensive biological warfare program are North Korea, China, and Iraq. The use of biological agents in future wars and actions by terrorists is a legitimate issue of concern and should be given the highest priority. 50 references