Ever since man took to the battlefield, biology has played a significant role-both unintentionally and intentionally-in conflict. Prior to the discovery of the germ theory of disease, most combat deaths were the result of infections. And even before that understanding, biology was used in an offensive role. An early example was the Tatars' hurling of plague victims' bodies over the wall of the Crimean city of Kaffa in 1346, which probably helped spread the Black Death. Despite various treaties and protocols, offensive biological weapons use has continued to this day, with the anthrax attacks...

For over fifty years, the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) has produced major scientific discoveries that have led to the creation and development of revolutionary capabilities for the Air Force. These scientific discoveries have laid the ground work for the technological innovation that has created the superior air and space force that is the modern United States Air Force. A continued robust investment in basic research will lead to capabilities that have the potential to reshape Air Force thinking, doctrine and operations in the...

The most likely means of delivering a nuclear bomb on a major city is through a successful smuggling effort by a terrorist organization. The catastrophic damage it would cause demands cooperative action by all responsible governments. Several U.S. Government programs are in place to deal with this threat.

Over the past 35 years, dozens of new and frightening diseases have been identified, among them hepatitis C virus, Ebola and other hemorrhagic viruses, Legionnaires' disease, Nipahencephalitis, H5N1 influenza, SARS, the new arenavirus Lujo, which causes hemorrhagic fever in its victim s, and, most pervasively, the hum an immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS). The emergence of H5N1 avian flu in 1996, coupled with the recent declaration of an H1N1 influenza pandemic, demonstrate the urgent need for countries to have pandemic preparedness plans in place. For nations that are unprepared, a pandemic...

Monitoring covert offensive biological weapons research from afar has always been a daunting task. The problems facing analysts today are even more difficult, as advances in life sciences and dual-use biotechnology are rapidly spreading the knowledge, equipment, and materials needed to produce crude and sophisticated biological weapons around the world. Unlike nuclear programs, a well-defined and limited set of equipment and material that can be controlled through various import/export controls does not exist. Future monitoring will become more challenging as the distinctions among military,...