Terrorism, War, or Disease Unraveling the Use of Biological Weapons [Paperback]

The use of biological warfare (BW) agents by states or terrorists is one of the world's most frightening security threats but, thus far, little attention has been devoted to understanding how to improve policies and procedures to identify and attribute BW events.Terrorism, War, or Disease?is the first book to examine the complex political, military, legal, and scientific challenges involved in determining when BW have been used and who has used them.Through detailed analysis of the most significant and controversial allegations of BW use from the Second World War to the present, internationally recognized experts assess past attempts at attribution of unusual biological events and draw lessons to improve our ability to counter these deadly silent killers. This volume presents the most comprehensive analysis of actual and alleged BW use, and provides an up-to-date evaluation of law enforcement, forensic epidemiology, and arms control measures available to policymakers to investigate and attribute suspected attacks.Terrorism, War, or Disease? Unraveling the Use of Biological Weaponsexamines the complex political, military, legal, and scientific challenges involved in determining when biological weapons have been and who has used them through detailed case studies and draws lessons to improve our ability to counter the world's most deadly silent killers. Terrorism, War or Diseaseis a genuine synthesis of scholarship, analyzing the complexity of BW events and the political, social and natural factors that influence the interpretation and handling of available information. The lessons learned from each case study apply to a number of serious global issues of increasing importance and urgency. The writers are leaders in the field, known for their individual and collaborative scholarship. This book provides a much-needed, detailed and authoritative examination of the issues that have to be addressed in the accurate attribution of the causes of unusualSÝ