Terrorist Organizations and Weapons of Mass Destruction

U.S. Threats, Responses, and Policies

By (author) Alethia H. Cook

Publication date:

25 September 2017

Length of book:

226 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

236x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781442276628

Weapons of Mass Destruction are diverse and pose unique challenges to governments attempting to keep them out of the wrong hands and preparing to respond to an attack. This text analyzes Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) weapons and terrorist groups with a known interest in them. It presents accessible information about the technical challenges posed by each type of weapon, assesses the threats, and reviews the US governmental responses. It provides structured CBRN case studies and allows for easy comparison of threats, challenges, and responses. The text combines weapons and policy information in one comprehensive and comparative resource for researchers and students interested in key issues in modern terrorism and international security.

I: Introduction to WMD and Interested Groups
1: WMD and Key Concepts
2: Terrorist Group Interest, Efforts and Use of WMD
3: U.S. Governmental WMD Policy Responses

II: CBRN: Agents, Threats, and Responses
4: Chemical Agents and Weapons
5: Biological Agents and Weapons
6: Radiological Isotopes and Weapons
7: Fissile Materials and Nuclear Weapons

III: Conclusions
8: Terrorist Organizations and WMD: Summary of the Threats and US Responses

Terrorist Organizations and Weapons of Mass Destruction is a useful primer for students fascinated by or dedicated to American policies in light of such perils. Cook (East Carolina Univ.) intermingles defense-related consulting work with a vigorous publications regimen spanning an array of topics including pandemic diseases, civil conflict, and broadly all things “security.” Cook’s approach to WMDs is fraught with threat scenarios of weaponized lethal materials in the hands of non-state actors and is focused on the American governmental response. Those are appropriate foci for the series of books in which this volume appears.… Although more provocative books have appeared in the past two decades with similar titles, Cook may have outperformed them all on the number of tables listing weapons or agents—in order of her chapters chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclears—that could be weaponized. Foremost a text, not a research tool, the volume includes a summary of acronyms, a brief index, and a list of figures/tables. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.