Report of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Working Group of the CTITF

Report now available: Interagency Coordination in the Event of a Terrorist Attack using Chemical or Biological Weapons or Materials [PDF - 3.76 MB]

View: Core objectives, key findings, anticipated outcomes, concrete  results

About the Report
A Working Group on preventing and responding to WMD attacks within the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) conducted a workshop hosted by the OPCW in The Hague from 16 to 17 May 2011.

The purpose of the workshop was to review the international response and mitigation of a terrorist attack using chemical and biological weapons and materials.

The workshop is part of a project to carry out a comprehensive review on how the UN system and international organizations from different disciplines would respond, individually and as a whole, to a terrorist use of WMD, as well as the level of planned coordination among the different entities in the rapid provision of assistance to the affected State/States.

Quote

"Biological and chemical threats are often the stepchild, or the orphan, after nuclear and radiological [threats] and I think it's a function of the human experience that when we think about really what would keep us up at night, it's a mushroom cloud."

- Robert Orr, U.N. Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force chairman
Full story [External link]

Selected Recommendations