All Weapons of Mass Destruction Are Not Equal

[Editor's Note: This essay is part of a series of Audits of the Conventional Wisdom, a project of the Center for International Studies at MIT.]

In the United States, weapons of mass destruction have become the bête noir of the 21st century. They are now the justification for pre-emptive war, for an expansion of the cold war nuclear arsenal, and for the spending of billions of dollars on offensive and defensive measures. Since significant portions of U.S. foreign and domestic policy are based on this categorization, it is high time to reflect on whether these weapons pose such a lethal threat.

There is, of course, much truth to the U.S. concern about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, it is clear that terrorists have become intent on causing as much death and destruction as possible. There are numerous reports that Al Qaeda, responsible for the 9/11 attacks, has sought out WMDs. Terrorists are not the only ones interested in such weapons: currently there are eight states with nuclear weapons, sixteen with chemical weapons programs, and five to twelve with biological weapons programs.

Partly in response, the United States has based recent nuclear weapons targeting policy on the concept of a broadly conceived WMD threat, equating nuclear weapons with biological and chemical weapons. Moreover, the United States is still involved in a war in Iraq that it waged in large part because of the WMD threat. Domestically, the United States spends $7 billion on biodefense but less than $2 billion on preventing a nuclear attack. These developments beg the question: are biological and chemical weapons really as threatening to the United States as nuclear weapons?

The first step in trying to answer this question is to determine how the concept of weapons of mass destruction is used, what these weapons can actually do, and how we can protect ourselves against them. Then it will be clearer whether these weapons really occupy the same category. The new perspective we gain on the concept of weapons of mass destruction will help us grasp the implications for foreign and domestic policies..

Weapons of Mass Destruction

The term weapons of mass destruction was first used on December 28, 1937, in a London Times article on the aerial bombing of Spanish cities by the Germans, noting, "Who can think without horror of what another widespread war would mean, waged as it would be with all the new weapons of mass destruction?" The United Nations has used this term since 1947, when the Security Council defined it as "atomic explosive weapons, radioactive material weapons, lethal chemical and biological weapons, and any weapons developed in the future which have characteristics comparable in destructive effect to those of the atomic bomb or other weapons mentioned above." The Bush administration, in its 2002 National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction, define WMD in a more limited manner as nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, which is currently the most common understanding of the term.

In some discussions, radiological weapons (dirty bombs) or ballistic missiles (because they can carry nuclear weapons) are included as WMDs.. Radiological weapons could create economic havoc, but would kill only as many people as a conventional explosive blast kills. Aballistic missile can carry WMDs, but is not a weapon itself.

A weapon of mass destruction must involve mass casualties, especially deaths.In some situations, conventional weapons have created "mass destruction," e.g., the fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo by Allied troops during the Second World War. Civilians were targeted, and the deaths numbered in the tens of thousands for Dresden and 100,000 for Tokyo. A true weapon of mass destruction would create similar casualties with a single use of a weapon.