N ato and Bioterrorism Defense

Abstract

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a relative newcomer to the field of Bioterrorism Defense. Only after September 11, 2001 did the Alliance launch specific initiatives to address terrorism. Before this event, NATO did address the threat of biological attacks as part of the Cold War, focusing on aggression from the former Soviet Union. This entry discusses the goals of NATO in the past and in the present. The Alliance established a Weapons of Mass Destruction center at NATO Headquarters in 2000. NATO'S Defence Ministers decided in 2002 to enhance Alliance forces' ability to defend against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons (NBC). A multinational Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) Defence Battalion—designed to respond to and manage the consequences of the release of any CBRN agent—was declared “fully operational” at the Istanbul Summit in June 2004. It has since been succeeded by a Combined Joined CBRN Defense Task Force. Initiatives adopted in Prague include: a disease surveillance system; a CBRN event response team, a prototype deployable NBC analytical laboratory; a NATO biological and chemical Defence stockpile, and a virtual training center.