Chemical-Biological Warfare

Report Outline
Nature of Chemical-Biological Weapons
Alleged Advantages of New Weapons
Preparations for Gas-Germ Warfare
Troubling Questions About C-B Warfare

Nature of Chemical-Biological Weapons

New Disclosures About Gas-Germ Weapons

Facts about chemical and biological weapons of war, long shrouded in mystery, are beginning to come into the open. Revulsion of peoples the world over to putting gases or germs to military use has made most military and government officials reluctant to talk about even elementary precautions the United States is taking to ready itself for this kind of warfare. The State Department in particular has wanted to avoid giving Communist propagandists any possible peg on which to hang new accusations comparable to the spurious germ warfare allegations circulated during the Korean War.

Now, however, the long silence on the subject has been broken. No one is telling technical secrets, but enough has been said to indicate the general nature of the chemical and biological weapons that are being studied or stockpiled, and enough to acquaint the public with the possible advantages of using them in war. The publicity that has started to light up this field has resulted chiefly from the conviction of Army Chemical Corps officers that the people and the Congress need to be exposed to a new view—the view that chemical and biological weapons have not been given their proper strategic role and consequently have not received adequate financial support.

The House Committee on Science and Astronautics, after holding hearings in June, declared in a unanimous report on Aug. 10 that expenditures in this quarter would have to be “at least trebled …to speed research to a level of attainment compatible with the efforts of the Communist nations.” Brig. Gen. J. H. Rothschild, ret., former head of the Chemical Corps Research and Development Command, pointed out in a recent magazine article: