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KCIS 2014

CBRNe

The Ongoing Challenge

 

As events like the Boston Marathon bombings, the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and the nuclear weapons policies of North Korea demonstrate, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive events continue to pose a major challenge for contemporary international security policy. Whether the result of accidents or politically motivated acts, explosions or the uncontrolled release of chemicals, biological agents or radioactive contamination into the environment—CBRNe events—can potentially cause massive human and environmental damage.

While accidental CBRNe events continue to be of major concern to governments and first responders, it is the threat of politically motivated CBRNe events that is particularly challenging. Both governments and non-state actors have access to the means of triggering a CBRNe event, and thus the control and management of these challenges acquires an added level of complexity. For armed forces, CBRNe must involve a multidimensional and whole-of-government approach to international security. Diplomacy and intelligence are needed for dealing with governments and non-state actors seeking to use CBRNe threats for political purposes. Inter-departmental and inter-governmental cooperation is necessary to ensure co-ordinated responses, both internationally and nationally; including the involvement of first responders at the local level.

How can these multidimensional challenges to international security be best managed by Canada and her allies? That is the central question posed by the 2014 Kingston Conference on International Security. The conference will examine the evolution of the CBRNe threat in contemporary global politics, and how the threat is managed at three different levels: the global level, where the nuclear and chemical weapons programs of some states are deemed to threaten international security; the regional North American level, involving trans-border cooperation with the United States against politically-motivated CBRNe acts; and the local level, where coordination with first responders is crucial for the effective deterrence and management of CBRNe events.

Documents

KCIS 2014 Program [PDF 895kb]

KCIS 2014 Proceedings Report [PDF 789kb]

Presentations

Panel l: From NBC to CBRNe: The Evolution of a Threat

  • Colonel Jeff Brodeur

  • Dr. Robert Bunker

  • Marius Grinius [PDF 119kb]

Panel ll: The Current Threats - Global

  • Dr. Erika Simpson

  • Amy Smithson, PhD

  • Chrystiane Roy

Panel lll: The Current Threats - Regional

  • Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol

  • Dr. Roger Kangas

  • Dr. Peter Jones [PDF 860 kb]

Panel lV: The Current Threats - Local

  • Professor Richard Parent [PDF 938 kb]

  • Inspector Ken Faulkner

  • Dr. Christian Leuprecht [PDF 71kb]

Panel V: The International Challenges

  • Lieutenant Colonel (ret) Wolf Rauchalles

  • Michael Collins [PDF 1.2mb]

  • Major Michael Blanchette [PDF 893kb]

Panel Vl: The Domestic Challenges

Panel Vll: Policy Implications

  • Yves Goulet

  • Dr. Anna Gray-Henschel

  • Professor Frank Harvey [PDF 725kb]