Editing Weapon of mass destruction (section)

==Early usage==
The first use of the term "weapon of mass destruction" on record is by [[Cosmo Gordon Lang]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], in 1937 in reference to the [[bombing of Guernica]], Spain:<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica 1952">{{cite web | title=Weapon of mass destruction - weaponry | website=Encyclopedia Britannica | date=1952-11-01 | url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/weapon-of-mass-destruction | access-date=2019-06-25}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Who can think at this present time without a sickening of the heart of the appalling slaughter, the suffering, the manifold misery brought by war [[Spanish Civil War|to Spain]] and [[Second Sino-Japanese War|to China]]? 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?<ref>"Archbishop's Appeal," ''Times'' (London), 28 December 1937, p. 9.</ref>}}

At the time, [[nuclear weapon]]s had not been developed fully. Japan [[Unit 731|conducted research]] on [[biological weapons]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/bw/ |title=Biological Weapons Program – Japan |publisher=Fas.org |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727172723/http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/bw/ |archive-date=27 July 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[chemical weapon]]s had seen wide battlefield use in [[World War I]]. Their use was outlawed by the [[Geneva Protocol]] of 1925.<ref>{{cite book|author=Eric Croddy|title=Chemical and Biological Warfare: An Annotated Bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYJFT9O1ssgC&pg=PR30|year=1997|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=30|isbn=9780810832718|access-date=11 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102045936/https://books.google.com/books?id=tYJFT9O1ssgC&pg=PR30|archive-date=2 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Italy used [[Sulfur mustard|mustard agent]] against civilians and soldiers [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|in Ethiopia in 1935–36]].<ref>{{cite book|author=William R. Cullen|title=Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?: The Sociochemistry of an Element|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyaTdY4UGLMC&pg=PA241|year=2008|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|page=241|isbn=9780854043637|access-date=11 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102045936/https://books.google.com/books?id=yyaTdY4UGLMC&pg=PA241|archive-date=2 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] that ended [[World War II]] and during the [[Cold War]], the term came to refer more to non-[[conventional weapon]]s. The application of the term to specifically nuclear and [[radiological warfare|radiological weapons]] is traced by [[William Safire]] to the Russian phrase "Оружие массового поражения" – ''oruzhiye massovogo porazheniya'' (weapon of mass destruction).<ref name="Safire 1998 NYT"/>

[[William Safire]] credits [[James Goodby]] (of the [[Brookings Institution]]) with tracing what he considers the earliest known English-language use soon after the nuclear bombing of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]] (although it is not quite verbatim): a communique from a 15 November 1945, meeting of [[Harry Truman]], [[Clement Attlee]] and [[Mackenzie King]] (probably drafted by [[Vannevar Bush]], as Bush claimed in 1970) referred to "weapons adaptable to mass destruction."<ref name="Safire 1998 NYT"/>

Safire says [[Bernard Baruch]] used that exact phrase in 1946 (in a speech at the United Nations probably written by [[Herbert Bayard Swope]]).<ref name="Safire 1998 NYT">{{cite web | last=Safire | first=William | title=On Language; Weapons of Mass Destruction | website=The New York Times | date=1998-04-19 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/19/magazine/on-language-weapons-of-mass-destruction.html | access-date=2019-06-25}}</ref> The phrase found its way into the very first resolution the United Nations General assembly adopted in January 1946 in London, which used the wording "the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other weapons adaptable to mass destruction."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/ |title=UNODA – Nuclear Weapons Home |publisher=Un.org |access-date=14 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606182235/http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/ |archive-date=6 June 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> The resolution also created the [[United Nations Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] (predecessor of the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] (IAEA)).<ref name="UN_ARES1I">{{UN document |docid=A-RES-1(I) |type=Resolution |body=General Assembly |session=1 |resolution_number=1 |accessdate=2010-06-18|date=24 January 1946|title=Establishment of a Commission to Deal with the Problems Raised by the Discovery of Atomic Energy}}</ref>

An exact use of this term was given in a lecture titled "[[nuclear reaction|Atomic Energy]] as a Contemporary Problem" by [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]]. He delivered the lecture to the [[United States Foreign Service|Foreign Service]] and the [[State Department]], on 17 September 1947.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oppenheimer |first=Robert J. |title=The Open Mind |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=1955 |location=New York |pages=23 |language=en}}</ref>

<blockquote>It is a very far reaching control which would eliminate the rivalry between nations in this field, which would prevent the surreptitious arming of one nation against another, which would provide some cushion of time before atomic attack, and presumably therefore before any attack with weapons of mass destruction, and which would go a long way toward removing atomic energy at least as a source of conflict between the powers.<ref name="Pais Crease 2007 p. 158">{{cite book | last1=Pais | first1=A. | last2=Crease | first2=R.P. | title=J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Life | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-19-532712-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EoA8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA158 | language=de | access-date=2019-06-25 | page=158}}</ref></blockquote>

The term was also used in the introduction to the hugely influential U.S. government document known as [[NSC 68]] written in 1950.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsc-hst/nsc-68.htm |title=NSC-68 United States Objectives and Programs for National Security |publisher=Fas.org |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024031912/http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsc-hst/nsc-68.htm |archive-date=24 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During a speech at [[Rice University]] on 12 September 1962, President [[John F. Kennedy]] spoke of not filling space "with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm |title=John F. Kennedy Moon Speech—Rice Stadium |publisher=nasa.gov |access-date=30 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706061817/http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm |archive-date=6 July 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The following month, during a televised presentation about the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] on 22 October 1962, Kennedy made reference to "offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction."<ref>Kennedy JF (22 October 1962). [[s:Cuban Missile Crisis|Televised remarks to the American people re "the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba"]]</ref>

An early use of the exact phrase in an [[international treaty]] is in the [[Outer Space Treaty]] of 1967, but the treaty provides no definition of the phrase,<ref>{{citation|title=Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, Art. IV, Jan. 27, 1967, T.I.A.S. No. 6347, 610 U.N.T.S. 205, 18 U.S.T. 2410 (effective Oct. 10, 1967).}}</ref> and the treaty also categorically prohibits the stationing of "weapons" and the testing of "any type of weapon" in outer space, in addition to its specific prohibition against placing in orbit, or installing on celestial bodies, "any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction."

===Evolution===
During the [[Cold War]], the term "weapons of mass destruction" was primarily a reference to nuclear weapons. At the time, in the [[Western world#Modern political|West]] the euphemism "[[strategic nuclear weapon|strategic weapons]]" was used to refer to the American nuclear arsenal. However, there is no precise definition of the "strategic" category, neither considering range nor [[nuclear weapon yield|yield of the nuclear weapon]].<ref name=e>{{cite book|title=Tactical nuclear weapons : emergent threats in an evolving security environment.|year=2003|publisher=Brassey's|location=Washington DC|isbn=978-1-57488-585-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7VOWkKMTjsC&q=Defensive%20Use%20of%20Tactical%20Nuclear%20Weapons&pg=PA7|edition=1.|editor=Brian Alexander, Alistair Millar|access-date=22 March 2011|page=7}}</ref>

Subsequent to [[Operation Opera]], the destruction of a pre-operational nuclear reactor inside Iraq by the Israeli Air Force in 1981, the Israeli prime minister, [[Menachem Begin]], countered criticism by saying that "on no account shall we permit an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against the people of Israel." This policy of pre-emptive action against real or perceived weapons of mass destruction became known as the [[Begin Doctrine]].<ref name="NTI/Isr">[http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/israel/nuclear/ Country Profiles -Israel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006135509/http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/israel/nuclear/ |date=2014-10-06 }}, [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]] (NTI), updated May, 2014</ref>

The term "weapons of mass destruction" continued to see periodic use, usually in the context of nuclear [[arms control]]; [[Ronald Reagan]] used it during the 1986 [[Reykjavík Summit]], when referring to the 1967 [[Outer Space Treaty]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/22/documents/reykjavik/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518185704/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/22/documents/reykjavik/ |archive-date=18 May 2008 |title=CNN Cold War – Historical Documents: Reagan-Gorbachev transcripts |date=18 May 2008 |access-date=14 May 2012}}</ref> Reagan's successor, [[George H. W. Bush]], used the term in a 1989 speech to the United Nations, primarily in reference to chemical arms.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DE153CF935A1575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=Excerpts From Bush's Speech at the Opening of the U.N. General Assembly – |location=Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Ussr) |work=The New York Times|date=26 September 1989 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318194026/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DE153CF935A1575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |archive-date=18 March 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The end of the Cold War reduced U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent, causing it to shift its focus to disarmament. With the 1990 [[invasion of Kuwait]] and 1991 [[Gulf War]], Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs became a particular concern of the first [[Presidency of George H. W. Bush|Bush Administration]].<ref name="newyorkt">{{cite news|author=MICHAEL WINES, Special to The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3DD1130F933A0575AC0A966958260 |title=Confrontation in the Gulf; U.S. Explores New Strategies to Limit Weapons of Mass Destruction – |location=IRAQ |work=The New York Times|date=30 September 1990 |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref> Following the war, [[Bill Clinton]] and other western politicians and media continued to use the term, usually in reference to ongoing attempts to dismantle [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|Iraq's weapons programs]].<ref name="newyorkt"/>
[[File:Image of Nations which are colored if they have nuclear weapons.png|thumb|In early 2019, more than 90% of the world's 13,865 [[List of states with nuclear weapons|nuclear weapons]] were owned by Russia and the United States.<ref>{{cite news |title=Global Nuclear Arsenal Declines, But Future Cuts Uncertain Amid U.S.-Russia Tensions |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/nuclear-weapons-russia-start-inf-warheads/30003088.html |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=17 June 2019}}</ref>|312x312px]]
After the [[11 September 2001 attacks]] and the [[2001 anthrax attacks]] in the United States, an increased fear of nonconventional weapons and [[asymmetric warfare]] took hold in many countries. The fear reached a crescendo with the 2002 [[Iraq disarmament crisis]] and the [[Niger uranium forgeries|alleged existence]] of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that became the primary justification for the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]]; however, American forces found none in Iraq. They found old stockpiles of chemical munitions including [[sarin]] and [[sulfur mustard|mustard agents]], but all were considered to be unusable because of corrosion or degradation.<ref>[http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,103631,00.html?ESRC=coastgnews.RSS ''Munitions Found in Iraq Meet WMD Criteria''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001050011/http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,103631,00.html?ESRC=coastgnews.RSS |date=1 October 2012 }}, Military.com, report filed by American Forces Press Service, 29 June 2006</ref> Iraq, however, declared a chemical weapons stockpile in 2009 which U.N. personnel had secured after the 1991 Gulf War. The stockpile contained mainly chemical precursors, but some munitions remained usable.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/india-completes-chemical-weapons-disposal-iraq-declares-stockpile/|title=India Completes Chemical Weapons Disposal; Iraq Declares Stockpile {{!}} Analysis {{!}} NTI|website=nti.org|access-date=2017-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103021743/http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/india-completes-chemical-weapons-disposal-iraq-declares-stockpile/|archive-date=3 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Because of its prolific use and (worldwide) public profile during this period, the [[American Dialect Society]] voted "weapons of mass destruction" (and its abbreviation, "WMD") the [[Word of the Year|word of the year]] in 2002,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/2002_words_of_the_y/ |title=American Dialect Society |publisher=Americandialect.org |date=13 January 2003 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615053350/http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/2002_words_of_the_y/ |archive-date=15 June 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2003 [[Lake Superior State University]] added WMD to its list of terms banished for "Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness" (and "as a card that trumps all forms of aggression").<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www2.lssu.edu/banished-words-list/banished-word-list-archive/#toggle-id-14 |title=Lake Superior State University:: Banished Words List:: 2003 |publisher=Lssu.edu |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820055207/https://www.lssu.edu/banished-words-list/banished-word-list-archive/#toggle-id-14 |archive-date=20 August 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In its [[criminal complaint]] against the main suspect of the [[Boston Marathon]] bombing of 15 April 2013, the [[FBI]] refers to a [[pressure-cooker]] improvised [[bomb]] as a "weapon of mass destruction."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/criminal-complaint-united-states-vs-dzhokhar-tsarnaev/412/ |title=Criminal Complaint United States vs Dzhokhar Tsarnaev |access-date=23 April 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422211727/http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/criminal-complaint-united-states-vs-dzhokhar-tsarnaev/412/ |archive-date=22 April 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

There have been calls to classify at least some classes of [[cyberweapon|cyber weapons]] as WMD, in particular those aimed to bring about large-scale (physical) destruction, such as by targeting [[critical infrastructure]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hatch|first=Benjamin B.|date=December 2017|title=Defining a Class of Offensive Destructive Cyber Weapons As Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Examination of the Merits|url=https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CSDS/assets/trinity_site_paper10.pdf|journal=United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapon Studies Trinity Site Papers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602010924/https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/CSDS/assets/trinity_site_paper10.pdf|archive-date=2021-06-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kumar|first=Davinder|date=March 2013|title=Cyber Weapons – The New Weapons of Mass Destruction|url=https://usiofindia.org/publication/usi-journal/cyber-weapons-the-new-weapons-of-mass-destruction/|url-status=dead|access-date=2021-07-03|website=United Service Institution of India|language=en-US|archive-date=7 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107185109/https://usiofindia.org/publication/usi-journal/cyber-weapons-the-new-weapons-of-mass-destruction/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Pentagon Thinks Cyber Ops Could Be The Next WMDs|url=https://www.govexec.com/defense/2018/12/pentagon-thinks-cyber-ops-could-be-next-wmds/153689/|access-date=2021-07-03|website=Government Executive|date=19 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref> However, some scholars have objected to classifying cyber weapons as WMD on the grounds that they "cannot [currently] directly injure or kill human beings as efficiently as guns or bombs" or clearly "meet the legal and historical definitions" of WMD.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carr |first1=Jeffrey |title=The misunderstood acronym: Why cyber weapons aren't WMD |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |date=September 2013 |volume=69 |issue=5 |pages=32–37 |doi=10.1177/0096340213501373 |bibcode=2013BuAtS..69e..32C }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Caves|first1=John|last2=Carus|first2=W. Seth|date=June 2014|title=Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Their Nature and Role in 2030|url=https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=755104|journal=Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Occasional Paper 10}}</ref>