Editing Weapon of mass destruction (section)

==Definitions of the term==

===United States===

====Strategic definition====
The most widely used definition of "weapons of mass destruction" is that of [[nuclear weapon|nuclear]], [[biological agent|biological]], or [[chemical weapon]]s (NBC) although there is no [[treaty]] or customary [[international law]] that contains an authoritative definition. Instead, international law has been used with respect to the specific categories of weapons within WMD, and not to WMD as a whole. While nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are regarded as the three major types of WMDs,<ref name = WMD>{{cite web|last1=Reed|first1=Laura|title=Weapons of Mass Destruction|url=https://www.hampshire.edu/pawss/weapons-of-mass-destruction|website=Hampshire College|access-date=21 October 2014|date=2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150802093743/https://www.hampshire.edu/pawss/weapons-of-mass-destruction|archive-date=2 August 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> some analysts have argued that radiological materials as well as missile technology and delivery systems such as aircraft and ballistic missiles could be labeled as WMDs as well.<ref name=WMD/>

However, there is an argument that nuclear and biological weapons do not belong in the same category as chemical and "[[dirty bomb]]" radiological weapons, which have limited destructive potential (and close to none, as far as property is concerned), whereas nuclear and biological weapons have the unique ability to kill large numbers of people with very small amounts of material, and thus could be said to belong in a class by themselves.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

The NBC definition has also been used in official U.S. documents, by the [[President of the United States|U.S. President]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nti.org/f_wmd411/f1a1_letter.html |title=Untitled |access-date=6 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402124051/http://nti.org/f_wmd411/f1a1_letter.html |archive-date=2 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2001_presidential_documents&docid=pd14my01_txt-9.pdf |title=Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Issue 19 (May 14, 2001) |publisher=Frwebgate.access.gpo.gov |access-date=14 May 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the [[CIA|U.S. Central Intelligence Agency]],<ref>[http://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2003.htm CIA Site Redirect{{spaced ndash}}Central Intelligence Agency] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004011442/https://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2003.htm|date=4 October 2006}}</ref> the [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/prolif97/message.html |title=Message of the Secretary of Defense |access-date=6 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041001050843/http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/prolif97/message.html |archive-date=1 October 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/ptr20010110.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=6 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060601034146/http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/ptr20010110.pdf |archive-date=1 June 2006 }}</ref> and the [[Government Accountability Office|U.S. Government Accountability Office]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=gao&docid=f:d01582.pdf |title=Weapons of Mass Destruction: State Department Oversight of Science Centers Program |access-date=5 August 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Other documents expand the definition of WMD to also include radiological or [[conventional weapon]]s. The [[US military|U.S. military]] refers to WMD as:
{{blockquote|Chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons capable of a high order of destruction or causing mass casualties and exclude the means of transporting or propelling the weapon where such means is a separable and divisible part from the weapon. Also called WMD.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/dod_dictionary/ |title=Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms |publisher=Dtic.mil |date=12 April 2001 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010194329/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/dod_dictionary/ |archive-date=10 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
This may also refer to nuclear [[ICBM]]s (intercontinental ballistic missiles).{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}
[[File:Overzicht op Museumplein met spandoek The Dutch disease is better for peace o, Bestanddeelnr 253-8627.jpg|thumb|Protest in Amsterdam against the deployment of [[Pershing II]] missiles in Europe, 1981]]

The significance of the words ''separable and divisible part of the weapon'' is that missiles such as the [[Pershing II]] and the [[SCUD]] are considered weapons of mass destruction, while aircraft capable of carrying bombloads are not.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

In 2004, the United Kingdom's [[Butler Review]] recognized the "considerable and long-standing academic debate about the proper interpretation of the phrase 'weapons of mass destruction{{'"}}. The committee set out to avoid the general term but when using it, employed the definition of [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 687]], which defined the systems which Iraq was required to abandon:{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}
* "Nuclear weapons or nuclear-weapons-usable material or any sub-systems or components or any research, development, support or manufacturing facilities relating to [nuclear weapons].
* Chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and all related subsystems and components and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities.
* Ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometres and related major parts, and repair and production facilities."<ref>''[http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/butlerreview/report/index.asp Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction: Report of a Committee of Privy Counsellors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716131809/http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/butlerreview/report/index.asp |date=16 July 2011 }}'' (HC 898), London: The Stationery Office, 2004, §14.</ref>

Chemical weapons expert Gert G. Harigel considers only nuclear weapons true weapons of mass destruction, because "only nuclear weapons are completely indiscriminate by their explosive power, heat radiation and radioactivity, and only they should therefore be called a weapon of mass destruction". He prefers to call chemical and biological weapons "weapons of terror" when aimed against civilians and "weapons of intimidation" for soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wagingpeace.org/chemical-and-biological-weapons-use-in-warfare-impact-on-society-and-environment/|title=Chemical and Biological Weapons: Use in Warfare, Impact on Society and Environment|last=Harigel|first=Gert G.|date=22 November 2001|access-date=19 January 2021}}</ref>

Testimony of one such soldier expresses the same viewpoint.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/other/nbc.htm |title=A Soldier's Viewpoint on Surviving Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Attacks |publisher=Sightm1911.com |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901234629/http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/other/nbc.htm |archive-date=1 September 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For a period of several months in the winter of 2002–2003, [[US Deputy Secretary of Defense|U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense]] [[Paul Wolfowitz]] frequently used the term "weapons of mass terror", apparently also recognizing the distinction between the psychological and the physical effects of many things currently falling into the WMD category.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sidel |first1=Victor W. |last2=Levy |first2=Barry S. |editor1-last=Cockerham |editor1-first=William C. |title=International Encyclopedia of Public Health |date=2016 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-803708-9 |page=402 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAnpCgAAQBAJ&pg=RA6-PA402 |language=en |chapter=Weapons of Mass Destruction}}</ref>

[[Gustavo Bell Lemus]], the Vice President of [[Colombia]], at 9 July 2001 [[United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms]] and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, quoted the [[Millennium Report]] of the [[Secretary General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General]] to the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]], in which [[Kofi Annan]] said that [[small arms]] could be described as WMD because the fatalities they cause "dwarf that of all other weapons systems – and in most years greatly exceed the toll of the atomic bombs that devastated [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://disarmament.un.org/cab/smallarms/statements/colombiaE.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902003808/http://disarmament.un.org/cab/smallarms/statements/colombiaE.html |archive-date=2 September 2007 |title=Colombia |date=2 September 2007 |access-date=14 May 2012}}</ref>

An additional condition often implicitly applied to WMD is that the use of the weapons must be strategic. In other words, they would be designed to "have consequences far outweighing the size and effectiveness of the weapons themselves".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1013136.ece|title=What makes a weapon one of mass destruction?-News-UK-TimesOnline|date=11 March 2007|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=11 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311090139/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1013136.ece|url-status=dead }}</ref> The strategic nature of WMD also defines their function in the military doctrine of [[total war]] as targeting the means a country would use to support and supply its war effort, specifically its population, industry, and natural resources.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

Within U.S. [[civil defense]] organizations, the category is now '''Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive''' (CBRNE), which defines WMD as:

<blockquote>(1) Any [[explosive]], [[Incendiary device|incendiary]], [[poison gas]], bomb, [[grenade]], or [[rocket]] having a [[propellant]] charge of more than four ounces [113 g], [[missile]] having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce [7 g], or [[land mine|mine]] or device similar to the above. (2) Poison gas. (3) Any weapon involving a disease organism. (4) Any weapon that is designed to release [[radioactive contamination|radiation]] at a level dangerous to human life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaic.org/publications/archives/thechemist/The_Chemist_Vol_84_Issue_1_2007/CBRNE_agents_pt1.pdf|title=The History and Science of CBRNE Agents, Part I|author=Capt. G. Shane Hendricks, Dr. Margot J. Hall|page=1|publisher=American Institute of Chemists|year=2007|access-date=4 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714193547/http://www.theaic.org/publications/archives/thechemist/The_Chemist_Vol_84_Issue_1_2007/CBRNE_agents_pt1.pdf|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

====Military definition====
For the general purposes of national defense,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50.html |title=US CODE: Title 50—War and National Defense |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427074108/http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50.html |archive-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> the U.S. Code<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50_10_40.html |title=US CODE: 50, ch. 40—Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427074956/http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50_10_40.html |archive-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> defines a weapon of mass destruction as:
* any weapon or device that is intended, or has the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release, dissemination, or impact of:
** toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors
** a disease organism
** radiation or radioactivity<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/2302- |title=US CODE: 50, ch. 40, § 2302. Definitions |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref>

For the purposes of the prevention of weapons [[Chemical weapon proliferation|proliferation]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50_10_43.html |title=US CODE: 50, ch. 43—Preventing Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728140256/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/usc_sup_01_50_10_43.html |archive-date=28 July 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> the U.S. Code defines weapons of mass destruction as "chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and chemical, biological, and nuclear materials used in the manufacture of such weapons".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/2902- |title=US CODE: 50, ch. 43; § 2902. Definitions |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref>

====Criminal (civilian) definition====
For the purposes of U.S. [[criminal law]] concerning terrorism,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_113B.html |title=US CODE: Chapter 113B—Terrorism |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=28 June 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819002206/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_113B.html |archive-date=19 August 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> weapons of mass destruction are defined as:
* any "destructive device" defined as any explosive, incendiary, or [[poison gas]] – bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/921- |title=US CODE: Title 18, § 921. Definitions |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=13 September 1994 |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref>
* any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors
* any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector
* any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2332a- |title=US CODE: Title 18, § 2332a. Use of weapons of mass destruction |publisher=.law.cornell.edu |date=28 June 2010 |access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref>

The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s definition is similar to that presented above from the terrorism statute:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/wmd/wmd_faqs/ |title=What is A Weapon of Mass Destruction |publisher=Fbi.gov |date=30 March 2007 |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013224419/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/wmd/wmd_faqs |archive-date=13 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* any "destructive device" as defined in Title 18 USC Section 921: any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas – bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses
* any weapon designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors
* any weapon involving a disease organism
* any weapon designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life
* any device or weapon designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury by causing a malfunction of or destruction of an aircraft or other vehicle that carries humans or of an aircraft or other vehicle whose malfunction or destruction may cause said aircraft or other vehicle to cause death or serious bodily injury to humans who may be within range of the vector in its course of travel or the travel of its debris.

Indictments and convictions for possession and use of WMD such as truck bombs,<ref>See, e.g., {{cite web |title=United States v. McVeigh |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6243122458905704098 |website=Google Scholar |access-date=15 October 2021}}</ref> [[pipe bombs]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=/data2/circs/2nd/981723.html |title=FindLaw for Legal Professionals – Case Law, Federal and State Resources, Forms, and Code |publisher=Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610132713/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=%2Fdata2%2Fcircs%2F2nd%2F981723.html |archive-date=10 June 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> shoe bombs,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/reid/usreid1002ind.pdf |title=U.S. v. Richard C. Reid |access-date=5 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325035918/http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/reid/usreid1002ind.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and cactus needles coated with a biological toxin<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nPAyAAAAIBAJ&pg=6809%2C3453874 |title=The Free Lance-Star – 14 Jul 1998 |access-date=11 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102045936/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nPAyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mQgGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6809%2C3453874 |archive-date=2 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> have been obtained under 18 USC 2332a.

As defined by 18 USC §2332 (a), a Weapon of Mass Destruction is:
* (A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of the title;
* (B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
* (C) any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector (as those terms are defined in section 178 of this title); or
* (D) any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life;
Under the same statute, conspiring, attempting, threatening, or using a Weapon of Mass Destruction may be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if resulting in death, be punishable by death or by imprisonment for any terms of years or for life. They can also be asked to pay a maximum fine of $250,000.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/pdf/uscode18/lii_usc_TI_18_PA_I_CH_113B_SE_2332a.pdf |title=18 U.S. Code § 2332a - Use of weapons of mass destruction |access-date=27 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720083239/https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/pdf/uscode18/lii_usc_TI_18_PA_I_CH_113B_SE_2332a.pdf |archive-date=20 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported on 30 March 2006: "Jurors asked the judge in the death penalty trial of [[Zacarias Moussaoui]] today to define the term 'weapons of mass destruction' and were told it includes airplanes used as missiles". Moussaoui was indicted and tried for conspiracy to both destroy aircraft and use weapons of mass destruction, among others.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indictment of ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI |url=https://www.justice.gov/archives/ag/indictment-zacarias-moussaoui |website=www.justice.gov |language=en |date=9 September 2014}}</ref>

The surviving [[Boston Marathon bombing]] perpetrator, [[Dzhokhar Tsarnaev]], was charged in June 2013 with the federal offense of "use of a weapon of mass destruction" after he and his brother [[Tamerlan Tsarnaev]] allegedly placed crude shrapnel bombs, made from pressure cookers packed with ball bearings and nails, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. He was convicted in April 2015. The bombing resulted in three deaths and at least 264 injuries.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/04/23/number-injured-marathon-bombing-revised-downward/NRpaz5mmvGquP7KMA6XsIK/story.html|title=Injury toll from Marathon bombs reduced to 264|quote=Boston public health officials said Tuesday that they have revised downward their estimate of the number of people injured in the Marathon attacks, to 264.|date=24 April 2013|access-date=29 April 2013|newspaper=The Boston Globe|last=Kotz|first=Deborah|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331141156/https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/04/23/number-injured-marathon-bombing-revised-downward/NRpaz5mmvGquP7KMA6XsIK/story.html|archive-date=31 March 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>