EDMG340 Week 7 Assignment – Managing Crises and Response to NBC Incidents

Supported by readings in the course material to this juncture, the open or deep web, the E-Reserve site found in the online library at the EDMG340 Consequence Management | Course Guide page ) and / or other outside sources of interest, student is to choose any NBC device/ or CB agent of interest and provide an overarching analysis of that selection.
At a minimum, analysis should cover the following points:

• State the name of the devise or agent and describe its historical development.
• Describe the physical/chemical/biological properties of the device/agent.
• Discuss the harmful impact of the device or agent – its mechanism of action.
• Cite one case where the device/agent has been used in the field.
• List any treaty/policies covering the device/agent and or prohibiting or controlling its availability or use.
• Cite any current news article referencing the use or development of the device/agent.

Work should be a minimum of 750 – 1000 words and should utilize APA formatting.

Save your work as a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect document entitled:
“EDMG340 Week 7 YourLastName.doc” (i.e., EDMG340 Week 7 Jones.doc) and upload as your Week 7 written assignment.

Initially created in the search for a more potent pesticide, sarin became one of many feared chemical nerve agents of World War II and beyond. German scientists Shrader, Ambros, Rudiger and Van der Linde discovered the chemical compound in 1938; nearly a year later, the chemical was introduced to the German Army Weapons Office. Fortunately—though the agent was manufactured into artillery—Germany decided against the use of the weapon in combating Allied forces. (Sample, 2013; BBC, 2016)

Most applications of sarin have been—historically and militaristically speaking—in the form of chemical payloads in artillery. Oftentimes the weapons are binary in fashion, with the final compound being created from separated components upon activation; mixture of the separate chemicals into sarin typically takes place just prior to weapon impact or immediately before/following weapon’s launch (Sample, 2013). Constructing the weapons in this fashion allows for greater stability of the weapon and a longer-lasting shelf life; extending the shelf-life of sarin is of concern for any group or agency wishing to stockpile the agent, as sarin has the potential to degrade into nontoxic acids within a relatively short amount of time—weeks to months—especially when the mixture contains or picks up impurities in the manufacturing and storage processes.

Medically speaking, sarin reacts similar to other nerve agents, with inhalation and absorption posing the greatest threats; ingestion, too, is of great concern. Initial symptoms of sarin exposure include runny nose, constricted pupils and the feeling of tightness in the chest; respiratory and gastric problems soon follow, along with immediate fecal and urinary incontinence. Finally, the greater effects of nerve damage are seen in involuntary spasms and convulsions, coma, and death due to suffocation. Certain drugs—such as atropine and biperiden—can combat some of the effects of sarin if applied immediately and exposure is limited. (CDC, 2013)

Though the United States had invested into sarin as a chemical weapon and had grown a relatively large stockpile of the agent in weaponized form, no reports of the US deploying sarin in an action have been made. Documents did surface in 2008, however, showing that an interest in field testing sarin and VX on Australian troops. Australian Channel Nine reported that the formerly secret documents indicated that US military scientists wished to perform testing on approximately 200 troops in the 1960s, during heightened involvement in the Vietnam War. It had been suggested that the tests were to study the effectiveness of deployment in a jungle terrain. No further documentation exists to suggest whether testing was ever conducted. (Ansley, 2008; Berkovic & Stewart, 2008)

One of the largest uses—in number of victims—of sarin occurred in the 1988 during Iraq’s war with Iran; approximately 5000 deaths are attributed to Saddam Hussein’s use of sarin against the Iranian people and military. Five years later in 1993, the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention declared sarin to be a weapon of mass destruction, and called for all nations to cease any production and destroy all stockpiles of sarin, as well as other chemical weapons. At the present time, sarin as well as other chemical stockpiles still exist in the US, and are awaiting destruction; other nations, too still have some decommissioned gaseous weapons awaiting destruction. (Sample, 2013)

Sarin has been used in acts of terrorism, as well, with the most notable being the use by Aum Shinrikyo in the attack on Tokyo’s subway system on March 20, 1995. The group’s release of sarin upon five selected sites near Japanese government buildings killed 12, severely injured approximately 50, and affected an approximate 1,000 people by rendering the victims with temporary vision loss. Aum Shinrikyo had released sarin in the previous year in response to a real-estate dispute.

In 2004 two members of the US military were treated for exposure to sarin in Iraq; exposure was limited, however, due to possible combinations of how the weapon was discharged, and the quality and age of the chemicals contained in the weapon. The soldiers treated were members of an explosives unit, and had been charged with the recovery of the IED. It has been theorized that the militants that constructed and detonated the IED had no knowledge that the chosen payload contained sarin or that it had not been understood that a much greater explosive force would have been required to attempt a better mixture, where the original weapon had been of the aforementioned binary design. (MSNBC, 2004)

Finally, one of the last known incidents involving sarin comes from the use in weapons during the Syrian Civil War on August 21, 2013. Portions of the Syrian capital city of Damascus found itself under attack that morning with weapons releasing the toxic gas; estimates of those killed by the poisonous gas vary in number from approximately 300-1700. It is technically unclear as to who was responsible for the use of these weapons—as both the military and rebel forces deny having used such weaponry and blame another for use; it is of opinion by many countries that the use of the chemical weapons was conducted by the Syrian government (Sample, 2013). Regardless of which party was responsible for the deployment of chemical weapons, most indicators pointed to the weapons having been a part of Syria’s inventory at some point. Since that time, evidence has surfaced of additional use of sarin in Syria, through investigative efforts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The OPCW, however, has not been able to indicate a particular time-frame or responsible party for the evidence found in the blood samples collected from the random sample of Syrian citizens (AFP, 2016; BBC, 2016).

References

Agence-France Presse. (2016, January 4). UN chemical weapons watchdog finds traces of sarin gas exposure in Syria. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/un-chemical-weapons-watchdog-finds-traces-of-sarin-gas-exposure-in-syria

Ansley, G. (2008, July 7). US planned nerve gas attack on Australian troops. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10520276

BBC. (2016, January 4). Syria conflict: OPCW finds signs of sarin exposure. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35231663

Berkovic, N. & Stewart, C. (2008, July 7). Answers sought over nerve gas plan. The Australian. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic

Center for Disease Control. (2013, May 20). Facts About Sarin. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20220402130536/http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/sarin/basics/facts.asp

MSNBC. (2004, May 17). Bomb said to hold deadly sarin gas explodes in Iraq. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: https://web.archive.org/web/20121103072549/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4997808/

Sample, Ian. (2013, September 17). Sarin: the deadly history of the nerve agent used in Syria. Retrieved January 26, 2016 from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/17/sarin-deadly-history-nerve-agent-syria-un