Home › Events › Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons
 

Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons

audio video photo
Date:

July 28, 2011
10:30am - 12:00pm

Date and Time:
Thursday, July 28, 2011
9:30 a.m.: Camera pre-set
10:00-10:30 a.m.: Guest registration
10:30-12:00 p.m.: Event and Q&A

RSVP:
RSVP online here.
Or, call 202.457.9427.

Location:

The Willard InterContinental Hotel's Grand Ball Room
1401 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20004

In 1995, the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo unleashed terror on the Tokyo subway system with a highly-publicized sarin gas attack. However, less is known about the group’s development of biological and chemical weapons and about their prior attacks using these weapons.

At an event on July 28, 2011, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a major report, Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons, with never-before documented information on the group and its operations.

The CNAS report Aum Shinrikyo will culminate a multi-year project led by Richard Danzig, former Secretary of the Navy and Chairman of the CNAS Board of Directors; with Marc Sageman, Advisor to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army on the Insider Threat; Terrance Leighton, Senior Staff Scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and Chief Scientist at Science Applications International Corporation; Lloyd Hough, Senior Research Scientist at Battelle in International Technology Assessments; Zachary Hosford, Research Associate at CNAS; and two Japanese colleagues investigating these issues. Through personal interviews and correspondence with former members of Aum Shinrikyo’s leadership, the authors have compiled new insights into the secretive organization. The observations from this study have wide-ranging applications for terrorist groups worldwide.

Related Content

There are no speakers to display.

  • Regional Security Challenges

    CNAS will focus on immediate threats and long-term security challenges in the following regions: Afghanistan, Asia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

    | more |
  • Terrorism & Irregular Warfare
    Terrorism, Irregular Warfare and Crime

    CNAS explores  strategies for combating  terrorism, violent extremism, and various approaches for tackling the significant challenges posed by insurgencies and irregular warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe.

    | more |
  • U.S. Military Forces & Operations
    U.S. Military Forces & Operations

    CNAS projects on U.S. Military Forces and Operations go beyond the battlefield and examine the force structure, roles, missions, and overall health and wellness of America's military to help ensure our forces are prepared for the demands of 21st century conflict.

    | more |
  • US National Security Strategy
    U.S. National Security and Defense Policy

    CNAS has a range of efforts aimed at helping American policymakers develop the best national security strategy for the nation, as well as supporting strategies for critical issues such as energy security and coping with violent extremism.

    | more |
  • WMD & Nuclear Proliferation
    WMD and Nuclear Proliferation

    Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including the dangers of nuclear and biological weapons proliferation, pose perhaps the gravest national security threat to the United States. CNAS continues to examine the threat of WMD posed by state actors – including Iran and North Korea – as well as non-state actors. CNAS also examines U.S. nonproliferation and arms control efforts, as well as other preventative and response plans for potential WMD attacks. 

    | more |
  • Asia-Pacific Security
    Asia-Pacific Security

    Asia’s strong response to the worldwide economic crisis, its burgeoning military modernization programs and growing integration are evidence of Asia’s expanding global power and American strategists must articulate a comprehensive and forward-looking strategy to deal with the complexities of this increasingly vital region.

    | more |
  • Terrorism, Irregular Warfare and Crime
    Terrorism, Irregular Warfare and Crime

    This project examines the nexus of terrorism, irregular warfare and crime.  

    | more |
  • mexico, drugs, drug war
    Transnational Crime

    The close relationship between crime and terrorist activities is well-documented. Criminal ventures have long financed organized violence against nation states. As globalization facilitates the increased flow of people, capital, and information, we see a concomitant increase in these activities across the world. 

    This project examines the nexus of terrorism, irregular warfare and crime, and has included work on the implications of drug cartels, crime and gangs in Mexico and South America for U.S. national security, counter-threat finance, and other types of irregular warfare. The project is led by COL Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.).

    CNAS research on transnational crime includes the 2010 report Crime Wars: Gangs, Cartels and U.S. National Security. In the report, authors COL Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.) and Jennifer Bernal survey organized crime throughout the Western Hemisphere, analyze the challenges it poses for the region and recommend the United States replace the "war on drugs" paradigm with comprehensive domestic and foreign policies to confront the interrelated challenges of drug trafficking and violence ranging from the Andean Ridge to American streets.

    In 2011, CNAS released the policy brief Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere, written by Killebrew and Matthew Irvine. According to the authors, increased regional cooperation – which has been a topic of President Obama’s Latin America tour – is needed to combat the growing violence and instability in the Western Hemisphere.

    CNAS continues to research the growing crime-terror-insurgency nexus and the threat posed by transnational crime in the Western Hemisphere. 

    | more |
  • america, united states
    Twenty First Century Strategic Environment

    CNAS studies the ever changing global security environment and its implications for the United States.  Key topics of interest include the rapidly evolving challenges of cyber security and cyber warfare; the future of strategic competition in the global commons; national security implications of changes to the world economy; the nexus between transnational crime and national security; and “natural security,” the geo-strategic and policy implications of rising global consumption of resources including energy, minerals, water, and climate change.

    | more |
  • U.S. National Security and Defense Policy

    U.S. National Security and Defense Policy

    | more |
  • WMD and Nuclear Proliferation

    Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including the dangers of nuclear and biological weapons proliferation, pose perhaps the gravest national security threat to the United States. CNAS continues to examine the threat of WMD posed by state actors – including Iran and North Korea – as well as non-state actors. CNAS also examines U.S. nonproliferation and arms control efforts, as well as other preventative and response plans for potential WMD attacks.

    | more |