HSE480

Davis J. (2021). How Public Health and EMS are Merging. Firehouse. 46(10): 53-54,56.Since 9/11, fire/EMS and public health have worked together to provide support and oversight of the cache of weapons of mass destruction medications that major cities received in preparation for future terrorism events. The combination of out-of-hospital-provider medical knowledge, hazmat experience and consistent community presence makes public safety a great partner that should be leveraged by public health agencies. Using electronic medical records, fire/EMS reporting data often is real-time, which offers early indications of problem areas for overdose, infant mortality, suicide, drowning, etc., all of which are determined to be public health problems.

Moroney, J. D. P., Hogler, J., Bahney, B., Cragin, K. Howell, D. R., Lynch, C. and Zimmerman, S. R. (2009). Developing a Process to Build Partner Capacity for Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.How can the United States better support its partners' efforts to combat the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation? Although the United States has instituted a number of programs to combat the spread of WMD, it does not have the resources necessary to stop all WMD threats. Instead, it needs to pursue a more coordinated effort to enhance partners' border security, WMD detection, interdiction, and other capabilities to address the global nature of the threat.

Reynolds C. (2009). Global Health Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction Chapter. Global Health Security. 187–207. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-23491-1_9. PMCID: PMC7122872. The global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) presents a clear and present danger to global health security. Unlike conventional weapons that confine themselves to a defined and targeted area, WMD’s cross international boundaries and borders. Moreover, the release of WMDs can be achieved using a low technology approach resulting in a transformation and redefinition of the mission of global health providers. This chapter will focus on the ease of access to WMDs, the impact biological weapons and bioterrorism plays on global health security, United States global policies on public health, and the role actors and non-state actors play in the global health landscape. In addition, this chapter will focus on global WMD proliferation prevention to include international efforts, treaties, and conventions. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of ongoing research initiatives, identification of emerging threats, and additional recommended readings.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Emergency Preparedness and Response.The whole community (e.g., individuals, families, communities, businesses, and jurisdictions) needs to plan for disasters and emergencies, and the disruptions that often result. This resource provides information on how families, businesses, healthcare facilities, and government organizations can prepare for disasters and different types of public health emergencies.

Federation of American Scientists. (2012). Weapons of Mass Destruction Intelligence Threat Assessments.This archived site provides a selection of official and unofficial resources on intelligence policy, structure, function, organization and operations.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). (2023). Weapons of Mass Destruction.The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems could have incalculable consequences for national, regional and global security. The potential effects of these types of weapons – which include nuclear devices, radiological material, biological pathogens and chemical substances – are some of the greatest threats that NATO faces. The Alliance is therefore working to prevent the proliferation of WMD through an active political agenda of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, while at the same time strengthening its capabilities to defend against attacks.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (2023). Health Security, pp. 24-25, in Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence provides an assessment of threats facing the United States associated with infectious diseases, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and biological WMD.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). (2005). Assessing and Managing the Terrorism Threat, U.S. Department of Justice.This document outlines the essential components of risk assessment and management, which entail: Critical infrastructure and key asset inventory; Criticality assessment; Threat assessment; Vulnerability assessment; Risk calculation; and Countermeasure identification.

Walker, P.F. (2017). A Century of Chemical Warfare: Building a World Free of Chemical Weapons. In Friedrich, B., Hoffmann, D., Renn, J., Schmaltz, F., Wolf, M. (eds) One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences. Springer, Cham.The first major use of chemical weapons in warfare was on April 22, 1915, when Germany attacked Allied forces along the Ypres Salient in Belgium in World War I. Since that historic attack a century ago, dozens of countries have researched, developed, tested, and deployed still more deadly chemical weapons. These inhumane and indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction were again used in 1924 by Spain against Morocco, by Italy against Libya and Ethiopia in the 1920s and 1930s, and by Japan against China in World War II (Robinson 1971). More recently they were deployed by Iraq against Iran and Iraq’s Kurdish population in the 1980s, and from 2012 to the present in the Syrian civil war. The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2016 includes 192 countries, 98% of the world’s population, with only four countries—Egypt, Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan—still missing. And of the 72,525 metric tons of chemical agents declared to date in eight possessor states, over 66,000 metric tons—92%—have been safely destroyed in the last 25 years. This is a historic achievement in global disarmament and peacebuilding and needs to continue until we rid the world of all chemical weapons, prevent their re-emergence, and promote peaceful uses of chemistry.