Anticipating the biological proliferation threat of nanotechnology: Challenges for international arms control regimes

Abstract

This chapter explores challenges-both in the technical realm and in international arms control regimes and laws-in the pursuit of nanotechnology as it intersects with the proliferation of biological weapons. Nanotechnology is thriving in academia, in the private sector, and in state science and technology programs. The security implications, both for traditional non-proliferation regimes and for misuse by non-state actors, have not received commensurate attention with other technological advances. At the same time, policy makers and the scientific community, domestically and internationally, are attempting to develop new means to address risks associated with biotechnology, including synthetic genomics. Although the potential threats of nanotechnology research in an age of terrorism or a new age of state-based proliferation may not be as easy to envision in the near term as those associated with biotechnology, the possibilities are becoming more real as nanotechnology is transitioned from the laboratory to products. A number of recent advances in nanotechnology have strongly suggested nanotechnology's malfeasant potential in the hands of adversaries.