Islamist Use and Pursuit of CBRN Terrorism

The prospects of politically violent nonstate actors utilizing chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons has captured the imaginations of not only public officials and the news media, but also a sizeable group of scholars who have sought to better define and characterize this apparent threat.  Except for a few alarmist examples, most of the scholarship on CBRN use by terrorist groups has endeavored to replace anecdote and sensationalism with analytical consideration of both the motivations capabilities required for nonstate regime opponents to succeed in brandishing such fearful arsenals.