President Trump approved a new national strategy to counter the use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups.
The National Strategy for Countering WMD Terrorism details how the federal government will launch global efforts to prevent insurgents from using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons to strengthen the security of the U.S. and its allies, the White House said Monday. The document also shows the need to increase burden sharing with other nations to pressure and counter WMD-capable terrorist groups.
“The United States will draw on the full range of our nation’s and partner nations’ capabilities to place WMD and associated materials and expertise beyond the reach of terrorists,†the White House said.Â
The new strategy sets the following objectives to deter extremist groups and individuals in using such weapons:
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- The agents, precursors and materials needed to acquire WMD are placed beyond the reach of terrorists and other malicious non-state actors and the global quantity of WMD and related materials is reduced.
- States and individuals are deterred from providing support to would-be WMD terrorists.
- An effective architecture is in place to detect and defeat terrorist WMD networks.
- U.S. defenses against WMD terrorism are strengthened, and state, local, tribal and territorial preparedness to contend with WMD threats is enhanced.
- The U.S. is able to identify and respond to technological trends that may enable terrorist development, acquisition or use of WMD.
