A Disputation on the Strategy of Countering WMD

Disputation on the Strategy of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, January 2012, unpublished.

This document was recently found nailed to the doors of the famous Lincoln Church, which holds the Canon of Scriptures on Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). It is a critique of the U.S. government's strategy for countering WMD, with a particular focus on the failure to distinguish strategies to counter the threat of adversarial nations employing nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons from the threat of sub-state actors (notably, transnational terrorist groups) who might use chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) hazards or explosive weapons against non-combatants. In particular, it decries the efforts of a 'WMD priesthood' and its efforts to develop unique and stand-alone counter-WMD concepts, rather than integrating its efforts within existing security strategies, concepts, and plans.

"BIOCRISIS: Defining Biological Threats in U.S. Policy"
Over the last 20 years, the national security community has engaged with disease-related issues that have traditionally been the scope of public health agencies. The federal government's response has been to create a single national biodefense strategy, which has been largely ineffective in improving conditions due to poor terminology, a lack of leadership, and a failure to assess government programs.

Applying a public policy framework, Albert J. Mauroni examines how the government addresses biological threats―including disease prevention, bioterrorism response, military biodefense, biosurety, and agricultural biosecurity and food safety. He proposes a new approach to countering biological threats, arguing that lead agencies should focus on implementing discrete portfolios with annual assessments against clear and achievable objectives.

Envisioning a New Strategy to Counter Great Power Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction

This monograph dated January 2022 describes the need to develop a new national strategy for countering WMD, In particular, we suggest that:

1. New strategic guidance must offer a new construct on how the U.S. government prioritizes WMD threat sources and articulates ways and means for aligning whole-of-government resources, starting with a new National Strategy for Countering WMD that outlines how to address great power competition through deterrence, diplomacy, and defense operations.

2. New national strategic guidance must abandon the actoragnostic view of the current national/DOD strategies so as to adequately address Chinese/Russian WMD challenges, as well as acknowledge the differences between peer/near-peer and lesser states, as well as violent extremist organizations.

3. A more engaged National Security Council staff must oversee strategies developed by executive agencies, in particular, DOD, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of Health and Human Services, and the intelligence community.