Chairman
Col. John Gilbert, U.S. Air Force (retired)
Consultant on CWC implementation
Former member of U.S. CWC delegations
Panel
Ambassador Adolf Von Wagner, Germany (ret.)
Chairman of final CWC negotiations
Col. George Fenton, U.S. Marine Corps (ret.)
Former Director of U.S. Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate
Dr. John B. Alexander, U.S. Army (ret.)
U.S. Government Consultant
Author of Future War: Non-Lethal Weapons in 21st Century Warfare
Dr. Mark Wheelis
Professor at University of California Davis
Member of Scientists Working Group on CBW
Presentations and Discussion by the Panel
Followed by Questions from the Floor
This Panel Discussion (on advantages and disadvantages of incapacitating chemical weapons) will address a critical arms control issue that is fermenting below the surface of the CWC. The issue of incapacitating chemical weapons was also raised at the NGO Open Forum during the first CWC Review Conference in 2003. Because some States Parties are already proceeding to develop or use those weapons, an open debate is needed. Is the CWC standing in the way of less-lethal weapons that would make war more human and law enforcement more effective, or would such weapons open the door to a new generation of chemical weapons spanning the spectrum from lethality to mental and physiological manipulation that could be employed for political purposes?
The Panel that will wrestle with these questions is chaired by Col. John Gilbert, a long-time CWC expert and former U.S. arms control inspector.
Ambassador Adolf Von Wagner is accalimed for his diplomatic skills and his intimate knowledge of both the letter and the intent of the CWC.
Col. George Fenton, U.S. Marine Corps, directed the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate from its inception in 1997 until his recent retirement. He is now with American Systems Corporation.
Col. John Alexander is perhaps the leading proponent for non-lethal weapons in the U.S.; he has written two books and spoken widely in Europe and American on that subject.
Dr. Mark Wheelis is a well-known microbiologist and historian of CBW who often writes on scientific and technological innovations, their implications for the development of new types of chemical and biological weapons, and their impacts on the norms against CW and BW.
Sponsored by the Scientists Working Group on CBW,
Center for
Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Washington, DC