Soviet Union capability

I have no doubt that reports of this type catalyzed the acceleration of our research activities. Happily, it also opened the coffers of government funds more widely. Other intelligence reports indicated that the Soviet Union was spending ten times as much as we were on the development of its chemical warfare capabilities. This fueled the sense of urgency regarding our efforts in the lab and strengthened the belief (mostly an illusion, as we learned later) that we had to go all out if we wanted to stay ahead of the Russians. As much as anything, this belief imparted a patriotic fervor to our efforts. 

More than 30 years ago it became apparent that sandstones of the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan are host to significant deposits of uranium. Previous work elsewhere, primarily in the Colorado Plateau (Cannon 1964) and the former Soviet Union (Kovalevsky 1972), had shown that plants are capable of accumulating high concentrations of U. Surveys near the eastern margin of the Athabasca Group revealed an area of... 

The British had proceeded less expeditiously. The Chiefs of Staff advised in October 1945 that the best defence against atomic bombs was likely to be the deterrent effect that the possession of the means of retaliation would have on a potential aggressor, and in January 1946 they said that a stock in the order of hundreds rather than scores would be necessary to deter a country with widely dispersed industries and population (like the Soviet Union). In December 1945, ministers in the Gen 75 committee approved the construction of the first reactor capable of producing plutonium, and in August 1946 the CAS sent the first requisition for an atomic bomb to the Ministry of Supply. The McMahon Act was amended in October 1950 to allow rather more cooperation between American and British scientists but the first British test did not take place until 3 October 1952, in the hold of a ship off Australia. The first test of a British atomic bomb dropped by an aircraft did not occur until 11 October 1956. 

Although there are substantial barriers preventing knowledge transferal in the states of the former Soviet Union, methods for circumventing those barriers do exist. These methods include official contacts, illicit exploitation of those official contacts, clandestine recruitment, and secondary proliferation. Attempts to clandestinely acquire expertise from FSU scientists should be considered in the context of other pathways that states and terrorist groups might use to enhance their capabilities. 

Reorientation of the Research Capability of the Former Soviet Union A Report to the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, proceedings of a March 3, 1992, workshop sponsored by the NAS, NAE, and lOM, Washington, D C. National Academy Press, 1992. 

The Soviet Union is known to have achieved an impressive military capability in CBR warfare.. . . Now, therefore be it resolved that The American Legion lend its full support to building a United States capability in CBR weapons sufficient to deter or defeat any Soviet CBR aggression and be it further resolved that The American Legion make every effort to obtain increased public understanding and support of the necessity of CBR preparedness by the United States. 

In 1928, Grigori Pyatakov, a Soviet leader, declared According to Lenin, the Communist Party is based on the principle of coercion which doesn t recognize any limitations or inhibitions... moral, political, or even physical. Such a Party is capable of achieving miracles. In 1997, a French Communist official justified the Soviet Union s murdering millions of its own citizens as follows Agreed, both Nazis and communists killed. But while Nazis killed from hatred of humanity, the communists killed from love. ... 

From 1940 until 1991 the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were constituent republics of the Soviet Union. As such, and in contrast to the Romanian experience, they fell completely under the centralized industrial policy of the communist government in Moscow. These command-and-control policies favored large-scale industrial investments capable of serving the needs of the Soviet Union as a whole, with little sympathy for... 

In 1976, the secretary of the army reversed the decision to abolish the Chemical Corps. He cited the heightened awareness of the Soviet Union s capability to wage chemical warfare as the primary reason. In 1977, the United States started a new effort to reach an agreement with the Soviets on a verifiable ban on chemical weapons. This effort was unsuccessful. Partly as a result, the Chemical School was reestablished at Fort McClellan in 19 7 9.167 177-181... 

Based on this evidence, senior defense department personnel concluded that the Soviet Union possesses a decisive military advantage because of its chemical capabilities. 167(p3)... 

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