Scientists Working Group on Biological and Chemical Security
The Scientists Working Group on Biological and Chemical Weapons Control, founded in 1989 at the Federation of American Scientists, moved in November 2003 to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation to join the Center’s new program on biological and chemical weapons control. At present, the defining goals of the Working Group are reinforcing the norm against biological weapons, broadening the norm to encompass all misuse of biology, and supporting all of components of the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions. Major interests include preventing the development of biochemical disabling agents as weapons, promoting international measures to monitor biological weapons-capable activities, promoting global cooperative measures for combating infectious diseases, ethical education of bioscientists, monitoring US biodefense and anti-bioterrorism activities and opposing risky or dangerous biological research.
The Working Group develops working papers and reports on technical and policy issues, publishes papers in peer-reviewed journals, and holds seminars and briefings for U.S. and international officials. Working Group members have extensive experience with biological and chemical weapons issues and have an array of technical expertise that they contribute on a voluntary basis.
The Working Group can be reached by contacting Dr. Lynn Klotz at lynnklotz@live.com.
Members of Scientists Working Group
Emeritus Members of Scientists Working Group
Recent Papers and Important Archived Documents
Recent Analysis on Biological and Chemical Weapons
- Myanmar should finally come clean about its chemical weapons past—with US help March 11, 2020
- Leveraging Cheminformatics to Bolster the Control of Chemical Warfare Agents and their Precursors February 27, 2020
- Op-ed: A biotech firm made a smallpox-like virus on purpose. Nobody seems to care February 21, 2020
- Chemical-weapon use in Syria: atrocities, attribution, and accountability February 17, 2020
- Controlling Novichoks after Salisbury: revising the Chemical Weapons Convention schedules September 30, 2019
- Center’s affiliated Scientists Working Group works to fight pandemics June 18, 2019
- (Translation): Return of chemical weapons: Molecules of terror April 22, 2019
- The aftermath of Syria’s chemical weapons attacks April 9, 2019
- Op-ed: Human error in high-biocontainment labs: a likely pandemic threat February 25, 2019
- Op-ed: North Korea’s other weapons of mass destruction August 1, 2018
