Vulnerabilities in U.S. Chemical Weapons Detection, Identification, and Tracing

The National Academies will host an expert discussion on Identifying and Accounting for Vulnerabilities in U.S. Chemical Weapons Detection, Identification, and Tracing Capabilities on March 4, 2021.

The meeting is open to the public in virtual format and is part of a larger 2-day meeting of the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology.

The Chemical Weapons session will explore the current state of the science in the field of chemical weapons detection, identification, and tracing, and will highlight opportunities for additional research in this space.

Chemical weapons remain an ever-present, high level threat to domestic and global security despite international efforts to regulate the weaponization of chemical agents. The recent use of deadly chemical agents in alleged assassination attempts of civilian targets has elevated interest in and attention to these weapons. This heightened awareness underscores critical knowledge gaps in the development of chemical weapons detection and identification technologies. The targeted deployment of chemical agents also demonstrates the advantages of employing forensic chemistry to investigate and trace chemical weapons.

Leaders of panel discussions and Q&A sessions include:

• Dr. Audrey M. Williams, Director, Forensic Science Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)
• Dr. Carlos G. Fraga, Senior Research Scientist, Chemical and Biological Signatures Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
• Dr. John Fortner, Associate Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science
• Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, University of California, Davis
• Scott Collick, DuPont

This event will be webcast from the NASEM webpage. Registration is free and available here.