Nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons delivered covertly byterrorists or hostile governments pose a significant and growing threat to theUnited States and other countries. Although the threat of NBC attack is widelyrecognized as a central national security issue, most analysts have assumed that theprimary danger is military use by states in war, with traditional military means ofdelivery. The threat of covert attack has been imprudently neglected.Covert attackis hard to deter or prevent, and NBC weapons suitable for covert attack areavailable to a growing range of states and groups hostile to the United States. Atthe same time, constraints on their use appear to be eroding. This volume analyzesthe nature and limits of the covert NBC threat and proposes a measured set of policyresponses, focused on improving intelligence and consequence-management capabilitiesto reduce U.S. vulnerability.About the authors: Richard A. Falkenrath is AssistantProfessor of Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He served asExecutive Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs(BCSIA) and, before that, as a Research Fellow. He is the author and co-author ofShaping Europe's Military Order (1995), Avoiding Nuclear Anarchy (1996), America'sAchilles' Heel: Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Terrorism and Covert Attack (1998), andnumerous journal articles and chapters of edited volumes. Falkenrath has been aVisiting Research Fellow at the German Society of Foreign Affairs (DGAP) in Bonn. Heholds a PhD from the Department of War Studies, King's College, London, where he wasa British Marshall Scholar, and is a summa cum laude graduate of Occidental College, Los Angeles, with degrees in economics and international relations. He is on leavein 2001-2002 and is currently serving as Director for Counterproliferation andHomeland Defense at the National Security Council.Bradley A. Thayer is AssistantProfessor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.