Chlorine : Chemical Agent With Corrosive Properties And A Potential Weapon Of Mass Destruction

The chemical sector within the United States is a necessary element to the economy, security, and the well-being of personnel. The appeal of a chemical sector and the destruction it could create would be an ideal target for terrorists to strike. Facilities within the United States use, manufacture, store, transport, or deliver chemicals that encompass everything from petroleum, refineries, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and hardware stores (Department of Homeland Security, 2010). Multiple facilities that utilize chemicals could be exposed to a treat, which leaves the facility vulnerable to attacks. The consequences of the attack could be detrimental to both public health and safety; therefore, the goals for the chemical sector are to (Department of Homeland Security, 2010,

I believe that the use of Chemical weapons by groups such as Aum Shinrikyo and the Iraqi government in the late 1980's has had a huge impact on the United States' counter terrorism preparedness. The United States has continued to make improvements to our WMD defense programs ever since the first use of chemical weapons, specifically Chlorine and Phosgene gasses, during WWI. The U.S. continued to improve its defense at that point by designing masks that were able to counter such weapons. As times have changed and evolved, so has the defense programs and equipment of our country. Since the use of chemical weapons by groups like Aum Shinrikyo and the Iraqi Government you can see even the smallest the changes in our defense, such as with the

The sleeper cell coordinates the attack incorporating lessons learned from previous arrests of failed terrorist plots worldwide. The sleepers know the purchase of pressure cookers will draw attention to themselves. To solve this problem, the machinists produce the pressure cookers and pipes for the chlorine attack. Chlorine was selected because it is easier to acquire from the HAZMAT driver. The increased pandemonium, injury, and possible death caused by chlorine meets the sleeper cell’s intent. Chlorine is a choking agent and according to Shea (2013), “…choking agents act on the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing and, potentially, permanent lung damage” (p. 5). The sleeper cell desires a high concentration of chlorine in the attack, causing

In terms of surgical procedures, much of society refrains from using chloroform as an anesthetic due to its life-threatening effects on the human body and this chemical is not commonly used by the average individual within society, so its absence will be barely noticed from the daily lives of Americans. Yet, despite the fact that chloroform is an environmental hazard and is barely used by the average individual, its is acknowledged that the chemical is also used as a reagent and a solvent by factories in order to produce other chemicals. The hydrogen attached to carbon within this organic compound allows it to participate in hydrogen bonding and serve as a solvent for pesticides, fats, rubber, and oils. Next, chloroform also serves as a reagent (a compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, that is not necessarily consumed throughout the reaction), as it usually reacts with aqueous sodium hydroxide in order to produce the compound CCl2, which can then be inserted into the bonds of other compounds to create new substances. As a result, it can be noted that the economy, specifically the rubber and pesticide industries, will be hindered for a short amount of time. It is only a short amount of time, as there are many replacements available for chloroform that will result in the same or similar chemicals that factories want to produce. These alternatives include the chemical dimethoxyethane, which can replaced chloroform’s role as a solvent due to its ability to mix in all proportions with a variety of solutes, including water and ethanol, and ethyl acetate, which can replace chloroform’s role as a reagent to react with sodium hydroxide, as the reactivity of its elements are similar to the elements found within chloroform. As such, many of the possible economical harms can be easily repaired through the simple substitution of other chemicals that do not

For the reading this week it would seem clear that at a minimum terrorist groups are very interested and motivated to gain access to a CBRN weapons or Weapon of Mass Destruction. This new focus for terrorist groups is a focus that has comes with some very real concerns for the Homeland Defense and Homeland Security industries. As, Sinai, eludes too in his work, “The Evolving Terrorist Threat: The Convergence of Terrorism, Proliferation of WMD, and Enabling Conditions in Weak and Strong States”, terrorist have a criminal network they use for fundraising. This network often includes drug trafficking, which by nature has sophisticated smuggling operations. This same network could potentially be used to smuggle proliferated CRBN weapons or Weapons

Uses of irritating gas such as sulfur and burning wax have been recorded early as 428 BC during the war between the Athenians and the Spartans, but modern day chemical agents that cause excessive lacrimation and blepharospasm were first developed and used by Germany during World War I. [2] These riot control agents have also been referred to as lacrimators, tear gases, harassing agents, and irritating agents. Since its development, riot control agents have been used in wars, civil disturbances, as well as military training and exercises. While Chemical Weapons Convention prohibited the use of these agents as a method of warfare, USA currently does not classify riot control agents as chemical warfare agents. [3] Today, the most commonly used lacrimating agents are chloroacetophenone (CN), o-chloro-benzylidne malonitrile (CS), and oleoresin capsicum (OC).

Chlorine was first discovered by a man whose profession was in the medical field. However, since it was 1774, the technology wasn’t as advanced and therefore led him to misleading conclusions. Carl Wilhelm Sheele was a Swedish pharmacist who, “released a few drops of hydrochloric acid onto a piece of manganese dioxide in his lab, and a greenish-yellow gas was produced in a matter of seconds…” (Alchin, Linda. “The Element Chlorine.” What Is Chlorine?, www.elementalmatter.info/element-chlorine.htm.). Before Sir Humphry Davy, people thought that Chlorine was a form of oxygen. Sir Humphry Davy later proved otherwise. Although this element was never thought to be used this way, in World War I Chlorine was used as a “choking agent”. Men would suffer

can leak or spill into adjacent land and water.” (Steuer 2). Waste storage can emit chemicals

The city of Stockton’s water cleaning company uses “chloramines which are not as chemically active as chlorine” to filter their tap water system (recordnet.com). However, due to the drought and lack of water many of the chloramines compounded together and became toxic. Moving on, Chloramine is a compound made up of very low concentration of chlorine and ammonia. However, large quantity of chloramine can be harmful since the chlorine can compound onto each other, which develops trichloramine (recordnet.com). Trichloramine can cause redness in the eye, irritation of the skin, and if ingested in large quantity, the respiratory system can be damaged. Moving on, the water contamination in Stockton effects all the residents in North Stockton only. Despite that the water contamination is only in North Stockton, the residents are taking precaution to using their tap water due to the unsure effects of ingesting the contaminated

One wouldn’t consider regular use of products to be dangerous chemicals. During the summer months, many people are maintaining their pool and don’t even know that there is danger in mixing these hazardous substances such as pool chemicals. It came as a surprise to learn that there is even danger in delivering and receiving these pool chemicals, there was an incident close in the area where I work. “Police say pool chemicals in the back of a pool company truck interacted with one another and caught fire” (News12, 2017). Nevertheless, if this affected the police officers who were near, who suffered from chemical inhalation and the Department of Environmental Conservation was needed to properly clean up. While these chemicals may be safe in

Chemical attacks conducted by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995 and the Iraqi government against the Kurdish people in the late 1980s have not had a significant impact on counterterrorism preparedness against chemical weapons in the United States. Even though Aum Shinrikyo had a level of expertise with chemical agents and the ability to produce them, it was proven that attacks of this nature are easy to carry out but difficult to gain the desired effect from. Initially, Aum thought their attack would kill thousands if not more however the generally poor quality of the sarin gas coupled with the inadequate dispersal devices degraded the attack’s effectiveness significantly (A case study on the Aum Shinrikyo, 1995, Sect 5, Para 3). Since this was the most effective chemical attack conducted by a non-state actor, one can readily see the difficulties involved in effectively dispersing gas, even in a relatively enclosed area. It is exactly these difficulties experienced by the Japanese terrorists that have led America into a relative calm over a threat of chemical terrorism as it would likely prove relatively ineffective in the absence of direct assistance from another nation.

Access to nuclear, radiological, chemical, or biological weapons is becoming more and more available. There is sufficient evidence that many terrorist organizations are now concentrating their efforts to develop, acquire, and deploy different types of WMD’s. If these organizations were to be successful in acquiring the technology and supplies needed, it is almost certain that an attack against the United States would be forthcoming. Terrorist organizations may also look to underground smuggling networks and international criminal organizations for aid in acquiring or developing nuclear

Chemical weapons are toxic gases, which use in the wars such as World War 1. Chemical weapons used in First World War and they killed a lot of people even children. In addition, chemical weapons are unless color, so people can’t see them. Also, most of people who died through the First World War were civilians. Therefore, who were responsible about them? In addition, people who survived had dangerous and permanent diseases such as cancer, asthma … etc. Even people’s genes effected by these toxic gases and they cause a lot of genetic problems that appeared in a second generation. Even soldiers who were pushed to this war. Then, they died or effected who were responsible about their families. In addition chemical weapons burned a lot of trees and they changed plant characteristics. Also, these gases can react with others to change air and weather characteristics. Therefore, chemical weapons effect on our

For these reasons, it can only be concluded that chemical weapons are the most likely of the CBRN categories to continue to be exploited by ISIS, both in Iraq and Syria, but also in the European theatre. Due to the quantity of chemicals and the scale of storage needed to mount large-scale attacks,

This is clear violation of Rule 74 of the Hague Declaration. The use of chemical weapons is prohibited in international armed conflicts in a series of treaties including the Hague Declaration. The prohibited chemical weapons include Azphyxiating Gases, Chlorine and Phosphorus etc. There another international treaties relating prohibition of chemical weapons are the Geneva Gas Protocol, The Chemical Weapons Convention and the Statute of the International Criminal Court.