Determining the Threat: Biological Weapons and National Security Interests

The statements made here represent the speakers' own thoughts. Neither the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin, nor any organization providing support for this effort necessarily endorses the views and statements included here.

Jeanne Guillemin, Boston College

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008

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Dr. Eugene Gholz introduced Jeanne Guillemin, MIT Security Studies Program, an accomplished academic in the field of biological weaponry, as part of this fall’s International Security Speaker Series. Guillemin discussed the history of various nations’ perceptions of biological weapons programs. After describing U.S. policy towards the use of bio-weapons throughout the mid-twentieth century, Guillemin provided visual depictions of biological weapons facilities in the United States and Japan. She introduced evidence relating to Japan’s use of biological warfare against the Chinese during World War II, suggesting that the Japanese had used air-drops of wheat, rice, and fleas to infect the Chinese population with various diseases.