A Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland

Chemical and Biological Threats


Chemical and Biological Threats

Project Title Investigators Project Period
Advancing U.S. CWMD/CWMT Capabilities in Support of the SIGMA+ Program through Development of Anticipatory Human Social Systems Models and Adversary Weapon Selection Decision Processes Steve Sin, Thomas Guarrieri March, 2020 to March, 2022
Integrated Discovery of Emerging and Novel Technologies (IDENT) Steve Sin June, 2018 to July, 2020
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency SIGMA+ Thomas Guarrieri, Marcus A. Boyd, Steve Sin July, 2018 to April, 2020
Global Terrorism Database (GTD) Acceleration Erin Miller January, 2019 to January, 2020
Global Terrorism Database (GTD) Erin Miller, Gary LaFree, Laura Dugan June, 2001 to January, 2020
Profiles of Incidents Involving CBRN and Non-state Actors (POICN) Database Markus Binder March, 2010 to June, 2018
Profiling the CB Adversary: Motivation, Psychology and Decision Gary Ackerman April, 2016 to December, 2017
Dynamics of Terrorism and Counterterrorism Campaigns Gary Ackerman, Joseph Young, R. Karl Rethemeyer, Victor Asal July, 2014 to December, 2017
Consensus Framework for Informing Decision-Making in the Biological Threat Characterization Program Gary Ackerman September, 2013 to September, 2014
Anatomizing the Behavior of Chemical and Biological Non-State Adversaries Gary Ackerman, Victor Asal June, 2012 to May, 2014
New Analytical Methods for the Exploitation of Open-Source Structured Databases to Enhance Situational Awareness for Effective Counter-WMD Strategies Ronald Breiger, Gary Ackerman, Victor Asal, H. Brinton Milward, R. Karl Rethemeyer March, 2010 to March, 2014
Organizational Factors in the Successful Application of 'Community Engagement' Principles for Bioterrorism Preparedness Monica Schoch-Spana June, 2008 to December, 2011
Domestic Weapons of Mass Destruction: Populations at Risk from U.S. Chemical Facilities Releases Susan Cutter June, 2008 to October, 2011
More Bang for the Buck?: Examining the Effect of Technological Change on Terrorist Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction Gary Ackerman, Jeffrey Bale July, 2005 to September, 2009
Effective Organizational Communication During Crises: Learning from the 2001 Anthrax Attacks Caron Chess May, 2005 to May, 2009
Population Vulnerability Analysis, Spatial Social Science, and GIS Susan Cutter May, 2005 to May, 2009
Death in a Small Package: A Social History of Anthrax Susan Jones June, 2005 to June, 2008
Best Practices for Preparing Communities: Citizen Engagement in Public Health Planning Monica Schoch-Spana May, 2005 to May, 2008
Project Title Publication Date START Authors Publication Type
A Historical Overview of Biological Weapons Identification, Characterization, and Attribution November 2007 Ackerman, Gary; Asal, Victor Book Chapter
An Army of One: Assessing CBRN Pursuit and Use by Lone Wolves and Autonomous Cells January 2014 Ackerman, Gary; Pinson, Lauren Journal Article
Anatomizing Chemical and Biological Non-State Adversaries March 2014 Ackerman, Gary; Binder, Markus Research Brief
Application of a Profile Similarity Methodology for Identifying Terrorist Groups That Use or Pursue CBRN Weapons September 2017 Ackerman, Gary; Milward, H. Brinton; Rethemeyer, R. Karl; Breiger, Ronald; Asal, Victor Book Chapter
Assessing the Bioweapons Threat August 2015 Ackerman, Gary Journal Article
Aum Shinrikyo’s Nuclear and Chemical Weapons Development Efforts March 2016 Smith, Daniel Journal Article
CBRN Activity and Attacks by Insurgent Organizations October 2015 Ackerman, Gary; Rethemeyer, R. Karl; Asal, Victor Research Brief
Characteristics of Jihadists Who Use or Pursue CBRN: A Quantitative Approach November 2007 Rethemeyer, R. Karl; Asal, Victor Book Chapter
Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism April 2018 Ackerman, Gary Book Chapter
Conclusion November 2007 Ackerman, Gary Book Chapter
Conference Report--Disease, Disaster, and Democracy: The Public's Stake in Health Emergency Planning October 2006 Schoch-Spana, Monica Journal Article
Connections Can be Toxic: Terrorist Organizational Factors and the Pursuit of CBRN Weapons February 2012 Ackerman, Gary; Rethemeyer, R. Karl; Asal, Victor Journal Article
Death in a Small Package: A Short History of Anthrax November 2007 Jones, Susan Book
Defining Knowledge Gaps Within CBRN Terrorism Research November 2008 Ackerman, Gary Book Chapter
Expert Views on Biological Threat Characterization for the U.S. Government: A Delphi Study March 2017 Ackerman, Gary Journal Article
Extremists and Unconventional Weapons: Examining the Pursuit of Chemical and Biological Agents December 2019 Guarrieri, Thomas Journal Article
Facilitation of Risk Communication During the Anthrax Attacks of 2001: The Organizational Backstory October 2007 Chess, Caron Journal Article
False Alarms, Real Challenges - One University's Communication Response to the 2001 Anthrax Crisis June 2006 Chess, Caron Journal Article
Federal Funding for Health Security in FY2016 June 2015 Sell, Tara Journal Article
From Factors to Actors: Enhancing the Reliability of CBRN Analysis April 2016 Ackerman, Gary; Pinson, Lauren; Breiger, Ronald Journal Article
Gauging the Threat August 2013 Ackerman, Gary; Pinson, Lauren Journal Article
Hacking the Human Body: The Cyber-Bio Convergence April 2019 Earnhardt, Rebecca (Becca) White Paper
Hindsight Not 20/20 for Smallpox Research January 2015 Discussion Point
Influenza Vaccine Scarcity 2004–05: Implications for Biosecurity and Public Health Preparedness September 2005 Schoch-Spana, Monica Journal Article
Introduction to the Forum: Non-State Actors, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction February 2005 Wilkenfeld, Jonathan; Asal, Victor Journal Article
Islamic State Chemical Weapons: A Case Contained by its Context? March 2018 Tinsley, Herbert; Quigley, Jillian; Binder, Markus Journal Article
Islamist Use and Pursuit of CBRN Terrorism November 2008 Rethemeyer, R. Karl Book Chapter
It is Hard to Predict the Future: Evolving Nature of Threats and Vulnerabilities January 2006 Ackerman, Gary Journal Article
Jihadist Ideology and Strategy and the Possible Employment of 'Weapons of Mass Destruction November 2007 Bale, Jeffrey Book Chapter
Jihadists and WMD: a re-evaluation of the future threat October 2014 Ackerman, Gary Journal Article
Miscommunication during the anthrax attacks: How events reveal organizational failures January 2007 Chess, Caron Journal Article
Modeling Terrorist Attack Cycles as a Stochastic Process: Analyzing Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Incidents August 2020 Guarrieri, Thomas; Clark, Tyler A. Journal Article
Motivations, Mechanisms and Determinants of Terrorist Technology Transfer October 2017 Ackerman, Gary; Halverson, James; Earnhardt, Rebecca (Becca) Research Brief
Nuclear Terrorism: Countering the Threat March 2016 Ackerman, Gary; Halverson, James; Boyd, Marcus; Sin, Steve Book
Pick Your POICN: Introducing the Profiles of Incidents involving CBRN and Non-State Actors (POICN) Database March 2019 Ackerman, Gary; Binder, Markus Journal Article
Profiling the CB Adversary: Motivation, Psychology and Decision September 2017 Davenport, Cory; Ackerman, Gary; Tinsley, Herbert; Binder, Markus; Earnhardt, Rebecca (Becca); Sell, Tara Kirk Research Brief
Profiling the WMD Terrorism Threat November 2008 Ackerman, Gary; Bale, Jeffrey Book Chapter
Public Responses to Extreme Events: Top 5 Disaster Myths October 2005 Schoch-Spana, Monica Conference Paper
Radiological/Nuclear Detection Capability Development Framework Mapping Tool March 2016 Boyd, Marcus; Sin, Steve Project Fact Sheet
Review of Bob Graham, et.al, World at Risk: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism June 2009 Ackerman, Gary Book Review
Review of Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism, by Marion Nestle January 2006 Schoch-Spana, Monica Journal Article
Ricin Letters Mailed to President and Senator April 2013 Ackerman, Gary; Pinson, Lauren; Johns, Mila Background Report
Singapore-Malaysia-Indonesia-US Dialogue on Biosecurity December 2015 Journal Article
South Africa's Project Coast: "Death Squads," Covert State-Sponsored Poisonings, and the Dangers of CBW Proliferation January 2006 Bale, Jeffrey Journal Article
Speaking with One Voice: Risk Communication Lessons from the US Anthrax Attacks June 2006 Chess, Caron Journal Article
START Annual Meeting 2016: Quick-Fire Presentation - Unconventional Weapons and Technology, Political Instability, Risk Communication October 2016 Ackerman, Gary; LaFree, Gary; Roberts, Holly; Halverson, James; Binder, Markus; Egnoto, Michael; Sin, Steve Presentation
Terrorism Risk and Optimal Policy Response: Theory and Empirics October 2019 Mohtadi, Hamid Journal Article
Terrorist Organizational Factors and the Pursuit and Use of CBRN Terrorism March 2006 Ackerman, Gary Conference Paper
The Curious Incident of the Bench in the Daylight April 2018 Quigley, Jillian; Binder, Markus; Earnhardt, Rebecca (Becca) Journal Article
The DNI's Open Source Center: An Organizational Communication Perspective February 2007 Bean, Hamilton Journal Article
The Future of Jihadists and WMD November 2007 Ackerman, Gary Book Chapter
The Interplay between Terrorism, Nonstate Actors, and Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Exploration of the Pinkerton Database March 2005 LaFree, Gary; Dugan, Laura Journal Article
The thin red line March 2013 Johns, Mila Op-ed
Transnational Illicit Trafficking (TransIT) Geospatial Tool: Project Fact Sheet September 2013 Sawyer, John Project Fact Sheet
Unconventional Weapons and Technology (UWT) Research Division October 2018 Project Fact Sheet
US Competitiveness in Synthetic Biology December 2015 Journal Article
WMD Terrorism Research: Whereto from Here? July 2005 Ackerman, Gary Journal Article
WMD Terrorism: The Once and Future Threat May 2018 Ackerman, Gary; Jacome, Michelle Journal Article
Title Byline
New project seeks to provide DARPA with ways to deter CBRN attacks by non-state actors Erin Copland
Islamic State Chemical Weapons: A Case Contained by its Context? Shruti Bhatt
START study leads to support for SLTT officials Jessica Rivinius
START launches online course on terror-crime nexus and CBRN Beth Schwartz
Gary Ackerman, Steve Sin Represent START at 2015 CBRNe USA Conference Samara Tu
Former START intern strives to create culture of responsible scientific investigation Liz Wasden
START researcher presents paper on preventing illegal weapons trafficking in international waters at CBRNe USA Conference Samara Tu
The Non-Conventional Threat CBRNe event series comes to America
START’s Steve Sin chaired CBRNe Asia 2014 conference Laura Gonzalez
Are U.S. chemical facilities still open to terrorist attacks? Gary Ackerman, Markus Binder, Robert Denaburg
Research identifies most likely non-state chem-bio threats Jessica Rivinius
START seeking 2014 Outstanding Article Award nominations Jessica Rivinius
START aims to strengthen defense capabilities against WMD-seeking terrorists Laura Walker
Breiger turns regression models 'inside out' Emily Smith
Researcher Spotlight: Ronald Breiger Emily Smith
CBRN terrorism by non-state actors Sacha Ginsberg
Researcher Spotlight: Lauren Pinson Nicholas Munson
Database spotlight: Big Allied and Dangerous (BAAD) Emily Bonta
START workshop gives better understanding of CBRN technologies Emily Bonta
New study shows alliances and not religious ideology are key to forecasting CBRN pursuit
JOB OPPORTUNITY: START Special Research Projects IT Assistant
Press Release: START Panel Addresses Key Questions in Terrorism
Current Job Opportunities at START
Recommendations from START-sponsored Working Group on Community Engagement in Health Emergency Planning
Apply Now: Summer Workshop on Teaching about Terrorism
Partner Institution Releases Comments on Quarantine Rules
START Advisory Board member quoted in "Daily Telegraph" and CNN
START Announces Fellowships for 2005-06
Image Title Job Title Institution
Alexandra Williams

Junior Researcher

 University of Maryland
Gary Ackerman Gary Ackerman

Associate Professor, SUNY Albany

 University at Albany, State University of New York
Herbert Tinsley

Analyst, Government Accountability Office
Karina Panyan

Research Assistant, Global Terrorism Database (GTD), START

 University of Maryland
Markus Binder

Project Manager/Researcher, START

 University of Maryland
Megan Rutter

Junior Researcher, START

 University of Maryland
Prabhakar Misra Prabhakar Misra

Professor of Physics

 Howard University
R. Karl Rethemeyer R. Karl Rethemeyer

Associate Professor of Public Administration & Policy

 University at Albany, State University of New York
Rebecca (Becca) Earnhardt

PhD student

 University of Maryland
Tyler A. Clark

Junior Researcher, UWT

 University of Maryland
Victor Asal

Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of Public Administration

 University at Albany, State University of New York
Image Abbreviation Title Direct Link
CBAdversary Poisonous Minds: Profiling the CB Adversary Go
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