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Office of Biological Weapons Affairs (VCI/BW)

Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of Biological Weapons Affairs (VCI/BW) is to provide high-fidelity support for the verification, compliance, and implementation of treaties, agreements, and commitments related to the production, possession, use of biological weapons and the attribution of use in suspicious biological outbreaks throughout the world. These agreements include the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (the 1925 Geneva Protocol) and the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (the BWC).

Verification – The ability to ascertain a country’s behavior requires technical means and methods of detection. The first leg of the Office “triad” is understanding the technologies available (or on the drawing board) for detection of, or attribution of, biological weapons (BW) or dangerous pathogens. This Office is the VCI advocate for these detection capabilities, working closely with the expertise resident in the VCI Office of Technology and Assessments. The Office also ensures that current technology capabilities are taken into account for any future biological arms control initiatives.

Compliance – Ensuring a country complies with the treaties, agreements, and commitments it has signed up to is a major part of the Bureau’s mission. The Office drafts, reviews, and finalizes the BW portion of the President’s Report to Congress on “Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments.” VCI/BW is the liaison with the Intelligence Community for BW-related issues.

Implementation – Getting other countries to do the right thing is implementation -- whether it is to get a country to clarify its current policy, change its current policy, or subscribe to a new policy or set of guidelines. VCI/BW actively participates in international discussions, such as the Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference, and bilateral meetings with countries dedicated to eliminating the threat of biological weapons. VCI/BW ensures that BW-related issues are included in Bureau Compliance Diplomacy efforts and participates in planning any next steps when countries return to the international fold.

VCI/BW is represented on key boards and committees throughout the community that task or develop collection or analytical requirements to support BW arms control and nonproliferation efforts.