[dragoon500ly]

For the United States the “Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs" was a speech delivered on November 25, 1969, by U.S. President Richard Nixon. In the speech, Nixon announced the end of the U.S. offensive biological weapons program and reaffirmed a no-first-use policy for chemical weapons. The statement excluded toxins, herbicides, and riot-control agents as they were not chemical and biological weapons, though herbicides and toxins were both later banned. The decision to ban biological weapons was influenced by a number of domestic and international issues. Later that same day, President Nixon gave a speech from the White House further outlining his previous statement. The statement ended, unconditionally, all U.S. offensive biological weapons programs. President Nixon noted that biological weapons were unreliable, and stated:

“The United States shall renounce the use of lethal biological agents and weapons and all other methods of biological warfare. The United States will confine its biological research to defensive measures such as immunization and safety measures.”

In his speech, President Nixon called his move "unprecedented", and it was in fact the first review of the U.S. BW program since 1954. Despite the lack of review, the BW program had increased in cost and size since 1961; when Nixon ended the program the budget was $300 million annually. Nixon's statement confined all biological weapons research to defensive-only and ordered the destruction of the existing U.S. biological arsenal.

The Nixon statement also addressed the topics of chemical warfare and U.S. ratification of the Geneva Protocol, which, at the time, the nation had yet to ratify. On chemical warfare, Nixon reaffirmed no first use of chemical weapons by the United States. He also announced that the United States would reconsider ratification of the Geneva Protocol, which Nixon recommended to the Senate that year.

This statement purposely omitted certain agents, while others were simply overlooked. In an exception to the no-first-use policy, which his statement reaffirmed, Nixon made deference for riot-control agents and herbicides. Both were in use in Vietnam and both had been lightning rods for criticism. Nixon promised later memorandums concerning the abolition of both types of agents; herbicide use in Vietnam was discontinued in 1970 but riot-control agent use continued.

The other major omission from Nixon's statement was toxins. His statement did not specifically address toxins, such as ricin, which tend to blur the line between chemical and biological weapons. As debate within the Army raged over whether toxins were considered chemical or biological weapons concerning the president's order, work on them continued at Fort Detrick, the "hub" of U.S. biological weapons programs. For several months following the November order, the Army continued working on staphylococcus enterotoxin type B (SEB).On February 20, 1970, Nixon added toxins, regardless of their means of production - be it chemical or biological, to the U.S. ban on biological weapons.

The statement immediately led to National Security Decision Memorandum 35 from Nixon, which was also dated November 25, 1969. The memorandum also stated that the U.S. government renounced all "lethal methods" and "all other methods" of biological warfare, it also stated that the U.S. would only conduct BW research and development for defensive purposes.

Over the next decade, U.S biological weapons stocks were destroyed, mostly at Pine Buff Arsenal where all U.S. anti-personnel biological agents were stored. This was completed in May 1972 and this included the decontamination of facilities at Pine Bluff. Other agents, including anti-crop agents such as wheat stem rust, were stored at Beale Air Force Base and Rocky Mountain Arsenal. These anti-crop agents, along with agents at Fort Detrick used for research purposes were destroyed in March 1973.

President Nixon closed his statement, "Mankind already carries in its own hands too many of the seeds of its own destruction. By the examples we set today, we hope to contribute to an atmosphere of peace and understanding between nations and among men." Shortly after Nixon's statement the United States and the Soviet Union began the SALT arms control talks, which eventually resulted in nuclear arms controls as well as the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty. The U.S. commitment to end BW programs helped provide the lead for ongoing talks led by the United Kingdom in Geneva. The Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee was discussing a British draft of a biological weapons treaty that the United Nations General Assembly approved in 1968 and that NATO supported. These arms control talks would eventually lead to the Biological Weapons Convention, an international treaty outlawing biological warfare.

At this point in time, the U.S. has no offensive biological weapons capability. NATO has pledged no first use of chemical weapons in the event of war. For the U.S., in spite of the modernization of much of its chemical weapon arsenal, its primary weapon of mass destruction remains nuclear weapons. Hence, the policy that any use of biological and chemical warfare would result in immediate retaliation with the only weapon of mass destruction remaining to the U.S., the so-called “nuclear option.”