Produced by the Monterey Institute's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Updated November 2009

Counterproliferation refers to the use of military measures to address WMD threats to the international community. Today, examples of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats to global security interests include, but are not limited to: the possibility of Iran producing a nuclear weapon, the unpredictability of the North Korean nuclear posture, instability and terrorism in nuclear-armed Pakistan, and large amounts of unsecured fissile material in Russia and the former Soviet Union states.

To meet WMD threats from other countries, the international community must be able to identify and assess relevant dangers. For example, the United States gathers intelligence about these threats by using spy satellites, human agents, and other means. Such intelligence collection provides information about what kinds of WMD potential enemies may be developing and how much progress they are making. Strategies employed by the military to counter WMD threats include preventive and preemptive actions. In wartime, military forces must be able to detect the use of chemical weapons or biological weapons by the enemy in order to take appropriate protective measures. States spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually on these various detection activities.