Syria
Scientific Studies and Research Center (Nuclear)
This page is part of the Facilities Collection.
Established in 1971, the stated goal of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) is to advance and coordinate scientific activities in Syria. 1 2 The SSRC is considered to be the best-equipped research center in Syria, possessing better technical capacity and equipment than the four Syrian universities. 3 Although supposedly autonomous, Jane’s Intelligence Services and other analysts believe the SSRC to be linked to the military establishment, where it is allegedly responsible for new research and development of nuclear, biological, chemical, and missile-related technology. 4 The SSRC also works with the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, forming a nexus between the country’s primary atomic, military, and scientific establishments. 5
The SSRC’s relationship with the Syrian army began in 1973, when a presidential directive officially authorized relations between the two organizations. 6 Following an October 1983 presidential decree, all SSRC departments received an upgrade to the status of research institutes, and the director-general received the rank of a minister. Most importantly, the directive stipulated that the chief of staff, President Assad, would appoint members to the board of the SSRC, as well as its technical staff. 7
In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13382: “Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters,” which placed the SSRC on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals list and prohibited U.S. citizens and residents from doing business with the SSRC. 8 In 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of other SSRC subsidiaries, listing SSRC as the “Syrian government agency responsible for developing and producing non-conventional weapons and the missiles to deliver them.” 9 The suspicions mostly revolved around the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missiles.
Glossary
- Atomic
- Atomic: Pertaining to an atom, which is the basic unit of matter, consisting of a dense nucleus of protons and neutrons and a cloud of electrons surrounding it.
- Chemical Weapon (CW)
- The CW: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons defines a chemical weapon as any of the following: 1) a toxic chemical or its precursors; 2) a munition specifically designed to deliver a toxic chemical; or 3) any equipment specifically designed for use with toxic chemicals or munitions. Toxic chemical agents are gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical substances that use their toxic properties to cause death or severe harm to humans, animals, and/or plants. Chemical weapons include blister, nerve, choking, and blood agents, as well as non-lethal incapacitating agents and riot-control agents. Historically, chemical weapons have been the most widely used and widely proliferated weapon of mass destruction.
- Biological weapon (BW)
- Biological weapons use microorganisms and natural toxins to produce disease in humans, animals, or plants. Biological weapons can be derived from: bacteria (anthrax, plague, tularemia); viruses (smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fevers); rickettsia (Q fever and epidemic typhus); biological toxins (botulinum toxin, staphylococcus enterotoxin B); and fungi (San Joaquin Valley fever, mycotoxins). These agents can be deployed as biological weapons when paired with a delivery system, such as a missile or aerosol device.
- Ballistic missile
- A delivery vehicle powered by a liquid or solid fueled rocket that primarily travels in a ballistic (free-fall) trajectory. The flight of a ballistic missile includes three phases: 1) boost phase, where the rocket generates thrust to launch the missile into flight; 2) midcourse phase, where the missile coasts in an arc under the influence of gravity; and 3) terminal phase, in which the missile descends towards its target. Ballistic missiles can be characterized by three key parameters - range, payload, and Circular Error Probable (CEP), or targeting precision. Ballistic missiles are primarily intended for use against ground targets.
Sources
- “Nuclear, Syria: Proliferation” Jane’s CBRN Assessments, 2 July 2008, www.janes.com.
- Ellen Laipson, “Syria: Can the Myth Be Maintained without Nukes,” in The Nuclear Tipping Point: Why States Reconsider their Nuclear Choices, eds. Kurt M. Campbell, Robert J. Einhorn, and Mitchell Reiss (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), p. 92; Magnus Normark, Anders Lindblad, Anders Norqvist, Bjorn Sandstrom, and Louise Waldenstrom “Syria and WMD: Incentives and Capabilities,” FOI Swedish Defense Research Agency, June 2004, pp. 27-28, www2.foi.se.
- Ashraf Kraidy and Sophia Antipolis, “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: Syria - National Study,” Plan Bleu, Regional Activity Centre, March 2007, www.planbleu.org; Dany Shoham, “Guille, Gas and Germs: Syria’s Ultimate Weapons,” Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2002, www.meforum.org.
- Robert Sherman, “Syria’s Special Weapons,” Federation of American Scientists, 12 May 2000, www.fas.org; “Nuclear, Syria: Proliferation,” Jane’s CBRN Assessments, 2 July 2008, www.janes.com.
- Dany Shoham, “Guile, Gas and Germs: Syria’s Ultimate Weapons,” Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2002, www.meforum.org.
- Dany Shoham, “Guile, Gas and Germs: Syria’s Ultimate Weapons,” Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2002, www.meforum.org.
- Dany Shoham, “Guile, Gas and Germs: Syria’s Ultimate Weapons,” Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2002, www.meforum.org.
- “Executive order 13382 – Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters,” Federal Register, Vol. 70, No. 126, 1 July 2005, www.state.gov.
- “Three Entities Targeted by Treasury for Supporting Syria’s WMD Proliferation,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, 4 January 2007, www.treasury.gov.