ABSTRACT THE SWORDS OF DAMOCLES: EXPLAINING UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPON NON-USE IN MODERN WAR Martin Claar, Ph.D. Department of Political Science Northern Illinois University, 2017 Andrea Radasanu, Director This dissertation investigates the logic for unconventional weapon non-use during wars in the 20th Century. International relations scholarship has offered two primary explanatory factors for the non-use of radiological, biological and chemical weapons: either it is a result of power concerns and utility or due to adherence to taboo norms. However, these logics are insufficient in explaining oscillations in policy, near misses and instances of actual use. Thus, I argue that normative concerns based on the rules of war as associated with Just War theory impact the decisions concerning unconventional weapons. Consideration of the discriminatory and proportionality norms associated with Just War theory best reflect why states with opportunity and motive would abstain from use, while instances of supreme emergency would explain a state’s use policies or narrow misses. To test this explanation, a series of case studies will examined involving the only state to ever use both chemical and nuclear weapons – the United States. Using primary decision- making documents, supplemented with secondary historical sources, the motivation for U.S. policies should be apparent. Afterward, considerations of applicability to other cases or new weapons technology will be considered. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS DECEMBER 2017 THE SWORDS OF DAMOCLES: EXPLAINING UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPON NON-USE IN MODERN WAR BY MARTIN CLAAR © 2017 Martin Claar A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Doctoral Director: Andrea Radasanu TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Experiencing Unconventional Weapons ....................................................................................................................... 3 Definitions .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter Plan ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Contributions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2. LOGICS OF NON-USE ................................................................................................................................................ 10 The Problems with Utilitarianism, Consequentialism, and Taboo Norms ....................................................... 11 The Just War Tradition Alternative .............................................................................................................................. 18 Combatants and Non-Combatants .................................................................................................................................. 22 Proportional Means ............................................................................................................................................................ 25 The Swords of Damocles, Weapons of Supreme Emergencies ........................................................................... 31 Methodology for Testing the Logics of Non-Use .................................................................................................... 36 3. WORLD WAR I: THE CHEMIST’S WAR ........................................................................................................... 40 World War I: The Chemist’s War ................................................................................................................................. 41 The Hague Peace Conferences ....................................................................................................................................... 42 Experiencing Asphyxiating Agents Firsthand ........................................................................................................... 47 The Chemical Weapons Corps ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Inter-war Treaties and the 1925 Geneva Convention .............................................................................................. 57 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................................................... 67 4. WORLD WAR II: THE ATOMIC WAR ................................................................................................................ 71 The “No First Use” Doctrine of Chemical Arms...................................................................................................... 73 The Manhattan Project ...................................................................................................................................................... 84 The Path to the Trinity Test ............................................................................................................................................. 89 Hiroshima and Nagasaki .................................................................................................................................................. 94 Domestic and International Reactions ...................................................................................................................... 102 iii Conclusions from World War II ................................................................................................................................Page. 106 5. NARROW MISSES IN KOREA ............................................................................................................................ 110 The Truman Administration on Nuclear Arms ...................................................................................................... 112 The Eisenhower Administration on Nuclear Arms ............................................................................................... 120 Bug Bombs over Korea ................................................................................................................................................. 128 Conclusions from Korea ................................................................................................................................................ 133 6. LOOKING BACK AND MOVING AHEAD ..................................................................................................... 139 Universality of Just War Norms ................................................................................................................................. 145 Refined Unconventional Arms: Miniaturized Nuclear Arms and Targeted Vectors ................................. 149 Emerging Technologies: Robots, Lasers, Sound Cannons and Cyberwarfare ............................................. 152 Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................................................................... 156 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................................................158 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. ~ John F. Kennedy, Address before the UN General Assembly, Sept. 25, 1961 War is the impetus for many things in human relations. Chief among those things is the development and refinement of new technologies through which to pursue victory. Each new war against a new enemy brings the opportunity for new weapons, tactics and means of claiming victory. From the days of the caveman swinging a club to modern warfare’s weapons of mass destruction, man has sought to create better means of securing himself and his livelihood. Nowhere is this truer than today when it has become even more imperative given the rapidity of advancements in weapons and tools of warfare. As Britain’s Air Commodore during the World War era Sir Frank Whittle put it, “A nation’s ability to fight a modern war is only as good as its technological ability.”1 1 “Conflict Scientists – Frank Whittle,” Military History Monthly, 12 February 2015. Available at https://www.military-history.org/articles/conflict-scientists-frank-whittle.htm [Accessed 20 May 2017]. 2 Weapons of mass destruction or unconventional weapons represent the pinnacle of this rapid advancement of weaponry in modern warfare. These particular armaments are unlike any other bomb, bullet or grenade. Capable of devastating armies in a single use or leveling whole cities, unconventional weapons in the form of biological, chemical or radiological agents present their owners with particularly strong means of protecting oneself. Each category of unconventional weapon has been used in modern war at least once and have proven their destructive capacities.