A U.S. Strategy to Prevent the Creation of Mirror Life | When AI Biosafety Safeguards Block Public Health | What Makes a Weapon Too Horrific to Use?, and more

Two Years On, Britain’s Biological Security Strategy Makes Strides   (Gemma Bowsher and Richard Sullivan, King’s College London
During a busy week in Westminster, the implementation report of the UK’s Biological Security Strategy was placed before Parliament, providing a much-awaited update on progress towards the grand ambitions of the 2023 BSS. The 2023 strategic document, updating post-COVID the initial iteration in 2018, provided an important signal that business as usual was over for British biosecurity – however, the real test was always going to be whether ambition would be matched with investment and an integrated operational doctrine.

Shikhani Says Accountability for Chemical Attacks in Syria Essential for Justice   (Sana Syrian Arab News Agency)
Nidal Shikhani, the director general of the Chemical Violations Documentation Center of Syria (CVDCS), said those responsible for chemical attacks in Syria, particularly the attack on the city of Douma, must continue to be pursued through national and international legal processes to ensure justice for victims.
Speaking to Syria’s Al-Ikhbariya TV on Wednesday, Shikhani said accountability efforts should be accompanied by medical, psychological and social support for survivors and others affected by the attacks.

What Makes a Weapon Too Horrific to Use?  (Lauren Sukin, David M. Allison, and Stephen Herzog, Irregular Warfare Initiative)
Rules governing warfare are nearly as ancient as warfare itself. In the Iliad, Achilles loses favor with the gods and invites his own destruction by abusing Hector’s corpse. In 1139, the Second Lateran Council prohibited the use of crossbows against Christians because of the severe injuries they inflicted. Across history, norms have constrained both the conduct and weapons of war.
Over time, the body of norms limiting weapons has also grown. The nuclear taboo is the most prominent example, but it is not the only modern weapons prohibition. Many states have accepted treaties banning chemical and biological weapons. Additional legal regimes—though not universally adopted—seek to prohibit anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, incendiary weapons, and blinding lasers, among other weapons.
These norms shape wartime actions and inform public support for political violence. Stated differently, military effectiveness alone does not determine whether the use of force is sustainable. In fact, many of the most powerful weapons in the US arsenal, such as nuclear arms, are the least politically viable to be employed. This is the case because modern conflicts increasingly unfold in environments where legitimacy drives outcomes as much as battlefield success.

Gas from Above: How UAVs Are Bringing Chemical Warfare Back to the Battlefield in Ukraine   (Patrick Senft, Small Wars Journal)
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have revolutionized modern warfare. These small consumer-grade and home-made drones have been adapted to drop munitions, crash into targets, or supply cut-off units. Simultaneously, the war has also been shaped by significant trench warfare when opposing sides face each other from well-protected positions, and the frontline moves relatively little. In combination, both these developments have given rise to the use of UAVs to deliver chemical munitions on the battlefield as both sides struggle to dislodge entrenched enemy units. Notably, since the early 2000s, various defense contractors have worked on delivering irritant agents via drones for domestic riot control, and police forces in India and Israel have been documented using such UAVs to disperse protestors. However, the war in Ukraine appears to be the first time UAVs have been used to deliver chemical agents as weapons on the battlefield at a significant scale.
This article examines the role of drones in deploying chemical munitions in Ukraine, drawing on open-source images and Telegram posts from military bloggers as well as publicly available sources. The phenomenon is underreported but poses significant legal, ethical, and military challenges. While these chemical agents are often classified as less-lethal munitions, commonly known as tear gas and riot control agents, their use raises the specter of escalating brutality in the war in Ukraine. Importantly, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to which both Russia and Ukraine are States Parties, specifically outlaws the use of less-lethal chemical agents on the battlefield, while permitting their use for domestic riot control purposes.