A New Standard for Preemptive Military Action Against WMD Threats

摘要

International law clearly requires an imminent threat of attack as a justification for the preemptive useof military force. However, the standard definition of an imminent threat was derived centuries beforethe development of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons or ballistic missiles and other deliverysystems that can reach their targets in a matter of minutes. Any use of force to alleviate threats posed byweapons of mass destruction (WMD) prior to tactical warning of the actual launch of such weapons fallsinto the legally and ethically controversial category of “anticipatory self-defense,” leaving decisionmakers potentially liable to prosecution for war crimes. Effective and ethical enforcement ofnonproliferation therefore demands a standard for imminence of threat broad enough to allow militaryaction as a last resort but sufficiently restrictive to prohibit indiscriminate action against suspected WMDprograms. Following a critical review of selected literature and cases on preemption, the author proposesa new standard for preemptive military action: the existence of operational WMD, or a clandestineprogram to develop WMD, in contravention of international law. The author discusses the implications ofthis new proposed standard, which at the time of writing would permit preemptive attack against WMDarmedterrorist groups but prohibit it against all states except Iran and possibly North Korea.