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Weapons of Mass Destruction
The term weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) has multiple definitions, but generally, it refers to weapons that can cause mass property or human casualties. In the name of national security, some countries are expanding their WMDs capability, whereas other nations are devising strategies to counter WMDs. This entry reviews the various definitions of WMDs and discusses the security threat posed by WMDs as well as strategies for combating the threat.
Definitions
The term weapons of mass destruction is closely associated with the U.S. presidential administration of George W. Bush (2001–2009), but its genesis can be traced back to the 1930s. The term was reportedly first used by the Archbishop of Canterbury William Cosmo Gordon Lang during his Christmas address on “Christian Responsibility” in December 1937. Although the ...
- Digital Cultures, Cybercommunities, and Simulated Selves
- Hunger Games, The
- Matrix, The
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- Voyeurism, Digital
- YouTube
- Ethical Issues and Research Directions in Surveillance, Security, and Privacy
- Agency
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- Choice: Security or Civil Liberties
- Citizenship
- Commodification of the Body
- Community
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- Adorno, Theodor W.
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- Benjamin, Walter
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Bioengineering
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- Surveillance, Theories of
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- Aerial Reconnaissance and Surveillance
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Biopolitical Tattooing
- Biosurveillance
- Breathometer and Breathalyzer Machines
- Closed-Circuit Television
- Drones, Commercial Applications of
- Drug Testing Kits
- Emergency Alert Systems
- Eugenics Industrial Complex
- Intelligence Community
- Law and Digital Technology
- Lie Detector Instrumentation
- Life Sciences Surveillance and Security
- Methadone Maintenance
- New Penology
- Offender Reentry Programs
- Parole
- Policing and Society
- Private Law Enforcement
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- Probation
- Psychological Assessment
- Punishment and Society
- Radio-Frequency Identification Devices
- Sex Offender Registries
- Specialty Courts for Domestic Violence
- Specialty Courts for Mental Health
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- Threat Assessment
- Victim-Offender Mediation
- Place, Space, and the Body
- Abortion
- Berlin Wall
- Biometrics
- Capital Punishment
- Castration, Chemical
- Castration, Surgical
- Chain Gangs
- Citywide Sweeps of the Homeless
- Concentration Camps
- Death Row
- Disease Model in Psychiatry
- DNA Technology
- Drug Therapy
- Electronic Restraint Devices
- Fingerprints
- Governmentality
- Incapacitation
- Internment Camps
- Life Without Parole
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- Mental Health Inpatient Facilities
- Panopticon, The
- Parental Surveillance
- Plethysmograph
- Prison and Jail Segregation Units
- Prisons and Jails
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- Stigma
- Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities
- Supermax Prisons
- Surveillance Deterrence
- Synopticon, The
- Tasers and Other Less-Than-Lethal Devices
- Women, Girls, and the Body
- Wrist and Ankle Monitoring Devices
- Youth Detention Centers and Facilities
- Security, Civil Liberties, and the Law
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
- Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
- Hepting v. AT&T
- Katz v. United States (1967)
- Kyllo v. U.S. (2001)
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
- Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1976)
- United States v. Jones (2012)
- United States v. Miller (1976)
- United States v. Spy Factory, Inc. (1997)
- Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006
- AMBER Alerts
- American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Privacy Information Center
- American Protective League
- Amnesty International
- Anarchism
- Anti-Defamation League
- Bill of Rights
- Civil Commitment
- Civil Liberties
- Civil Rights Movement
- Corporate Personhood
- European Convention on Human Rights
- Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
- Free Speech
- Freedom of Expression
- Freedom of Information Act
- Habeas Corpus
- Hate Crimes
- Home Surveillance
- Insanity
- Intellectual Property Rights
- Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act
- Legal Moralism
- Megan’s Law
- Mental Disability Laws
- Paternalism and Parens Patriae
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
- Political Action Committees
- Privacy Act of 1974
- Privacy, Internet
- Privacy, Medical
- Privacy, Right to
- Privacy, Types of
- Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
- Search and Seizure
- Sex Offender Laws
- Sex Offender Registries
- Social Contract Theory
- Stand Your Ground Laws
- U.S. Constitution
- Vagrancy Laws
- Violence against Women Act
- Voting
- Warrants
- Security, Governance, and Democracy
- Central Intelligence Agency
- COINTELPRO
- Cybersecurity Legislation
- E-Government
- Eminent Domain
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
- Immigration and Naturalization Service
- INTERPOL
- Iran-Contra Affair
- KGB
- Libertarian Party
- National Security
- National Security Agency
- National Security Agency Leaks
- National Security Council
- PATRIOT Act
- Republican Party
- Secure Fence Act of 2006
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Securitization
- Spies
- Tea Party
- Traitors
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Secret Service
- U.S. Transportation Security Administration
- United Nations
- Warrants
- Watergate and White House Tapes
- WikiLeaks
- Surveillance and Everyday Life
- Surveillance & Society
- Airport Security
- Airport Terminal Security Screenings
- Beijing, China, Surveillance in
- Cell Phone Tracking
- Chicago, Illinois, Surveillance in
- Corporate Surveillance
- Drug Testing
- Gated Communities
- Highway and Interstate Surveillance
- Houston, Texas, Surveillance in
- London, England, Surveillance in
- Mountain Surveillance
- Movie Theater Security
- Municipal Surveillance
- New York, New York, Surveillance in
- Parks
- Passenger Data
- Passenger Profiling
- Public Health, Surveillance in
- Security Screenings at Sporting Events
- Shopping Mall Security
- Social Sorting
- Surveillance Investigator
- Synology Surveillance Station
- Telemetric Policing
- Vehicle Tracking Systems
- Surveillance, Identity, and Controlling Populations
- Abu Ghraib
- Al Qaeda
- Ancient Greek Surveillance
- Apartheid
- Berlin Wall
- Biblical Surveillance
- Blockades
- Border Patrol Checkpoints
- Catholic Church and the Sexual Abuse of Minors
- Crime Control
- Crime Mapping
- Cults
- Curfews
- Data Mining and Profiling in Big Data
- Data Mining and Profiling in Social Network Analysis
- Deportation
- Domestic Terrorist Groups
- Global Surveillance
- Guantanamo Bay
- Hamas
- Human Trafficking
- Identity Politics
- Immigration
- McCarthyism
- Neighborhood Watch Programs and Citizen Patrol
- Police State
- Profiling, Racial
- Protection Orders
- Religion
- School Surveillance: College and Universities
- School Surveillance: Primary and Secondary Schools
- Segregation, Residential
- Self-Deportation
- Slave Trade
- Smart Borders
- Stop and Frisk
- Taliban
- Traffic Control
- UFO Surveillance (History, Purpose, Examples)
- Surveillance, Security, and Privacy Around the World
- Tools, Practices, and Decisions of Surveillance and Security Politics
- Monitor Versus Merrimac
- 9/11
- Authoritarianism
- Berlin Wall
- Camp David Accords
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- Civil War
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- Colonialism
- Counterintelligence
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- Cyberwar
- Détente
- Dictators and Dictatorships
- Diplomacy
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- Disinformation Campaigns
- Drone Strikes
- Electronic Surveillance
- Embargoes
- Espionage
- Espionage in Ancient Egypt
- Glasnost
- Information Warfare
- International Diplomacy
- Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979)
- Martial Law
- Medieval Castles
- Military Industrial Complex
- Military Intelligence
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Nuclear Treaties
- Nuclear War
- Paramilitarization
- Peace Talks and Peace Agreements
- Perestroika
- Postcolonialism
- Propaganda
- Special Operation Forces
- Surveillance Art
- Surveillance During the Age of Reason
- Surveillance During the Cold War
- Surveillance During World War I and World War II
- Terrorism
- Tet Offensive
- Torture
- Truman Doctrine
- U.N. Peacekeeping and Security Forces
- War on Drugs
- War on Terror
- Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Trade in Surveillance, the Business of Security, and Strategies of Dissent
- Anonymous
- Antiglobalization
- Antinuclear Movement
- Antipsychiatry Movement
- Antiwar Movement, History in the United States
- Antiwar Protest Surveillance, 1960s
- Arab Spring
- Civil Disobedience
- Computer Surveillance
- Copwatch
- Environmental Security
- Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection
- Health Management Organizations
- Identity Theft
- Information Security
- International Monetary Fund
- Inverse Surveillance
- Network Security
- New Penology
- Political Dissidents
- Port Security
- Psychotherapy
- Revolutions and Revolts
- Security Theater
- Security, Concepts of
- Smuggling
- Sousveillance
- Technology
- Watchdog Groups
- Whistle-Blowers
- Work Surveillance
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