Nerve agent development: a lesson in intelligence failure?

Abstract

The development of Nerve Agents by Germany in the lead up to the Second World War represents one of the best-kept secrets of the period. It also reflects an almost total failure of Western Intelligence Agencies to anticipate, detect and report on these weapons. This paper will use the results of archive-based research to illustrate the process through which Germany gained what was to become the most advanced Chemical Weapon capability in the World, maintaining that dominance until her defeat in 1945. It will be argued that despite having opportunities to fully identify German capabilities, UK and US Intelligence consistently failed to recognise key evidence – largely as the result of an institutionalised arrogance relating to their assumed technical superiority in the field. These failings, it will be suggested, were directly responsible for the Chemical Weapons arms race that persisted throughout the Cold War.