Aum Shinrikyo Research Articles

Multi-track Microproliferation: Lessons from Aum Shinrikyo and Al Qaida

This article compares the proliferation activities of the substate groups Aum Shinrikyo and al Qaida, Osama bin Laden's organization. It argues that they are dissimilar in motivation and organizational structure, yet pursued a similar multi-track strategy in an attempt to acquire weapons of mass destruction. The article explores both groups' efforts to obtain these weapons and suggests that the similarities in the methods they used in their pursuit are largely a consequence of the financial resources of Aum and al Qaida. The article concludes that the examples of these groups provide important lessons for governmental efforts to counter future microproliferation. Moreover, since both Aum and al Qaida continue to pose a proliferation threat, continued vigilance towards them remains vital.

Historical trends related to bioterrorism: An empirical analysis.

Address for correspondence: Jonathan B. Tucker, Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 425 Van Buren Street, Monterey, CA 93940, USA; fax: 831-647-6534; e-mail: jtucker@miis.edu. Since the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in March 1995, killing 12 people, terrorist incidents and hoaxes involving toxic or infectious agents have been on the rise. Before the late 1990s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) typically investigated a dozen cases per year involving the acquisition or use of chemical, biological, radiologic, or nuclear materials; however, FBI opened 74 such investigations in 1997 and 181 in 1998 (1). Although 80% of these incidents have been hoaxes, some were unsuccessful attacks (2). The vulnerability of civilian populations to chemical, biological, radiologic, or nuclear terrorism has been widely discussed, but information on historical cases is anecdotal and often inaccurate (3). Without a realistic threat assessment based on solid empirical data, government policymakers lack the knowledge they need to design prudent and cost-effective programs for preventing or mitigating future incidents. Responding to this knowledge gap, the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at the Monterey Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies has compiled an open-source database of all publicly known cases from 1900 to the present in which domestic or international criminals or terrorists sought to acquire or use chemical, biological, radiologic, or nuclear materials. As of January 31, 1999, the database contained 415 incidents, both domestic and international. Each entry draws on multiple sources and includes a detailed description of the event and a list of citations. The project has conducted a preliminary analysis of the data to discern patterns over time in the frequency of such incidents, the underlying motives, and the choice of agent and target. The ultimate goal is to identify which types of individuals or groups are most likely to acquire and use toxic or infectious materials and for what purposes. Since the Monterey Database has been compiled from journalistic accounts and other unclassified sources, it may not be comprehensive or fully accurate. Incidents have been recorded only if they came to the attention of law enforcement or the news media, so the database does not include events that were not detected or whose existence remains secret. Despite these limitations, the information in the database indicates trends and patterns of behavior that may assist intelligence and law-enforcement personnel in focusing their monitoring efforts.

Biological weapons

Advances in biological knowledge and technology have made it increasingly easy to produce biological weapons, raising concerns that these weapons become an important new terrorist threat. For a considerable time, however, this danger is likely to remain limited. Most political terrorist groups would be reluctant to use such weapons for fear of the international horror that would probably ensue. This is not necessarily true of apocalyptic religious groups like the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo, but such groups will find it very difficult to acquire the sophisticated knowledge and equipment required, above all for the effective dissemination of biological agents.

Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo

In March 1995 the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo conducted a well-timed and coordinated nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. This represented the first use of such a weapon by a nonstate group and sent shock waves around the world. The shock came not least because the attack had been completely unexpected despite years of theorizing and literature discussing just such a possibility. The purpose of this article is to address the broad issue of terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction as it applies to Aum Shinrikyo, and within this context to critically analyze the three books listed above. Each offers a different look at Aum in terms of the group itself and of what lessons might be drawn from this new and frightening development in "terrorist" violence.

Belgium's Anti-Sect War

Since the suicide—homicide of 53 members of the Order of the Solar Temple in 1994 and the gas attempt by Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo's subway in 1995, a number of European states have decided to fight against “sects.” France and Belgium are in the forefront of this battle. Both countries have set up official “observatories of sects” and state agencies involving various ministries to combat them. Preventive policies targeting sects are being carried out. In Belgium, the Anthroposophic Society, a philosophical movement listed as 1 of 189 sects suspected of being dangerous, has sued one federal entity that printed unfounded accusations against their movement in a widely distributed brochure against sects. The same Anthoposophic Society has also petitioned the Court of Arbitration to have the law establishing an observatory of sects annuled. This report deals with both legal actions.

Lost in the Cosmos and the Need to Know

H r rUNDREDS of special reports, programs, and documentaries about Aum Shinrikyo have been produced for and aired on television in Japan since the 20 March 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway lines. A is the first independently produced documentary on Aum and the first to be shown in movie theaters. Filmed with the cooperation of a number of members of the group between March 1996 and April 1997, A documents life inside Aum by focusing on the daily activities of the then official Aum spokesperson, Araki Hiroshi :tL i, and several others belonging to the organization. As far as can be ascertained, none of the people associated with Aum appearing in A had knowledge before the fact of the series of crimes committed by other believers. Not attempting to provide a history of either Aum or its crimes, the film focuses resolutely on the daily life and thoughts of a few of its members as they attempt to come to grips with these crimes and to maintain a space for their religious community in the face of condemnation and opposition from surrounding society. A is an important and valuable documentary that merits seeing by anyone with an interest in contemporary Japanese society and culture. In addition to documenting life inside Aum throughout much of 1996 and 1997, A provides occasion for reviewing some of the major issues and debates that have arisen in Japan concerning Aum and how it has been covered by the media. A and the story of its making tell us much not simply about the ways in which the media have shaped perceptions of Aum but also about how the two have interacted, reflected, and at times even created one another. Since at least the fall of 1989, it has been difficult to separate the history of Aum from media coverage of it. A illustrates as well how the dynamics of openness and exclusion, revealing and concealing,

The Police in Occupation Japan: Control, Corruption and Resistance to Reform

Many Western commentators have expressed their admiration for the Japanese police system, tracing its origins to the American Occupation of Japan (1945-52). This study challenges the assumptions that underlie these accounts, focusing on the problems that attended the reform of the Japanese police during the Occupation. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, Christopher Aldous explores the extent to which America failed in it's goal of 'democratizing' the Japanese police force, arguing that deeply-rooted tradition, the pivotal importance of the black market, and the US's decision to opt for an indirect Occupation produced resistance to reform. His study concludes with a consideration of the postwar legacy of the Occupation's police reform, and touches on a number of recent controversies, most notably the case of Aum Shinrikyo.

Religion and violence in Japan today: A chronological and doctrinal analysis of Aum Shinrikyox

The sarin incident in the Tokyo subway system marked a major turn in Japanese society. It was the end of the myth that had labeled Japan ‘the safe country’. Japan realized that there was an uncertain element within itself. Aum Shinrikyo started as a mixture of Mahayana Buddhism and yoga philosophy, but it experienced a dangerous turn in 1989. It justified not only the murder but also the mass destruction ordered by its leader. It is important to trace its development to understand just how it turned out to be fatal for society in general. In this article I describe its interplay with its enemies and its result. The present situation is also discussed.

A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence

A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence

Japan's Aum Shinrikyo, the changing nature of terrorism, and the post‐cold war security agenda*

Events such as the Aum Shinrikyo's sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in March 1994 have placed terrorism at the top of the post‐Cold War security agenda and have caused policy makers to sense qualitative change and new dangers in the terrorist threat to industrialised societies. By examining the case of the Aum Shinrikyo and comparing it in detail with Japanese terrorism during the Cold War period, this article demonstrates that terrorism has indeed undergone qualitative change in the 1990s due to terrorism's enhanced non‐specificity, expansion in destructive potential, greater erosion of the barriers between internal and external security, and ability to corrode the legitimacy of existing security institutions. The article then goes on to argue that Aum's characteristics as a terrorist phenomenon reflect the nature of the post‐Cold War security agenda as a whole, and that the policy lesson of the Tokyo subway attack is that, in the 1990s, in order for security institutions to detect new security challenges early enough and to deal with them they need to discard Cold War mindsets and to sustain the process of internal reform.

Catastrophic Terrorism: Tackling the New Danger

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. But today's terrorists, be they international cults like Aum Shinrikyo or individual nihilists like the Unabomber, act on a greater variety of motives than ever before. More ominously, terrorists may gain access to weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear devices, germ dispensers, poison gas weapons, and even computer viruses. Also new is the world's dependence on a nearly invisible and fragile network for distributing energy and information. Long part of the Hollywood and Tom Clancy repertory of nightmarish scenarios, catastrophic terrorism has moved from far-fetched horror to a contingency that could happen next month. Although the United States still takes conventional terrorism seriously, as demon strated by the response to the attacks on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August, it is not yet prepared for the new threat of catastrophic terrorism.

Reflections on aum shinrikyo

On March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo, the fanatical Japanese cult, released lethal sarin gas on five Tokyo subway trains, killing 12 people and injuring more than 5,000. This article explores some of the psychological currents involving the guru, Shoko Asahara, his disciples, and the guru-disciple relationships within a violent theology. It also raises more general questions about groups crossing a threshold from anticipating Armageddon to attempting to bring it about.

The Great Superterrorism Scare

Last March, representatives from more than a dozen U.S. federal agencies gathered at the White House for a secret simulation to test their readiness to confront a new kind of terrorism. Details of the scenario unfolded a month later on the front page of the New York Times: Without warning, thousands across the American Southwest fall deathly ill. Hospitals struggle to rush trained and immunized medical personnel into crisis areas. Panic spreads as vaccines and antibiotics run short-and then run out. The killer is a hybrid of smallpox and the deadly Marburg virus, genetically engineered and let loose by terrorists to infect hundreds of thousands along the Mexican-American border. This apocalyptic tale represents Washington's newest nightmare: the threat of a massive terrorist attack with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. Three recent events seem to have convinced the policymaking 6lite and the general public that a disaster is imminent: the 1995 nerve gas attack on a crowded Tokyo subway station by the Japanese millenarian cult Aum Shinrikyo; the disclosure of alarming new information about the former Soviet Union's massive biowarfare program; and disturbing

MARTIN REPP, AUM SHINRIKYO: EIN KAPITEL KRIMINELLER RELIGIONSGESCHICHTE

This important work is a well considered and reliable account of the Japanese religion Aum Shinrikyo, leading members of which, including the founder, have recently been accused of very serious crimes. These crimes include a series of individual murders and two mass terrorist attacks with the use of sarin gas, in Matsumoto and in Toyko, which led to several deaths and numerous severe injuries. The author, Martin Repp, is the associate director of the NCC (National Christian Council) Center for the Study of Japanese Religions, and, being based in Kyoto, Japan, has been able to follow the relevant events very closely in the media. In this review attention will be drawn to just a few salient points, but in whatever way the discussion continues on these, the book itself is an important resource, and one of the earliest documentations of Aum written with academic care.

Psychiatrist Explores Apocalyptic Violence in Heaven's Gate and Aum Shinrikyo Cults

"COLLECTIVE SUICIDE is a waste and a tragedy, but it is in no way comparable to the evil of mass murder," Robert Jay Lifton, MD, said in a presentation exploring parallels and contrasts in the Heaven's Gate and Aum Shinrikyo cults at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in San Diego, Calif, in May. Lifton also addressed the characteristics of cult leaders, the attractions cults hold for members, and the help physicians can offer cult members and their families. Lifton's presentation, "Cult Violence, Death, and Immortality," was proposed and cosponsored with the APA by the San Diego County Medical Society following the mass suicide of 39 members of Heaven's Gate at that cult's headquarters near San Diego on March 26, 1997. Lifton is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and director of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Terror mandated by god

Religion's renewed political presence on a global scale is often accompanied by violence ‐ in part because of the nature of religion and its claims for power over life in death; in part due to the nature of secular politics, which places its own legitimacy on the currency of weapons and can only be challenged successfully on a military level; and in part due to the nature of political violence. The symbolic power of violence can be a valuable commodity for religious as well as for political forces. Through violence, the proponents of a religious ideology like Aum Shinrikyo remind the populace of the godly power that makes their ideology potent, and at times religious activists create man‐made incidents of terror on God's behalf.

Bracing for a Biological Nightmare

Leaders of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's new biology program say they made biological countermeasures a high priority after the Aum Shinrikyo religious group attacked passengers on Tokyo's subway trains with nerve gas in 1995 and after it was revealed that Iraq's military built an extensive bioweapons stockpile in the late 1980s.

Aum Shinrikyo's Chemical/Biological Terrorism as a Paradigm?

Aum Shinrikyo's Chemical/Biological Terrorism as a Paradigm?

Biological Mass Spectrometry. Basic Information on Nerve Gas and the Use of Sarin by Aum Shinrikyo. Plenary Lecture at the Biological Mass Spectrometry Conference Seto, Aichi, Japan July 3-6, 1995.

Nerve gas is a major chemical agent stockpiled as a chemical arsenal. Nerve gas was used in actual combat in the Iran-Iraq war and also in the insurgent war against Kurd minorities in Iraq. Recently, a nerve gas, sarin, was used massively against a defenseless public in Matsumoto and in Tokyo, causing a large number of deaths and injuries. This marked the first use of chemical weapons in a noncombat situation by a terrorist group. Information on nerve gas is relatively scarce; it is not easily accessible to most people. A systematic summarized article like the one here should help those who are interested in an overview of scientific information on nerve gas.In this review article, an overall view of poisonous gas is first made. Then different aspects of nerve gas are discussed. Toxicology, treatment, detection, decontamination and control of precursors are also reviewed.

Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo

Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo