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fence and Foreign Affairs continued their internal struggle over the pro-
posed munition exchange system, although both sides agreed that little
consideration should be given “to offensive capability in BW, in part be-
cause Canada did not now have and probably would not in future have
the necessary (BW) equipment, such as long-range aircraft.”
54
In addi-
tion, DEA officials convinced their Cabinet colleagues that the CBW mu-
nition exchange system was a difficult and risky endeavor: “if it were dis-
covered that Canada were engaged in exploratory discussions of this sort,
the public outcry would be loud, and the international embarrassment
considerable.” In these deliberations, reference was also made to the fact
that the British government was prepared to renounce all offensive BW
research, remove Porton Down from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Defence, and intensify its efforts to obtain international CBW disarma-
ment.
55
Arms Control and Canada's BW Program, 1968-2004
Yet at the beginning of 1968 there seemed little chance for such a ban.
Locked in a ferocious war of attrition in Vietnam, the US continued the
massive use of “nonlethal” tear gas and herbicides despite growing inter-
national criticism that this violated the Geneva Protocol, and which re-
jected US claims that these nonlethal weapons could actually be seen as
serving a “humanitarian” purpose. In addition, the fact that the US was
one of the few countries that remained outside the Geneva Protocol rein-
forced the Soviet propaganda campaign to portray the US as a “rogue na-
tion,” determined to flout international standards. This negative image
of “American militarism” gained credence even among the US's closest
allies.
56
In Canada, the 1968 election of Pierre Trudeau as prime minister, with
his more critical view of nuclear weapons, Canadian-US relations, and
the rigid approach to the Cold War, resulted in a comprehensive and con-
troversial reassessment of the country's foreign and defense policies. Al-
though Trudeau's role in determining Canada's position in CBW matters
during this crucial period remains somewhat obscure, it appears that un-
like his predecessors the prime minister took great interest in the unique
threat of BW. This involvement was evident in his instructions that the
Cabinet Committee on External Policy and Defense should carefully ex-
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