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assure American officials that the Canadian government is prepared
to adopt stringent and effective methods in preventing terrorists from
launching a biowarfare attack on the US. As part of this coordinated ef-
fort, in November 2001 there were meetings in Ottawa between Tommy
Thompson, the US secretary of health and human services, and Allan
Rock, the minister of Health Canada, to discuss the possibilities of collab-
oration in the large-scale development of smallpox vaccines. These con-
sultations were broadened later in the month when Rock hosted a meet-
ing in Ottawa of health ministers from G-7 countries, consultations that
resulted in the formation of the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI)
“to strengthen the public health response to the threat of international
biological, chemical and radio-nuclear terrorism.” Since its founding in
November 2001, the GHSI has held four ministerial meetings, prepared a
risk assessment system for possible chemical, biological, radiological, and
nuclear attacks, improved communication between high-containment
laboratories in the various countries, and sponsored one major multi-
national exercise (Global Mercury) to evaluate “international assistance
and collaboration in the case of a smallpox incident.” In May 2003 Cana-
dian authorities were also involved in another transboundary counter-
terrorism exercise, TOPOFF 2, which involved key US and Canadian po-
litical and law enforcement officials.
68
Conclusion
Was biological warfare on the verge of becoming a controllable and pre-
dictable form of WMD in 1969? At the time, the verdict of most Western
politicians and arms control specialists was a resounding no. Quite a dif-
ferent verdict emerges, however, if one examines contemporary reports
emanating from the scientists at Suffield, Detrick, and Porton, which
stressed both the level of technological innovation and operational possi-
bilities. And it was this message, that the “stuff is too damn good to go
away,” which motivated Soviet leaders to secretly expand their BW pro-
gram after 1972.
69
Within the framework of the international BW arms race, the Cana-
dian experience has many important dimensions. First, its involvement
with the important Tripartite exchange system was primarily an exten-
sion of its World War II experience, when prominent medical scientists
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