Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre, a gradual abandonment of the of-
fensive BW program is discernible from the end of 1966. Beginning in
1967, the minutes of meetings of the SGTEB refer only to CW issues,
and the ministerial directives setting out the priorities for that year's re-
search show clearly that offensive CW took precedence, with only sec-
ondary consideration given to biological detection. In 1967 the tradi-
tional references to “aggression” in reports on progress in BW from the
Centre d'Etudes du Bouchet disappear abruptly from the minutes of the
SGTEB. 68 It thus appears that France renounced de facto the offensive ele-
ment of its weapons program at the end of 1966. It is likely, moreover,
that this situation was not the result of a formal decision taken following
an official policy review (which happened only in 1972) but rather a con-
sequence of lack of political interest and attendant budgetary support, ac-
companied by a move to prioritize nuclear weapons; for in the months
that followed, only a very few residual activities relating to offensive BW
were maintained within certain laboratories.
Of the working groups established in 1967, only the Défense NBC
group continued to meet at irregular intervals from 1969 into 1972. In
contrast, in the absence of clear instructions and despite repeated re-
quests, the SGTEB maintained its existence on paper but never actually
met. In fact, at the first meeting of the CINBC, in January 1968, “instruc-
tions to the biological and chemical armament and retaliation working
group failed to be established, to the extent that the group had no man-
date and could not operate.” 69 In an attempt to resolve this impasse, the
army chief of staff in February 1969 had requested that a concept be de-
fined and that a meeting of the CINBC working group on biological and
chemical armaments and retaliation be convened to that end. 70 Demon-
strating the lack of interest in these issues, these requests elicited no re-
sponse, confirming de facto the abandonment of the offensive element of
France's BW program.
On 6 February 1969, more than 15 months after the last meeting of the
SGTEB, the Défense NBC group met for the first time. The majority of its
members were from the Service de Santé des Armées. As an introduction
to the work of the group, the chairman confirmed that “predominance
in the field of BW is henceforward given to protection.” 71 Although cer-
tain residual activities pertaining to offensive weapons were carried on
within the CEB, 72 research focused more and more on defensive aspects,
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