C.5 Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) and SPS C.5.1 CBW Vulnerability CBW appears to be a highly effective means for disabling any portion or all of the SPS system. The vulnerability of the SPS elements to various forms of CBW arises from the fact that each SPS facility in space possesses a separate life support system. These individual life support systems provide highly effective means for vectoring both chemical and biological agents to personnel in space. An exceedingly small amount of CBW agent may be introduced into a life support system with widespread results throughout the facility thus attacked. Since the space transportation system may provide vectors for the agent to other facilities, CBW could be used to attack all space-based SPS facilities by introducing appropriate agents in only one facility. The CBW agent chosen for application would depend upon whether the aggressor wished to kill or merely temporarily disable the personnel of the facility. Some biological agents, of course, can reproduce themselves, so the effectiveness of the agent need not diminish as it is spread more widely, as is the case with chemical agents. An additional factor in space CBW is the potential use of agents to attack not the personnel but the highly sophisticated equipment in various facilities. In view of the rapid rate of advance in genetic engineering, specially bred fungi might be used to selectively attack and disable critical components. Again, these agents may be easily vectored into the facility through the life support systems. No totally effective safeguard against CBW attack is foreseen. The most obvious safeguard is stringent and thorough inspection of both individuals and cargo at Earth-based launch sites and at various transportation hubs such as LEO Base and GEO Base. However, the most thorough inspections would not prevent an immune disease carrier from vectoring a CBW agent into the system and subsequently escaping unscathed, particularly if the agent did not incapacitate all personnel upon first exposure, thus attracting attention to the carrier. Nor could inspection techniques prevent the vectoring of CBW agents into a facility from another space facility if the interfacility transportation does not go through one of the transfer hubs.
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