Editorial Focus
Editor's profile - Andy Oppenheimer
Andy Oppenheimer (right) is an acknowledged specialist in nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons. His main areas of expertise as an NBC analyst are nuclear technology and proliferation, threat analysis, antiterrorism countermeasures and equipment, national nuclear programmes and policies, radiological weapons, explosives, and infectious diseases. He speaks at international conferences and seminars and frequently gives media interviews on CBRNE-related topics.
A past contributor to NBC International, Andy is an NBC Consultant to Jane's Information Group and contributes reports to several Jane's publications, as well as for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House), Oxford Analytical Consultancy Group, R & F International Defence and Security Consultancy, Strategic Intelligence Review, Defence Director, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Aviation Security International, Asian Military Review, Military Periscope, NATO's Nations, Global Defence Review, and Chemical Biological Warfare Review, among others. In addition to chairing the NBC International Annual Exhibitions & Conferences, he has in excess of 20 years' experience in scientific publishing and government service as a commissioning editor, analyst, and project manager. Andy's book on the IRA bombing campaigns will be published by Irish Academic Press in Autumn 2008.
Message from the Editor:
As Editor of NBC International, I bring my knowledge and expertise as an NBC specialist to maintain its pre-eminence in CBRNE analysis.
The expert commentary of leading scientists and service directors of military and civilian CBRNE response programmes will continue to reinforce the magazine's vision and forward thinking. We will continue to reinforce our internationally acknowledged record of accomplishment in analysing the technical capabilities of equipment, training, and response and how organisations apply the equipment to their needs in this increasingly complex and rapidly developing field where the unexpected always happens.
National and global developments provide an ever-transforming backdrop to the exciting and challenging technical advances in CBRNE defence. I intend to examine the causes and background to the rising need for countermeasures against not only for CBRNE, but also for the vast and growing array of conventional explosives.
I will be asking and hoping to answer leading and sometimes controversial questions:
- How can nuclear smuggling be stopped at ports and borders throughout the world? How are we dealing with London's first major radiological incident?
- How are scientific advances translated into easy-to-use equipment that can detect and analyse substances rapidly?
- How can we detect common chemicals, which might be increasingly the choice of terrorists?
- What is the evidence for radiological weapons on the battlefield and how are they affecting troops and civilians?
- How can we detect homemade explosives at airports and other transit centres?
- If a radiological attack occurred, how much would the public be told, and how much does the response depend on the media?
- How do drills and exercises relate to real-time response to events, both small-scale and catastrophic?
- What can we learn from the experience of nuclear and chemical accidents?
- What are the ways in which public health services cope with a bio-terrorist originated epidemic or deliberate toxin release
- How does Iran's intended possession of a nascent nuclear arsenal and notorious proliferation record affect the CBRNE industry?
- How would instability in Pakistan worsen proliferation?
These are threatening and challenging times, and NBC International is committed to helping its readers and the whole of the CBRNE community to meet and overcome them.
I hope you will join me and others in the CBRNE community in exploring these and many other topical issues of the day.
Best wishes,
Andy Oppenheimer