A stock of vaccines and antidotes which are stored at Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, to be used against biological warfare.

The Nazis used the first nerve agents: insecticides developed into chemical weapons. Some of the better known nerve agents include VX, sarin, soman, and tabun. These agents are useful because only a small quantity is necessary to inflict a substantial damage. Nerve agents can be inhaled or can absorb through intact skin.

Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria has seen a rising wave of ethnic and religious bloodshed in which thousands have died since military rule ended in 1999. The introduction of strict Islamic sharia law in parts of predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria, despite opposition from non-Muslims, triggered violence in early 2001. That crisis appears to have compounded historical ethnic and regional rivalries blamed for a devastating civil war in the late 1960s in which more than a million people died.

In December 2002, a North Korean cargo ship destined for Yemen was seized by Spanish forces. On the ship was discovered a shipment of Scud missiles hidden under bags of cement mix.The government of Yemen demanded their weapons, and with U.S. consent, the ship was released on its way to Yemen.

A communist country named as one of President Bush's Axis of Evil, this isolationist country, ruled by Kim Jong Il, publicly announced that they had a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1991 and 1994 treaties. Since October, 2002, they have been making threats and issuing warnings of 'holy war' against the U.S. They further threatened that economic sanctions would be seen as a declaration of war by the U.S.

Prior to the war in Afghanistan, this was the Taliban's major opposition. They controlled approximately 10% of the country prior to the invasion, and Osama bin Laden was entrenched within Afghanistan, along with his al Qaeda followers.

An explosion of any nuclear material which is accompanied by a pressure wave, intense light and heat, and widespread radioactive fallout which can contaminate the air, water and ground surfaces for miles around.