Dr. Gregory Koblentz, George Mason University

Associate Professor and Director of the Biodefense Grad Program, Schar School of Public Policy and Government, GMU​

Location: Arlington, VA

Mission Statement: The Biodefense Graduate Program is a multidisciplinary research and education program designed to prepare students to work on issues at the nexus of health, science, and security and bridge the gap between science and policy.

Activities: The students and staff of the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government Biodefense program run The Pandora Report, a website that provides a knowledge hub for biodefense related issues and a central location for reports, publications, and events. The Biodefense Graduate Program recently sponsored two webinars on the challenges facing the CW nonproliferation regime. 

The first event, titled The Resurgent Chemical Weapons Threat: Current Challenges to the Chemical Weapons Convention (Nov. 17, 2020), was a discussion about how to restore the taboo against the use of chemical weapons and featured remarks by Dr. Stefano Costanzi, Dr. Malcolm Dando, and Dr. Jean Pascal Zanders. 

The second event, titled Chemical Weapons Arms Control at a Crossroads: Russia, Syria, and the Future of the Chemical Weapons Convention (March 23, 2021), provided insights from international experts on the challenges posed by Russian and Syrian use of chemical weapons and implications for the global chemical weapons arms control regime. 

You can watch a recording of either event or download the slides presented by visiting the hyperlinks provided. 

Additional Resources: See below for a more extensive list of Dr. Koblentz’s publications and op-eds on chemical weapons.

Website: Visit The Pandora Report to learn more

  1. Additional Resources: 

    Stefano Costanzi, Charlotte K Slavick, Brent O Hutcheson, Gregory D Koblentz, and Richard T Cupitt, “Lists of Chemical Warfare Agents and Precursors from International Nonproliferation Frameworks: Structural Annotation and Chemical Fingerprint Analysis,” Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, September 11, 2020

    Gregory D. Koblentz, “Emerging Technologies and CBRN Terrorism,” The Washington Quarterly, (Summer 2020)

    Stefano Costanzi and Gregory D. Koblentz, “Updating the CWC: How We Got Here and What Is Next,” Arms Control Today, (April 2020)

    Gregory D. Koblentz and Madeline Roty, “Myanmar should finally come clean about its chemical weapons past—with US help,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 10, 2020 

    Gregory D. Koblentz, “Chemical-Weapon Use in Syria: Atrocities, Attribution, and Accountability,” The Nonproliferation Review (February 2020) 

    Stefano Costanzi, Gregory D. Koblentz, and Richard T. Cupitt, “Leveraging Cheminformatics to Bolster the Control of Chemical Warfare Agents and their Precursors,” Strategic Trade Review, Vol. 6, No. 9 (Winter/Spring 2020), pp. 69-91

    Stefano Costanzi and Gregory D. Koblentz, “Controlling Novichoks after Salisbury: Revising the Chemical Weapons Convention Schedules,” The Nonproliferation Review (2019)

    Gregory D. Koblentz, “#NoImpunity: Will the Newest International Effort to Stop Chemical Attacks in Syria Succeed?” War on the Rocks, March 2, 2018

    Gregory D. Koblentz, “Syria’s Chemical Kill Chain,” Foreign Policy, April 7, 2017

    Gregory D. Koblentz, “How Putin Borrowed a Page From Assad’s Chemical Weapon Playbook,” Global Biodefense, September 11, 2020

    Gregory D. Koblentz and Andrea Stricker, “Trump Should Act Against Russia’s Use of Chemical Weapons,” Defense One, November 20, 2020

    Gregory D. Koblentz and Andrea Stricker, “Hold Russia accountable for latest chemical weapons attack,” The Hill, September 25, 2020

  2. Important Note: Inclusion of individual member’s publications on the CWCC website does not imply endorsement of the thoughts, opinions, or views of the individual on behalf of the Coalition or any of its members.