The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of
how a third world nation could engage in a decade-long effort to
clandestinely extract chemicals and chemical processing equipment
from an international system that was presumably predisposed to
halting the proliferation of chemical weapons capabilities. From
around 1980 through 1989, Libya succeeded in acquiring the neces-
sary ingredients to construct an elaborate chemical weapons produc-
tion facility within its borders. This was done in spite of the strong
opposition of several nations, including one of the superpowers, the
United States. Libya's successful quest was supported by several
of her Middle Eastern neighbors, although the primary physical
assistance came from high technology industrialized powers that
willingly allowed their products to be assembled into a facility to
produce chemical weapons. In this, firms of the Federal Republic of
Germany became the major suppliers. The main body of this study
focuses on the many details of Libya's success in this effort in which
conventional wisdom might easily have predicted a failure.

A major aim of the study is to provide for a broad spectrum of
specialists information about the operational anatomy of a case
of chemical weapons proliferation. This information should be of
particular importance to foreign policy decision makers and their
staffs, who have the political responsibility to deal with questions
relating to the spread of chemical weapons. The work is also ad-
dressed to political scientists and students of science and technology
policy, who often deal with the uncomfortable issue of chemical
weaponry. These latter individuals produce the literature on chemi-
cal weapons proliferation that is at times utilized by the policy-
making community. A detailed examination of this important case
will throw considerable light on general questions of chemical
weapons.

When I first became interested in the Libyan effort, I viewed it
as a case of successful antiproliferation. The United States publicly
raised the issue of the Libyan chemical weapons factory. That issue

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