Zachary Kallenborn

• Middlebury College

Mass-casualty terrorism and terrorism involving unconventional weapons have received extensive academic and policy attention, yet few academics have considered the broader question of whether such behaviours could pose a plausible risk to humanity’s survival or continued flourishing. Despite several terrorist and other violent non-state actors havi...

Emerging technologies provide new opportunities for terrorist organizations. Future terrorists may use multiple drones—either en masse or coordinated with each other in cruder or more sophisticated ways—to cause harm, potentially at scale. This study explores the topic via theoretical exploration and threat assessment. The first half explores relev...

While the opioid epidemic engulfing the United States and the globe is well-documented, the potential use of powerful fentanyl derivatives as a weapon of terror is increasingly a concern. Carfentanyl, a powerful and deadly fentanyl derivative, is seeing a surge in popularity as an illegal street drug, and there is increasing congressional interest...

The mass proliferation and increasing affordability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in recent years has given rise to weaponized UAV use by terrorists, leading to mounting and credible concerns this attack methodology will be the next terrorism modus operandi. Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) specialists need to consider how UAVs alter or create...

Public discussion has raised significant fears over armed drone swarms being used in a manner like weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). However, should they be considered WMDs? The first half of the article explores the question of comparing drone swarms to various conceptions of WMD. Overall, it finds that a subset of drone swarms, armed fully auto...

Drone swarms—multiple unmanned systems capable of coordinating their actions to accomplish shared objectives—have major implications for the future of warfare. One important set of implications relates to the ability of drone swarms to complement, challenge, and even substitute for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. For...

Terrorists combining motivations and capabilities to conduct significant chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attacks are, logically and empirically, outliers. Certain characteristics of radical environmentalism heighten the risk of such outliers. The majority of even radical environmentalists embrace non-violence. Those who turn v...