Milton Leitenberg

Milton Leitenberg is an American academic specializing in arms control. He is a senior research associate with the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), a division of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.[1][2]

Milton Leitenberg
NationalityUSA
Occupationacademic
Known forpublished multiple works on arms control

He received a bachelor of science degree in biology and chemistry from the City College of New York in 1955. He did graduate work in biochemistry at Johns Hopkins University and Brandeis University.[1][2] For several years he was a researcher and teacher at Vassar College, Northeastern University and Washington University in St. Louis. He transitioned to full time specialization in arms control in 1966. In 1968 he became the first American to work at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Upon return to the United States, he became associated with several American think tanks, and published a series of books and papers on biological and chemical weapons, and arms control.[1]

News agencies call upon him as an arms control expert, most recently to comment upon the rumor that the Covid19 virus was the product of a germ warfare lab. He said that there was no convincing evidence of such an origin.[3][4][5][6] In a June 2020 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists he examined the evidence for an accidental escape of the virus from one of the two virology laboratories in Wuhan. He concluded that such an escape is "a plausible, if unproven, possibility", as is the alternative explanation of a natural evolution in the field, and that the true source of the virus is currently unknown.[7]

In 2012 Leitenberg co-wrote "The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History".[8] Reviewers noted that Leitenberg and his co-authors based their conclusions on extensive interviews with scientists who had worked on Soviet bio-weapons programs.[9] The scientists described a Soviet biological weapons program more extensive than Western analysts had realized. They concluded that the Soviets were not complying with the Biological Weapons Convention to halt biological weapons research. They refuted the notion that Soviet policymakers did this because they believed that the USA was not complying with the treaty.[8]

Bibliography

References
  1. "Milton Lietenberg". University of Maryland. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  2. "Milton Leitenberg". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  3. Adam Taylor (2020-01-29). "Experts debunk fringe theory linking China's coronavirus to weapons research". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-03-21. Milton Leitenberg, an expert on chemical weapons at the University of Maryland, said he and other analysts around the world had discussed the possibility that weapons development at the Wuhan lab could have led to the coronavirus outbreak in a private email chain but that no one had found convincing evidence to support the theory.
  4. Pablo M. Diez (2020-02-24). "Fuga de laboratorio, arma biológica o evolución: las teorías conspirativas sobre el coronavirus" [Laboratory leak, biological weapon or evolution: conspiracy theories about the coronavirus]. Cope.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-03-21. Aunque otro especialista en este campo, Milton Leitenberg, de la Universidad de Maryland, reconoce al diario “The Washington Post” que ha discutido en privado con otros colegas la posibilidad de que el desarrollo de armas biológicas en Wuhan haya provocado el coronavirus, nadie ha encontrado pruebas.
  5. "Desmienten que el coronavirus haya sido creado en un laboratorio de armas químicas" [They deny that the coronavirus was created in a chemical weapons laboratory]. Todo Noticias (in Spanish). 2020-02-11. Retrieved 2020-03-21. Por útimo, Milton Leitenberg, experto en armas químicas de la Universidad de Maryland, contó que él y otros analistas de todo el mundo debatieron la posibilidad de que el desarrollo de armas en el laboratorio de Wuhan pudiera haber provocado el brote de coronavirus. No obstante, informó que ni él ni sus colegas encontraron evidencia convincente para apoyar la teoría.
  6. Marta Liete Ferriera (2020-02-08). "Fact Check. O novo coronavírus foi desenvolvido num laboratório na China?" [Fact Check. Was the new coronavirus developed in a laboratory in China?]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-03-21. Milton Leitenberg, especialista em armas químicas da Universidade de Maryland, também acrescenta que embora seja “claro” para ele que a China está a desenvolver armas biológicas através de projetos secretos, muito dificilmente utilizaria este instituto em Wuhan para o fazer: “O Instituto Wuhan de Virologia é uma instituição de pesquisa de classe mundial que faz pesquisas de classe mundial em virologia e imunologia”, descreveu, dizendo ainda que esta é uma instituição mais aberta a colaborações com cientistas estrangeiros do que a maior parte dos outros laboratórios — tanto que foi construído por franceses e tem uma parceria com o Laboratório Nacional de Galveston, nos Estados Unidos.
  7. Milton Leitenberg (2020-06-04). "Did the SARS-CoV-2 virus arise from a bat coronavirus research program in a Chinese laboratory? Very possibly". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  8. "Reviews and Resources: The Soviet Biological Weapons Program—a History" (PDF). Microbe. 7 (11): 533–534. 2012. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  9. Joby Warrick (2012-08-08). "Book details Soviet plans to wage germ warfare with lethal 'designer' strains". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-03-21. Leitenberg and Zilinskas draw from hundreds of interviews, documents and intelligence files to generate a catalogue of the Soviet bioweapons arsenal and its intended use. Among their book’s revelations is an account of a largely successful Soviet effort to engineer deadly new strains, such as drug-resistant forms of the bacteria that cause anthrax and tularemia.
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