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The spread of disinformation about chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons and related materials sows distrust, disrupts diplomacy, and threatens non-proliferation gains and goals. While CBRN-related disinformation in not a new phenomenon, disinformation about weapons of mass destruction (WMD) being spread in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine is of particular concern, given its prominence in justifying the initial invasion and potential to contribute to conflict escalation and undermine non-proliferation regimes. Moreover, a major target of the disinformation campaign in Ukraine has been the peaceful and legitimate international cooperation and capacity building efforts supported by members of the Global Partnership (GP). Although there is a growing body of research and efforts to disrupt disinformation in general, GP partners recognize that more must be done to address and counter threats posed by CBRN/WMD disinformation in a comprehensive way. Given the unique and wide-ranging consequences of CBRN disinformation, a consensus decision was taken by GP members at the Global Partnership Working Group (GPWG) meeting in Nagasaki, Japan in November 2023 to launch a coordinated, innovative, evidence-based GP approach to counter this persistent and growing challenge.

Our Approach:

Pioneered and funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC)’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program, this 18-month pilot project aims to provide a comprehensive, coordinated, multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and countering state-sponsored or state-adjacent WMD disinformation across the entire CBRN threat spectrum. This GP Initiative is being delivered in close collaboration with the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), which has a mandate to strengthen coordination to identify and respond to diverse and evolving foreign threats to democracy, including disinformation. To deliver the project, a team of four expert implementing partners has been assembled, comprised of the Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHCHS), King’s College London (KCL), and One Earth Future’s Open Nuclear Network (OEF/ONN). A Steering Group of 8 GP members (i.e. Canada, European Union, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States) provides strategic insight and overarching support to guide the work and helps to identify opportunities to collaborate with and/or leverage other counter disinformation initiatives.  

Project Goals:

This initiative aims to provide a more solid evidence-base for GP members and partners to identify, understand, and develop mitigation strategies for WMD-related disinformation, in whatever context it arises. It will support collective GP efforts to shed light on and raise awareness about the harmful effects of WMD disinformation, including with countries in the Global South, and ultimately help to reduce the impacts of hostile CBRN disinformation efforts. This campaign is initially focused on CBRN disinformation in the context of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine but will expand and remain adaptable to focus on other high-priority CBRN disinformation threats.

This initiative’s activities and outcomes are framed around four key inter-connected pillars:

1. Detect ~ focuses on real-time detection to swiftly recognize and isolate disinformation narratives and networks
2. Analyze and Anticipate ~ research teams are analyzing disinformation campaigns and narratives to facilitate pattern recognition and strengthen proactive strategies against future CBRN disinformation efforts.
3. Understand Impact and Policy Approaches ~ tools are being developed to address disinformation narratives pre-emptively and gather data on direct and indirect impacts and harms of disinformation attacks
4. Raise Awareness and Build Capacity ~ data from the other pillars are being translated into training initiatives, briefings, educational material and more to improve government ability to combat CBRN disinformation attacks.

This initiative is a coordinated GP-led and GP-driven effort to provide members and partners with tools and information to more effectively combat disinformation attacks. DFRLab, JHCHS, KCL and OEF/ONN regularly engage with the Steering Group to discuss priorities and findings to ensure the initiative remains focused on the most relevant threats and developing easy-to-use trainings and other materials for government officials and other stakeholders to efficiently identify, mitigate and build resilience to disinformation campaigns.

Current Activities:

In the initial phase, the focus is on mapping and identifying ongoing disinformation campaigns to provide a baseline of narratives. The implementers have developed an initial taxonomy of strategies, tactics, and narratives being used in disinformation campaigns about CBRN in Ukraine. This taxonomy will be used to map how various approaches are used together in pro-Kremlin news media articles extracted from the EUvsDisinfo database and potentially other sources. The implementers are also engaging with expert and policy-making networks to socialize the initiative, aiming to elevate awareness of the risks that disinformation presents in the CBRN domain as well as the best practices to combat the threat.

Watch out for the initiative's website and twitter page, which will be launched in the coming weeks! These tools will help keep you up to date on the current activities of the initiative, important developments and any upcoming events relevant to the project

Ways to Engage

This initiative prioritizes engaging with external partners, end-users, and other implementers working on countering disinformation campaigns. We are hoping to use this platform to highlight the various work done to counter and combat disinformation attacks by both our initiative and others in the field. If you would like further information or to discuss ways to coordinate and collaborate, please contact Trevor Smith (trevor.smith@international.gc.ca), Lucia Mullen (lmullen3@jhu.edu) or Ben Wakefield (bwakefield@jhu.edu). Experts from law enforcement, military, industry, international organizations, government and regulatory agencies and academia convened to share information, case studies and best practices on issues related to risk management, public/private partnerships and challenges in implementing effective chemical security.