The entire spectrum of threats caused by terrorists is vast, therefore this paper is focused on CBRN threats only. These issues have been frequently described in various documents but despite this, it might be beneficial to recall some general facts. Furthermore, although the main effort should be focused on nuclear and radiological issues, it could be worthwhile to mention some elementary points associated with the entire WMD family, principally due to the similarity of how to respond to them and especially because chemical and biological threats are usually assumed to be more probable. According to a WMD commission finding, there are three main categories of threat which are valid for all WMD varieties: from existing weapons, from their spread to additional states (proliferation), and from their possible acquisition or use by terrorists.

In this context, the aim of NATO is, to secure population, territory and forces from all CBRN threats. These tasks should be achieved via three pillars: preventing the proliferation of WMDs, protecting against WMD attacks or CBRN events, and recovering from WMD attacks or CBRN events.