Milton Leitenberg

He received a bachelor of science 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. After several years of research he taught at Vassar College, Northeastern University and Washington University in St. Louis. He transitioned to full time specialization in arms control in September 1966. In January 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 university arms control research institutes, and published a series of books and papers on nuclear weapons, biological weapons, and arms control.

News agencies call upon him as an arms control expert, most recently to comment upon the possibility that the COVID-19 virus had escaped from one of the two virology laboratories in Wuhan, China. In a June 2020 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists he examined the evidence for an accidental escape of the virus from a laboratory. 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.

In 2012, Leitenberg and Raymond A. Zilinskas co-authored The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History. A review in the journal Microbe described the book as "a significant source document for microbiologists, policy makers, historians, and students interested in this important subject". Tim Trevan writing in Nature called the book "an authoritative take on the Soviet Union's vast, covert and costly bioweapons programme" and "a major contribution to the field". Michael D. Gordin said in The Historian, "This is a magisterial history of something that was not supposed to exist." In a 15-page monograph from the Harvard-Sussex Program, John R. Walker said "Undoubtedly The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History will be the standard and definitive reference source on this issue for years to come... a thoroughly impressive achievement by any standard."

• Soviet biological weapons program

• Leitenberg, M. (2020). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/question-covid-19-mortality-china The Question of Covid-19 Mortality in China], CBRNe World.
• Leitenberg, M. (2020). [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/soviet-chinese-and-north-korean-false-allegations-biological-weapons-use-during-korean Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean False Allegations of Biological Weapons Use during the Korean War], Sources and Methods: A Blog of the History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center.
• Leitenberg, M. (2020). [https://thebulletin.org/2020/06/did-the-sars-cov-2-virus-arise-from-a-bat-coronavirus-research-program-in-a-chinese-laboratory-very-possibly/ Did the SARS-CoV-2 virus arise from a bat coronavirus research program in a Chinese laboratory? Very possibly.] Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
• Leitenberg, M. (2019). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/russian-disinformation-campaigns-re-biological-weapons-putin-era Russian Disinformation Campaigns re Biological Weapons in the Putin Era] [Presentation to the NDU/CNS Tucker CBW Symposium].
• Leitenberg, M. (2019). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/putin-and-undoing-inf-treaty Putin and the Undoing of the INF Treaty]. Memorandum, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland.
• Leitenberg, M. (2018). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/hazards-operations-involving-nuclear-weapons-during-cold-war The Hazards of Operations Involving Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War]. Journal of Cold War Studies, 20(3), 207-249.
• Leitenberg, M. (2018). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/review-question-wmd-terrorism A Review of the Question of WMD Terrorism]. Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland.
• Leitenberg, M. (2018). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/history-russian-and-soviet-chemical-weapons-program A History of the Russian and Soviet Chemical Weapons Program] [Presentation at CISSM, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, April 27, 2018].
• Leitenberg, M. (2016). [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/chinas-false-allegations-the-use-biological-weapons-the-united-states-during-the-korean China's False Allegations of the Use of Biological Weapons by the United States During the Korean War]. Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) Working Paper Series, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Working Paper # 78.
• Leitenberg, M. (2014). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/biological-weapons-program-soviet-union The Biological Weapons Program of the Soviet Union]. Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland.
• Leitenberg, M. (2014), testimony, Subcommittee on Europe,  Eurasia,  and ND  Emerging Threats of the Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives Hearings: Assessing the Biological Weapons Threat: Russia and Beyond. 7 May 2014, 113th Congress. ([https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-assessing-the-biological-weapons-threat-russia-and-beyond/ video], [https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA14/20140507/102195/HHRG-113-FA14-Transcript-20140507.pdf transcript])
• Leitenberg, M., Zilinskas, R. A., & Kuhn, J. H. (2012). [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674047709 The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History]. Harvard University Press.
• Leitenberg, M. (2012). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/north-korean-genocide-nuclear-weapons-and-food-assistance North Korean Genocide, Nuclear Weapons, and Food Assistance]. The Institute for the Study of Genocide Newsletter, 47, 1-2.
• Leitenberg, M. (2010). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/assessing-threat-bioterrorism Assessing the Threat of Bioterrorism]. In Friedman, B. H., Harper, J., & Preble, C. A. (Eds.), Terrorizing ourselves: Why US counterterrorism policy is failing and how to fix it. Cato Institute, 161-183.
• Leitenberg, M. (2009). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/bio-defense-way-ahead-project Bio-Defense Way Ahead Project] [Presentation at CISSM, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, September 16, 2009].
• Leitenberg, M. (2009). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/assessing-threat-biological-weapons-and-bioterrorism-public-policy Assessing the Threat of Biological Weapons and Bioterrorism: A Public Policy Issue?] [Presentation at Cornell University, April 16, 2009]
• Leitenberg, M. (2009). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/self-fulfilling-prophecy-bioterrorism The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Bioterrorism], Nonproliferation Review, 16(1), 95-109.
• Leitenberg, M. (2008). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/false-allegations-us-biological-weapons-use-during-korean-war False Allegations of U.S. Biological Weapons Use During the Korean War]. In Anne L. Clunan, Peter R. Lavoy, and Susan B. Martin, (Eds.), Terrorism, War, or Disease? Unraveling the Use of Biological Weapons. Stanford University Press.
• Leitenberg, M. (2006). [http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/spru/hsp/documents/2006-0714%20Leitenberg%20Presentation.pdf A Current Assessment of Biological Weapons] [Presentation to the Harvard-Sussex Program, The University of Sussex Brighton, England].
• {{cite book

| url = https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/7879/assessing_bw_threat.pdf;sequence=1

| title = Assessing the Biological Weapons and Bioterrorism Threat

| author = Milton Leitenberg

| publisher = U.S. Army War College

| year = 2005

| isbn = 9781584872214

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

• {{cite news

| url = https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/deaths-wars-and-conflicts-20th-century

| title = Deaths in Wars and Conflicts in the 20th Century

| publisher = Peace Studies Program

| author1 = Milton Leitenberg

| journal = Occasional Papers

| issn = 1075-4857

| year = 2003

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

• {{cite news

| title = Biodefense crossing the line

| work = Politics and the Life Sciences

| year = 2003

| author1 = Milton Leitenberg

| author2 = James Leonard

| author3 = Richard Spertzel

| citeseerx = 10.1.1.401.2220

}}

• {{cite journal|title=Biological Weapons in the Twentieth Century: A Review and Analysis|journal=Critical Reviews in Microbiology|year=2001|author1=Milton Leitenberg|volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=267–320 |url=|access-date=|doi=10.1080/20014091096774|pmid=11791799 |s2cid=33988479 }}
• Milton Leitenberg (1999). "Aum Shinrikyo's Efforts to Produce Biological Weapons: A Case Study in the Serial Propagation of Misinformation". Terrorism and Political Violence, 11(4):149-158. doi:10.1080/09546559908427537.
• Leitenberg, M. (1998). [https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/new-russian-evidence-korean-war-biological-warfare-allegations New Russian Evidence on the Korean War Biological Warfare Allegations: Background and Analysis], Cold War International History Project Bulletin 11.
• {{cite journal

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DFFeHQAACAAJ&q=Milton+Leitenberg

| title = The Korean War Biological Warfare Allegations Resolved

| issn = 0284-1541

| author = Milton Leitenberg

| journal = Occasional Paper

| publisher = Center for Pacific Asia Studies at Stockholm University

| year = 1998

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

• {{cite book

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-YGPAAAAMAAJ&q=Milton+Leitenberg

| title = The Participation of Japanese Military Forces in U.N. Peacekeeping Operations

| author = Milton Leitenberg

| publisher = Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland

| year = 1996

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

• {{cite news|url=https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/7878/prac.pdf;sequence=1|title=Biological Weapons Arms Control: Project on rethinking arms control|publisher=Center for International and Security Studies|author=Milton Leitenberg|journal=Prac Paper|issn=1065-6383|date=May 1996|page=|access-date=2020-03-21}}
• Leitenberg, M. (1995), testimony, Senate Government Affairs Committee, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Hearings: Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, 1 November 1995, 104th Congress.([http://li.proquest.com/elhpdf/histcontext/HRG-1995-SGA-0032.pdf transcript])
• {{cite book

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kH1KAQAAIAAJ&q=Milton+Leitenberg

| title = Soviet Submarine Operations in Swedish Waters, 1980-1986

| issn = 0278-937X

| author = Milton Leitenberg

| journal = Washington Papers

| publisher = Praeger

| year = 1987

| isbn = 9780275928421

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

• Leitenberg, M. (1984). [https://fas.org/man/eprint/leitenberg/index.html Studies of Military R&D and Weapons Development], Federation of American Scientists.
• Leitenberg, M., Richard Dean Burns (1984). [https://books.google.com/books?id=CskUAQAAIAAJ The Wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, 1945-1982, A Bibliographic Guide], War Peace Bibliography Series # 18, ABC-CLIO.
• {{cite journal

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yw8tAAAAMAAJ&q=Milton+Leitenberg

| title = The Neutron Bomb and European Arms Control

| volume = 8

| issue = 1

| author = Milton Leitenberg

| journal = Political Issues Series, Center for the Study of Armament & Disarmament

| year = 1983

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

• Milton Leitenberg (1981). [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002234338101800401 Presidential Directive (P.D.) 59: United States Nuclear Weapon Targeting Policy], Journal of Peace Research, 18(4), pp. 309–317.
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGxtAAAAMAAJ&q=Milton+Leitenberg|title=Great Power Intervention in the Middle East|volume=27|publisher=Pergamon Press|year=1979|author1=Milton Leitenberg|author2=Gabriel Sheffer|isbn=9780080238678|access-date=2020-03-21}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KP0avwEACAAJ&q=Milton+Leitenberg|title=The Vietnam Conflict: Its Geographical Dimensions, Political Traumas, & Military Developments|author1=Milton Leitenberg|publisher=ABC-CLIO Press|year=1973|author2=Richard Dean Burns|access-date=2020-03-21}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal

| title = Reviews and Resources: The Soviet Biological Weapons Program—a History

| journal = Microbe

| volume = 7

| issue = 11

| year = 2012

| pages = 533–534

| author = James A. Poupard

| doi = 10.5860/choice.50-3512

| doi-broken-date = 1 February 2025

| s2cid = 151240342

}}

{{cite journal

| title = Military Science: The USSR's deadly secret

| journal = Nature

| volume = 489

| issue = 7416

| year = 2012

| pages = 364–365

| author = Tim Trevan

|doi = 10.1038/489364a|s2cid = 4329448

| doi-access= free

| bibcode = 2012Natur.489..364T

}}

{{cite news

| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/29/experts-debunk-fringe-theory-linking-chinas-coronavirus-weapons-research/

| title = Experts debunk fringe theory linking China's coronavirus to weapons research

| newspaper = Washington Post

| author = Adam Taylor

| date = 2020-01-29

| access-date = 2020-03-21

| quote = 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.

}}

{{cite web

| url = https://cissm.umd.edu/our-community/faculty-staff/milton-leitenberg

| title = Milton Leitenberg

| work = University of Maryland

| access-date = 2020-03-21

}}

{{cite journal

| url = https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-373255643/the-soviet-biological-weapons-program-a-history

| title = The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History

| journal = The Historian

| volume = 76

| issue = 2

| year = 2014

| pages = 409–410

| author = Michael D. Gordin

| access-date = 2020-08-16

}}

{{cite news

| url = https://thebulletin.org/2020/06/did-the-sars-cov-2-virus-arise-from-a-bat-coronavirus-research-program-in-a-chinese-laboratory-very-possibly/

| title = Did the SARS-CoV-2 virus arise from a bat coronavirus research program in a Chinese laboratory? Very possibly.

| work = Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

| author = Milton Leitenberg

| date = 2020-06-04

| access-date = 2020-08-15

}}

{{cite journal

| url = http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/spru/hsp/occasional%20papers/HSPOP_2.pdf

| title = The Leitenberg-Zilinskas History of the Soviet Biological Weapons Programme

| journal = Harvard-Sussex Program Occasional Paper

| issue = 2

| year = 2012

| author = John R. Walker

| access-date = 2020-08-17

}}

}}

• [https://cissm.umd.edu/our-community/faculty-staff/milton-leitenberg Profile on the website of the University of Maryland]
• [https://thebulletin.org/biography/milton-leitenberg/ Profile on the website of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]
• [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/milton-leitenberg Profile on the website of the Wilson Center]

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