The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention entirely prohibits biological warfare, but it has no effective verification mechanism to ensure that the 140-plus States Parties are living up to their obligations. From 1995-2001 the States Parties attempted to negotiate a Protocol to the Convention to remedy this deficiency. On 25 July 2001 the United States entirely rejected the final text which would probably have been acceptable to most other states. The book investigates how this disaster came about, and the potential consequences of the failure of American leadership.