The term weapons of mass destruction was first used in a communiquй dated November 15, 1945, that was drafted by Vannevar Bush, director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development. Bush wrote of atomic weapons and weapons that could be adapted for the purposes of mass destruction. By the latter, he later specified, he had meant biological weapons. In August 1948 the United Nations Commission for Conventional Armaments defined “weapons of mass destruction” as including “atomic explosive weapons, radioactive material weapons, lethal chemical and biological weapons, and any weapons developed in the future which have characteristics comparable in destructive effect to those of the atomic bomb or other weapons mentioned.”