On 1 March 1999, in the wake of decisions implemented by other nations, Italy passed from a single-service to a joint approach to the CBN issue, aiming to establish a centre where all CBN defence -related activities would be grouped together.
As technical and scientific progress made the effects of chemical and biological weapons increasingly devastating while heavily lowering production costs, such weapons came to be known as "the atomic bomb of the poor".
The Joint School of CBRN Defence functions as a Joint Centre for Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Defence and was assigned new institutional tasks, including - subject to authorization of the Army Weapon Inspectorate - writing and disseminating doctrinal publications on the matter at hand. Such publications reflect NATO directives and the subsequent Single Services’ guidelines.
