Chemical-biological program speeds up acquisition process.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

* EDGEWOOD, Md.--"It's unfortunate. But we're in a growth business," said Carmen Spencer, joint program executive officer for chemical and biological defense.

Islamic State militants recently used mustard gas against Kurdish opponents. The joint program office sent 67 members of its staff on a ship it designed to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. And then there was the Ebola outbreak in Libya, followed by an Army scandal where live anthrax was inadvertently shipped to 183 locations.

Whenever there is a crisis somewhere in the world related to chemical, biological or radiological weapons or accidents, "the first phone call comes to us," Spencer said in an interview with National Defense.

When it comes to these threats, the organization is trying to be "left of the boom," to borrow a metaphor from the explosive ordnance disposal community. It wants to be able to meet threats before they emerge, which he admitted is difficult to do working with a Defense Department acquisition process that can take seven years to field an item.

And the JPO's mandate is broad, with three different threats that are often lumped into the same category, but are in fact very different. It must: sense and predict the employment of chemical, biological, nuclear or radioactive weapons; protect warfighters from them when they are used; and recover from their effects in the event of exposure. That entails developing everything from sensors and protective gear to medical products such as diagnostic equipment, vaccines and therapeutics.

Spencer said the joint program office enjoys strong support from both sides of the aisle, both houses in Congress and the White House, "and I don't see that changing in the short term." Its budget remains relatively flat, but during a time of fiscal austerity, he considers that a victory.

The reason is because the threats are real, he said. "We're not trying to paint the threat as 200 feet tall because there are real-world examples that are occurring all the time."

ISIS' recent confirmed use of mustard gas is one example. The intelligence community hasn't determined how the terrorist organization acquired the deadly agent--whether it was old stock or newly manufactured--but U.S. forces are in the area, Spencer noted.

In terms of protecting troops from chemical weapons, the JPO is in the process of revamping some of its requirements that date back to the Cold War.

Standards are based on "the Soviet horde coming across the Fulda...