Defense against WMD.

• Author: Jakubowski, III, Joseph M.
• Position: Readers forum - Letter to the Editor

After reading the article "Chem-Bio Defense Needs Common Standards" (National Defense, Dec. 2003), I felt the need to seek clarification on a few facts mentioned. I am the detachment sergeant for the 91st Civil Support Team, which specializes in NBC WMD.

The story noted that, "some pesticides closely resemble anthrax. A detector could signal an alert, even though the agent is benign." What kind of detector sees a large molecule (measured in angstroms) in lieu of a vegetative cell or spore (which is measured in microns)? Could it be that the author meant nerve agent instead of anthrax? I know that organophosphate pesticides closely resemble nerve agents. Nerve agents came from the development of a better pesticide. I wouldn't call pesticides benign.

The article stated that, "For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Army procured the Karcher Multi Purpose Decontamination System (MPDS), developed in Germany. It not only met all...