The Chemical Dernihtmratmn Program - Rill It Destroy the Nation's Stacmile of Chemical Weapons by December 31, 2004?

• Author: Lieutenant Colonel Warren G. Foote
• Pages: 01

One Smzce mare we dare to ask-Pray for us hemes praymat uhen Fate laus on us 010 tosic 1% do not shame the Day1

Rudyard Kipling

Our goal ts to eltmtnate from Nus Earth one of the most homble and tevfgtng i~eapons hnoun to mankind-chemzcai veapons 2

Preszdmt Ronald ReaganApnl16 1984

Prenous dun arsignnienUi include Defense Counsel, Fulda Federd Republic of GP Senior Defense Counsel hanLiurt Federal Republic of Germany. Senior Tnd CaComs. FranUufun. Federal Republic of Germany Appellate Defense Counsel Fdls Ylrglma, Cornnussloner for the Eared Stales 4rmy Court ofhIilitary Reiiei D e p q t Judge Advocate GthInfanfry Dnrnon (Llghr). FanRichardson. 4hska. Cnminal La, Atfarney Cnmlnal Lax Dmslon. Office o1The Judge Adiocate Generd. Penragan. Ennranmen-W L ~ K

Attorneylorthe Emred Srales.~sChemicdHarenelDesrlvclianIgenc).

Aber-

for the galhenng of surwom ofthe Indian Mutm) UbenHall lYOn

2 Remarks on the Vice President's Tnp to Gene~a Surnerland, 20 ilEiill Cow PRIS Doc 554 (Sept 30 1885) (presenting anex *mencantreat> propasdta ban chemical weapons)

PEOGBAM--WILL P

COLO~EL

LIELTEN~~T

1. Introduction

The United States Army E poised to destrot the Nation's stockpile of lethal chemical aeapons The h i > recened this mission aftel the United States Congress directed the Depanment of Defense (DOD) in1983 to destro) the stackpile by Septembei 30, 1994 '.Uthough this deadline has been extended sereral times 'significant progress has been made The Army. as the DODs execume agent for the chemml stockpile.. has begun destrayng chemical neapons oremeas and LS read> to begin demihtanzatmn operations within the Continental United States (CONl-S)

The Army's missm IS to demo? the stocbilllle of lethal chemical weapons and marenal by Congress's mandated deadline of Decembw 31, 1004 while wonding maximum protection for rhe emmmment the general public, and personnel Inroived in the destruction of the

Chemical demilitanzanon IS the subject of considerable cangressmml and public attention This article ~111examine how the chennral dernilitancation program has deieloped from Its ~nceprion. mth empha~ SE on federal and state legirlatne enactments which direct13 affecr the program The discussion also will ~xamlnethe new treaty requirements which are expected to take effecr m the near futurr ' Closely related to the new treaty requirements LS a mqar nea demilitanzatio~i missLonthe clean up of nonstocltliil? chemical matenel This includes chemical neapons production facilities bmaq chemical weapons. and suspected bund SILPS containing chemical narfare matelid

Tvo ennronmental sratutes. the Resource Consenallon and Re

stackple:

covery Act (RCRA)" and the Clean .4ir Act (CAA),'"

are examined for their impact on the demilitanaation program. These statutes are Implemented by a large body of federal and state regulatlons and include considerable mersight by reguiating officials over Army demilitarization operations. For instance, the RCRA requires a permit before facility conStmction and operations may begin "Lhder celtain circumstances, the pemt under the CAA to operate a demilitanzatmn fachty may be required, depending on the amount of emissions that the faciirtyis expected to generate

All of these enactmenm, congressional committee reports, and treaties affect the dcrnilitanzatian program, and the h y ' s abhty to meet the December 31, 2004, deadline. The program presents the demma of whether it IS in the nation's best interest to proceed uith a proven technology" which can be used to meet the deadline. or to seek out and derelop an alternative technaiopy" which may ultimately prove to be "safer."

A A Hislorical Pwspectioe

Chemical w&are agents are ternfging weapons. Repom of their me provoke ururersal feelings of rewlsion among those concerned with human suffering. .b a weapon agamst military targets, chemical weap-om have proven to be largely ineffective .'As a result. chemica ueap- 42LSCA bh 0901-0992k(1993)

erstmn teehnolagi Thl6 technology meehanicdl?separaler chemical agent nom bofhpro-Jectlles and eontanen and uses inrinerafion and thermal lreafmenf for chemicd agenL deitrYCUOn United Stateshy's.4llematlip DemilifaniatronTechnology Repon for Con.

w i h , Executive Summm, Department of the Army Program blanag~r fur Chermcal De-mlllfansauan (1991) lher~indteriUfematirr

Denilliransarion Tccholo&v Report See infra

"0% 90

3The NafiooalResearchCouncil hmjcanrldered Blarge number of cmdldafe dter-nstlve technologes that would USE different pmcenres to destroy chemical agent hape-full? at less rlsk IO human hedfh and Lhe eniirOnmeO1 Most of Lhene teehnalogrer requue

. ..

uns haie Come to be regarded as a weapon of terror against poorly trained and 111-equipped soldiers and in~hans

The most widespread use of chemical iiarfaare agenrs occurred during the First M'orld Bar Urhough Germany achieved early tactical suc-cess ahen it first used poison gas it faled to achme the desired break-through .'' While chemical \\adare agenrs produced a large number of casualties dunng the Grear Bar. it did not produce decisive results for either side -- liter World Bar I fascist Itall in Ethiopia. and lnipenal Japmm Chinausedlpthal chemicalweapons Nazi German> ueednen-e agenrs m the n~ronousconcentration camp system 'Subsequent use of lethal chemical agents have been reponed to hare occurred m Teman. Iraq, Cambodia. Laos. and Afghanistan '

The L-mted States first developed its own srockpile of chemical weapons ~n response to the threat posed by Germany during fforld Kar I The threat changed orer the years. finally culminating m the masme deielopmenr of chemical weapons as an offensive heapon by the former Saiiet rmon and the Rarsair Pact >- In response. the Cnited

States de\eloped Its awn arsenal of chemical weapons and chemical defense tactics and The last lethal chemical agents to be manu-factured by the United States were binary?' chemical agents." In 1991, President Bush departed from the decades-long United States palicy which allowed for the retaliatory use of chemical weaponszi by:

faresueanng the use of chermcal weapons for any reason, including retaliauan. against any state. effectire when the convention [the Multilateral Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stocltpiling and Use of Chemical \Teapans and on their Destmcaon] enten into force. . . .?

Thisrepresented ashiftinlhited Statespohcy The chermcalstock-pile will no longer he used as a weapon of deterrence Consequently, the need to maintain the chenucal stocltplle has passed

1888)

Binsnl chemical munilions were designed to aroid the dangers of sronnl lethal

B The Annys Espeneiice ~n Dem~i~tanzr,ig

Cheii~icol Weeayons

The Amy has extensive experience in destroging chemical agents -8

Since 1969, the . h y has destroyed mer io00 tons of chemical hariare agents by inaneration or chemical neutralization 2D Much of this work was ramed out at Rocky blountain .bsenal, Colorado Problems =sociated wah destropng chemical agents b: chemical neutralization led thp h m b to decide agiunst using It as a m a p chemical demihtanzanon

In rhe early 1Q8Os, about lhmy-eight tons of GB (Sann) and eight tons of VX (both are lethal nerve agents) uere destroyed by ~ncineration at the Army's Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System (CAMDS). which IS the .hy's p h i demilitarization plant located at Tooeie hmy Depot (TEAD), Utah '?The CAAlDS began demilitarization operations iii 1979 a5 a prove-out facility to develop and test various chemical and themid disposal technologies It was not designed for large-scale dis-posal oprrations.'~Ne~erthelesam the coune ofiarioue tesls, the CMIDS has d~strayed a significant amount of chemical agent j4 A mde I anety of tests have been conducred at the CAXDS, to include evaluating technology for caustic neutralization and incineration of chemical agents machine (robot) testing of projectile disassembly equipment, trial burns under the RCRA, testing of Mustard thaw conramers. and cryofracrure technology '- The .my has used the tests conducted at the CAhIDS to demonstrate that chemical agent could be successfull) destroyed b? I"CmPlatmll.'~

'Hel~eenUarld Karl and 1868 obsolete orunseniceable chem

prOC.SS.'~

.. .

.

Although the Army has destroyed large quantities of chemical agent m the p a t twenty-five years. the pnrnq- mission was to safeguard the stoc!qnle to deter potential advenaries from using lethal agents against the United Stares and Its allies ".4s a result, all umrary lethal chemcd agents have been maintained in carefully guarded storage locations The policy of deterrence has been anotablesuccess aiterh'orld RarI, chemical weapons aere ne\er used agaunst .hencan pemonnel. Serertheless, as the nation's stockpile of unitav lethal chemical warfare agents aged. It began to degrade. A 1984 report from the National Academy of Sci-ences deterrmned that the .h>-should continue to store the mqonty of its chemical munitions and agents, proceed with disposing of the hl-56 rackets-which are mewed as a long-tern storage hazard-and to ana-lyze alternative methods for disposing of the chemical stoc!q~le.~~

By

1886, the bulk of this stac!qle was determined to be obsolete or of no rnihrary utility?'It was time to destroy the stockpile

In 1986. Congress directed the Secretary- of Defense by statute to destroy the nation's stoclrpile of unitary lethal chemical agents and munitions that...