Germ warfare: Pentagon chem-bio program expands to homeland missions.

• Author: Jean, Grace
• Position: Pentagon

The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security are seeking to homogenize the equipment that military units and local first responders employ to detect and neutralize toxic agents.

The Defense Department, as a result, plans to shift resources to non-traditional chem-bio areas, such as cleaning up contaminated sites following natural disasters, officials said.

"As we look at our ability to respond to requirements under the homeland defense strategy, we're going to need those kinds of capabilities. So we're working very closely with DHS on a number of applications of this technology in ways different than we had been applying them," said Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Reeves, who oversees the procurement of all Pentagon chemical and biological defense equipment.

The Defense Department plans to pick up projects within the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) technology area that are unrelated to its traditional mission, said Col. Ben Hagar, deputy director for science and technology at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

"That's a broader set of challenges than we have had traditionally," said Reeves. Rather than simply providing an alert for a chemical or biological warfare attack, "we've got to figure out how to provide protection and decontamination of some of these materials."

The Defense Department and DHS, along with the U.S. Postal Service, have signed a memorandum of understanding that provides a framework for coordinated detection and response efforts in the event of a bio-terror attack, Reeves' spokesman said.

Other joint agency projects include the development of next-generation biological weapons detection devices and testing mobile interior systems to work toward national standards for building decontamination.

As operations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, Reeves must also contend with equipment requirements.

The need for rapid identification of potentially harmful chemical and biological agents--and increasingly, toxic industrial chemicals and materials--in the battlefield is urgent, he said.

"The commanders are faced everyday with folks walking into buildings and finding stuff. And what they really want to know is, 'what is it?' And secondly, 'is it dangerous?' And thirdly, if it's dangerous, 'what do I do about it?'" he said.

The Armv's chemical corps has dealt with what Reeves terms the "classic" chemical or biological weapons threats, such as anthrax, VX, and other agents. But it traditionally has not dealt with the toxic industrial chemical situations found in developed nations. Those tasks have been relegated to specialized teams, such as the Marine Corps' chemical biological incident response force, the Army's technical escort units and the National Guard's civil support teams.

But Reeves said the Army...