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Lt. Col. Robert E. Jones Jr. passed responsibility for the upkeep, monitoring and destruction of the Anniston Chemical Activity’s more than 2,000 tons of chemical agent-filled munitions to Lt. Col. Darryl J. Briggs.
Briggs comes to Anniston from Winterbourne Gunner, England, where he served as a chemical defense instructor and liaison to the British Army.
On the job since August 2002, Jones described his position during a recent interview as a “challenging” mix of Army science and public interaction.
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Jones said public confidence in the chemical activity is at “an all-time high,” citing years of safe operations without any major incidents and what he described as an atmosphere of open discussion and responsiveness to community concerns. He said he was proud of his role in establishing a system to provide early alerts to residents of the so-called Pink Zone, the area within six miles of the stockpile.
Jones said a March incident, in which a perimeter monitor detected a substance resembling VX nerve agent, had been thoroughly investigated. Evidence indicated the substance had been an interferent, such as a pesticide, he said. He called the site’s monitoring system “the best technology the Army has to provide,” but said he didn’t know enough about alternate technologies to comment on their potential effectiveness.
Jones departs the Anniston Chemical Activity to serve with the Department of the Army Inspector General, where he will be responsible for inspecting various Army sites, including Anniston’s stockpile.
Briggs, who wasn’t available for comment Tuesday, has held several chemical-related positions during his 14-year Army career, according to a curriculum vitae provided by the Army. Among other posts, he has served as the chemical battalion executive officer and senior chemical observer controller at Fort Polk, La., operations officer for the 84th Chemical Battalion at Fort McClellan, chemical officer for a mechanized infantry battalion in Germany, decontamination and reconnaissance platoon leader for the 69th Chemical Company in Germany and commander of the 51st Chemical Company at Fort Polk.
Briggs holds a master’s degree in general studies from Jacksonville State University. He and his wife, Darla, have four children.
The Anniston chemical weapons incinerator, in operation since August 2003, has burned all non-leaking, drainable sarin-filled rockets in the Anniston Chemical Activity’s stockpile – 40 percent of the stockpile’s nerve agent-filled rockets, according to incinerator officials. Burning through the remaining 4 million pounds of sarin, VX and blister agent in the stockpile will likely take until 2007, according to officials.
The incinerator is scheduled to finish sarin-filled rockets this
year and begin burns of VX-filled munitions in 2005 before moving to munitions
filled with blister agent, the stockpile’s least dangerous component.