U.S. may miss chemical weapons deadline

04/02/04

WASHINGTON - The United States could still miss the international treaty deadline to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons even after a five-year extension, a congressional auditor said Thursday.

The deadline, expected to be pushed to 2012 from the original 2007 mark, will be missed unless problems that have led to delays are fixed, said Raymond Decker, director of the General Accounting Office's defense capabilities section.

Pentagon officials who oversee the nation's $25 billion plan to rid its stash of 31,000 tons of deadly chemical agents and munitions did not dispute Decker's assessment.

"This is a challenge," said Claude Bolton, assistant secretary of the Army.

Money and technology are the two main factors that will determine whether the United States meets the requirements of the Chemical Weapons Convention, defense officials said. Funding levels from Congress will determine whether the destruction process can be accelerated, and new non-incineration technology coming on line needs to remain free of major glitches, they said.

So far, about 27 percent of the nation's stockpile, more than 8,600 tons, has been destroyed at various sites around the country. While some sites are finished, others are still under construction.

In Alabama, the incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot had several delays before it began operations several months ago. The director of the national program said Anniston is now ahead of its latest schedule and will finish "well within" the treaty's deadline.

But Mike Parker, director of the U.S. Army Chemical Material Agency, said it was premature to officially move up Anniston's timeline. Anniston incinerator spokesman Mike Abrams said Thursday that the incinerator is scheduled to finish destroying its share of the stockpile - about 2,254 tons - in 2010 or 2011.

Parker said that by the end of 2005, all of the sarin nerve agent stored at Anniston should be destroyed, eliminating 60 percent to 65 percent of the risk to the Anniston community.

Another of the deadlines in the international treaty was for the United States to destroy 45 percent of the stockpile by this month. It was extended to December 2007, and one defense official said he was 90 percent certain it could be met.

Craig Williams, a frequent critic and watchdog of the chemical demilitarization program, said Thursday the rush toward a treaty deadline should not sacrifice work on health, safety and environmental protection.

"It is something we should strive to be in compliance with," Williams said, "although the sky is not going to fall if treaty deadlines are not met."