Defense Environment Alert
February 26, 2002

CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION PROGRAM MANAGER BACON
TO RETIRE IN APRIL

The manager of the Army's multi-billion dollar chemical weapons demilitarization program, James Bacon, has announced his retirement as of April 3, according to a Feb. 21 press release from his office. Bacon has overseen the execution and operation of all chemical destruction programs for the past five years, presiding over a program that has sparked much controversy in Congress and among citizen activists.

"All of us who have worked with Jim Bacon appreciate his efforts and admire his commitment to excellence and safety in the chemical weapons destruction program," said Mario Fiori, Army assistant secretary for installations and environment, in a statement.

Bacon oversees a program that has grown to $24 billion. His job includes overseeing disposal of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile, as well as management of the non-stockpile disposal project, which includes former production facilities and recovered chemical warfare materiel. "My involvement in the chemical demilitarization program has been the most rewarding and challenging experience of my Army career," Bacon said in a statement. Bacon began his Army career more than 41 years ago.

During his tenure, the chemical destruction program completed disposal of the chemical weapons stockpile located on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific, according to the press release. Since 1997, operations there and at the Army's Tooele, UT, site destroyed more than 6,200 metric tons of chemical agent, it says.

But the program has been marked by heavy criticism over the past few years, with senators last year voicing concerns over the safety, management and public outreach of the program. And the Army last fall announced it doesn't expect to meet a 2007 international treaty deadline for destroying stockpiled chemical weapons at several of its sites, despite testimony made months earlier by Army officials that, except for two sites, it would.