Defense Environmental Alert
May 21, 2002

HOUSE AUTHORIZERS WANT GAO TO EXAMINE PROGRESS OF CHEM DEMIL

The House Armed Services Committee is asking the U.S. comptroller general to examine the status and management of the Army's chemical weapons destruction program. according to the panel's version of the fiscal year 2003 defense authorization bill.

The request is included in the committee's report on the legislation, which was marked up May 1. The full House approved the bill May 10.

The comptroller general's report on the progress of chemical demilitarization would be due to Congress by March 1, 2003, according to the House authorizers' report. The comptroller general is the top official in the General Accounting Office (GAO).

The committee plans to hold hearings later this year to discuss longtime problems with cost and schedule delays in the chemical demilitarization program, the report states. The fiscal year 2002 Defense Authorization Act required the defense secretary to submit a report to Congress identifying actions taken to reduce program costs and ensure it meets an April 2007 deadline to destroy the entire U.S. chemical weapons stockpile as required by the Chemical Weapons Convention. The committee has not received that report, according to lawmakers.

Congress has long been concerned about the Army's management over chemical demilitarization and has repeatedly stressed that the program should have more direct oversight from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. For the fourth year in a row, the House authorizers have stripped the president's FY03 budget request for chemical demilitarization from an Army account and allocated the entire amount ---- $1.49 billion -- to a defense-wide account.

"The committee notes that section 1412 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1986 ... requires that funds for the destruction of the U.S. stockpile of lethal chemical agents and munitions, including funds for military construction projects necessary to carry out the demilitarization program, shall only be authorized and appropriated in the budget of the Department of Defense as a separate program and shall not be included in the budget accounts for any of the military departments," the FY-03 House defense authorization report states.

The intent of the 1986 law was to stress that chemical demilitarization is a "national issue affecting all of the department and not just a single military service," the report states. A sharp rise in program costs since 1986 underscores this point, lawmakers believe. The estimated cost of the total program in 1986 was $15 billion, but is now estimated at $24 billion.

The proposed FY03 chemical demilitarization budget includes $974.2 million for research, development, test and evaluation; $302.7 million for procurement; and $213.2 million for operations and maintenance.

Russia CTR program remains flat

Under the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program. the committee significantly cut back the Bush administration's request to boost the U.S. contribution of funds for chemical weapons destruction in Russia. The administration had requested $133.6 million, but the committee said it wants to keep the program flat, at $50 million. The committee stresses the need to focus on the most serious and direct threats to U.S. security under the program -- strategic nuclear weapons and related infrastructure. Therefore, it doesn't support spending the requested amount on chemical weapons destruction, "particularly when that country is failing to live up to its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

The committee further expresses dissatisfaction with Russia's failure to meet all conditions necessary to free up existing CTR funds for chemical weapons destruction, "particularly the requirement to provide full and accurate information regarding its chemical weapons stockpile." The committee warns that without resolution to these issues, future funding for the program is in jeopardy.