Inside The Pentagon
June 13, 2002
Pg. 1

Army Wants More Cash To Speed Destruction Of Chemical Weapons

The Army plans to ask Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz next week for more money to accelerate the chemical demilitarization program, according to Mario Fiori, the Army's assistant secretary for installations and environment.

Fiori said the program needs a $1 billion plus-up in fiscal year 2003 and an additional $1 billion in FY-04. The pitch will come in a June 17 meeting with Wolfowitz, Fiori said June 7.

The Army last year conceded it would not meet the April 7, 2007, deadline set by an international treaty to destroy the nation's chemical weapons stockpile. During a "chem-bio" breakfast last week in Arlington, VA, Fiori said the program could be completed by 2012 if more money is allocated to the effort.

Thus far, about 25 percent of the original stockpile has been destroyed.

In the post-Sept. 11 security climate, the Army has been negotiating deals with state regulators to speed its work around the country. Eight states in the continental United States host chemical weapons stockpiles: Maryland, Indiana, Oregon, Utah, Arkansas, Kentucky, Colorado and Alabama.

"Our biggest goal, as a result of 9-11, is to get rid of these weapons as soon as possible," Fiori said. "Funding is everything." With "sufficient" funding from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the program schedule could be significantly expedited in the next two years, he said, adding that Wolfowitz and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agreed during a February briefing that the program needs to be accelerated in light of concerns that terrorists might view the stockpiles as a target for attack or even a source of materiel.

"We're ready . . . to [show] them that we can do this," he said. "We've demonstrated it in two places."

Even if extra money is not forthcoming, the program will save about $400 million on life-cycle costs for destroying the stockpiles at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, and Newport, IN, under a new destruction plan that will also result in wrapping work up there about two to three years early, according to Fiori.

The solution involves neutralizing agent drained from bulk containers and shipping secondary waste to commercial processing plants (Inside the Pentagon, Jan. 17, p9). These plants already possess the permits required to process hazardous waste, saving time and money by not requiring a secondary waste treatment facility, according to program officials. Acquiring permits from environmental regulators has been troublesome for the program, contributing to routine schedule delays.

No law requires all the material to be destroyed by the program, Fiori said, noting that Wilmington, DE-based DuPont has been contracted to process secondary waste. "We'll save a lot of money and a lot of time by doing that," he added.

Program management had hoped to complete destruction of bulk agent at Aberdeen by Dec. 20, 2002, but will not meet that goal because of an FY-02 funding shortfall, Fiori said.

Fiori's request for more funding could find favor among lawmakers. In a May 23 letter to Pentagon acquisition chief Pete Aldridge, Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Jeff Bingaman (R-NM) urged DOD to find funds beginning in FY-02 to accelerate the program. Landrieu chairs the Senate Armed Services emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee. Meanwhile, the full committee, in a report on its version of the FY-03 defense authorization bill, said accelerated destruction could reduce the schedule for chemical agent disposal by as much as three to five years and produce life-cycle cost savings of as much as $3 billion.

Since Sept. 11, about 120 National Guard troops have been providing security at each of the eight stockpile sites, which are considered obvious targets for terrorists. Airspace surrounding the facilities is also restricted.

While keeping terrorists at bay, program officials say the accelerated schedule will ease another of the program's major concerns: reducing the possibility of hazardous leaks. A slide in Fiori's presentation declared: "Each day a chemical weapons destruction facility operates, risk posed to the public by [continued] storage is reduced."

-- Catherine MacRae