for more information contact:
Craig Williams: 859-986-7565
for immediate release Friday, January 17, 2003
Citizens Groups Praise Move After 13 Months Under Army Assistant Secretary, Mario Fiori
In what citizens groups monitoring the U.S. program to destroy chemical weapons called a "sorely needed change in leadership," Secretary of the Army, Thomas White, ordered the responsibility for chemical weapons demilitarization taken away from Dr. Mario Fiori at the Army's Environmental Office after only 13 months and transferred it back to the Army's Acquisition Office.
"We thought putting demilitarization in the Army Environmental Office made sense at the time," said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. "However we didn't count on a management style based on covert operations and the total exclusion of public participation. We know this will be a positive change and look forward to working with the new leadership."
In a memo dated 15 January 2003, Secretary White directed Assistant Secretary Claude Bolton, Jr. (Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) to "assume responsibility for all policy, direction, and oversight in connection with the Chemical Demilitarization Program." In addition, the memo directs Bolton, along with the Army Materiel Command's General Kern, to "establish an agency to execute chemical demilitarization plant construction, operation, and closure, as well as the chemical weapons storage function." This will put the stockpile storage and disposal responsibilities under one roof.
The exception will be disposal operations in Colorado and Kentucky, delegated to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment (ACWA) Program by Congress last year. ACWA reports directly to the Pentagon's Chief Acquisition Officer bypassing the Army chain-of-command to ensure independence from the incineration office. The ACWA program successfully demonstrated alternatives to incineration for disposal of chemical weapons, something citizens in storage communities have been calling for since burning was selected in 1988.
"It is our hope that Assistant Secretary Bolton and General Kern will prioritize open and candid dealings with the public as they create this new agency," said Williams. "The years of controversy and the inability to execute the very important program are directly related to the selection of incineration and the historical resistance of the Army to deal honestly with communities."
Last September a series of e-mails surfaced between Dr. Fiori's office and other Army officials revealing a plan to discredit local elected officials and emergency managers in Anniston, Alabama. The internal memos exposed the Army effort to place the blame on these officials for inadequate community preparedness which is a federal government responsibility - ensuring maximum protection in the event of an agent release.
On the heels of these revelations Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) wrote Army Secretary White saying, "This effort is nothing more than a perverse and irresponsible attempt to deflect attention away from the Army's failures....".
"This type of behavior must stop," said Williams. "The Army must face up to the inadequacies of the incineration technology and start shooting straight with local communities on all fronts. We hope the new leadership will take over with this clearly in mind," he said.
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