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ALABAMA SENATOR SHELBY JOINS IN CALL FOR CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION PROGRAM RESTRUCTURING
Letter to Secretary Rumsfeld cites "obvious and serious organizational problems"
Another powerful member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, has called on Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to act on reforming the nations Chemical Demilitarization Program (CDP).
In the May 18 letter to Mr. Rumsfeld, Senator Shelby blasts the CDP in what he calls, "the lack of accountability within this program," he says, "has led to counterproductive fingerpointing and dangerous inefficiency." This has left communities worried, says Shelby, "because of the cloud of distrust that continues to surround this program."
It was Shelby who called for the Hearings held in April where testimony by Army officials was later shown to be inaccurate and misleading concerning the programs cost, schedule and safety record.
Citizen witnesses presented internal documents that conflicted with what the Army claimed were completion dates and costs to dispose of the nations chemical weapons using incineration. The documents, which showed the Army knew it could take up to 11 years longer than they admitted and possibly cost up to an additional $10 Billion, were immediately dismissed by CDP officials as "worst-case scenario" and they accused the citizens of "erroneous interpretations" of the data within the documents. Committee member, Senator Mitch McConnell, requested the Congressional Research Service (CRS) review the documents to determine who was telling the truth.
The CRS report showed the citizens testimony to be "accurate" refuting the Army's damage control efforts and further demonstrating what community groups have claimed for a long time is the CDP's emphasis on "defending the programs image at all costs through public relations efforts, marketing and 'spin'."
In light of these developments, Senator McConnell sent two letters to Secretary Rumsfeld calling for a complete overhaul of the program, The Shelby letter reflects the same objective citing, "the troubling and damaging revelations that have surfaced" that make it "incumbent upon this body.....to demand an honest accounting and [to] act swiftly to address obvious and serious organizational problems."
Shelby also writes, "Honesty and transparency are absolutely necessary to the success of an effort such as this, but have been demonstrated to have been lacking within this program for far too long," and, "the evidence clearly shows that the CDP is in dire need of central leadership and organizational reform."
Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) Director, Craig Williams, who presented the internal documents to the Committee in April echoed Shelby's sentiments. "The Chemical Demilitarization Program exists outside any normal chain of command which has allowed it to mislead Congress and the American people for the past 15 years - and get away with it. This must stop immediately."
Shelby ends his letter stating, "I want to work with you
[Mr. Secretary] to see that this program is reorganized and fundamentally
reformed...[t]o safely destroy the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile
and provide maximum protection to our affected communities."
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copies of Senator Shelby's letter can be obtained from the CWWG
office
 CWWG Home Page |
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