Budget Office Calls Chem-Demil 'Ineffective'
An assessment by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that
accompanied President George W. Bush’s fiscal year 2004 budget
request rates U.S. chemical demilitarization efforts as “ineffective”
and says the program, run by the Army, might not meet a 2007 deadline
for destroying the entire U.S. chemical weapons stockpile.
The United States is a state-party to the Chemical Weapons Convention
(CWC), which requires members who have declared chemical weapons
to destroy all of their stockpiles by April 29, 2007. There are
also several interim deadlines, one requiring states to destroy
45 percent of their stockpiles by April 2004—a goal the United
States might also miss, according to the OMB assessment. The United
States has already met its deadlines for destroying 1 percent and
20 percent of its chemical weapons.
Under the terms of the CWC, a country can ask the Conference of
the States-Parties, a decision-making body including all CWC members,
for an extension on its destruction deadlines, but states must destroy
100 percent of their stockpiles by April 2012.
Delays in stockpile destruction and increased costs were the primary
reasons the OMB assessment cites in giving the “ineffective”
rating. Destruction has been delayed by several factors, including
disagreement between the Army and communities and state and local
governments, problems with environmental permits, and safety concerns.
The OMB report is not the first time the Army’s potential
inability to meet the CWC deadline has been acknowledged. The Department
of Defense approved a new schedule in September 2001 that would
miss the 2007 deadline after two groups that participated in an
internal review suggested the program would require two to three
additional years to complete destruction.
(See ACT, November 2001.)
The Army’s chemical demilitarization program did receive positive
marks from the OMB in some areas. For example, the program’s
purpose is clear and is designed to have a “significant impact”;
the Army has taken “meaningful steps” to address planning
deficiencies; and the Defense Department regularly collects performance
data and adjusts the program accordingly, the assessment says.
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