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U.S. Chemical Weapons Program to Miss Deadline
U.S. officials informed the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) last month that
the United States will not meet a key interim deadline set by the
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to destroy nearly half of its
chemical weapons holdings. Under the CWC, the United States had
agreed to destroy 45 percent of its stockpile by April 29, 2004,
but U.S. officials are now seeking an extension to December 2007.
The new deadline means the United States, possessing the world’s
second-largest chemical weapons stockpile, will not meet the CWC’s
final date of April 2007 for destroying 100 percent of the stockpile
and will have to ask for another extension in the future. The convention
allows member states to request up to a five-year extension of the
final deadline.
Washington’s appeal follows on the heels of multiple requests
by Russia, which has the world’s largest arsenal of chemical
weapons, to extend its deadline for destroying the country’s
40,000-ton stockpile. Russia destroyed one percent of its chemical
weapons in April 2003, three years after the original deadline,
and is slated to have just 20 percent completed by 2007. (See
ACT, June 2003.)
Washington’s request was forwarded for consideration to the
OPCW Conference of the States Parties, scheduled to convene Oct.
20-24.
The Department of Defense blames U.S. delays on “unresolved
political and operational issues that forced shutdowns or postponed
start-up dates,” according to a Sept. 3 statement. To date,
the U.S. program has destroyed approximately one-quarter of the
total declared stockpile of 31,500 tons.
Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s Program Manager
for Chemical Demilitarization—the office that conducts U.S.
chemical weapons destruction activities—said the program ran
into difficulties when disposal experts found munitions and agents
in worse shape than previously thought and because new means of
disposing of the chemicals were more technically challenging than
they expected. He said “earlier [time] projections were somewhat
unrealistic” and stressed that the Army wouldn’t sacrifice
“safety for schedule.”
A Sept. 5 report
from the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded that the
U.S. chemical weapons program is “in turmoil” because
of “long-standing and unresolved leadership, organizational,
and strategic planning issues.” GAO investigators recommend
that Pentagon and Army officials develop a strategy and implementation
plan with a mission statement, long-term objectives, and clear roles
and responsibilities for program leadership. They also suggest adding
near-term performance measures and tools that could anticipate internal
and external factors that may predict program impediments.
Meanwhile, despite longer timelines for destroying chemical weapons
in Russia and the United States, new states continue to join the
CWC. The island nation of Sao Tome and Principe in western Africa
will formally join the CWC regime on Oct. 9, and Afghanistan will
become the 155th state party to the convention on Oct. 24.
Slipped Milestones from 2001 Schedule
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U.S. Chemical Weapons
Site
|
Next Project Milestone
|
Scheduled Date to
Begin
|
New Start Date
|
# of Months Delayed
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Anniston, Ala.
|
Operations
|
July 2002
|
|
+13
|
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Umatilla, Ore.
|
Operations
|
July 2003
|
December 2003
|
+5
|
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Pine Bluff, Ark.
|
Operations
|
October 2003
|
April 2004 |
+6
|
|
Johnston Atoll
|
End of closure process
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September 2003
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January 2004
|
+4
|
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