Pentagon Expands Study of Submerged Munitions

New legislation is forcing the U.S. Defense Department to expand its work on an almost-finished report regarding thousands of chemical munitions dumped off U.S. shores, Defense Environment Alert reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 19).

The Army since last year has been trying to confirm the location of all undersea chemical weapons deposits.  The Newport News, Va., Daily Press reported that the Army secretly deposited 64 million pounds of mustard and nerve gas munitions between 1940 and 1972 off the coasts of 11 states. 

The fiscal 2007 defense authorization act requires the Pentagon to determine the status of both underwater chemical and conventional weapons dumps, study their potential effect on sea life and humans, and potentially to remove them from the water.

The additional work is expected to delay the release of the report.  The Army might simply wrap the chemical weapons report into the larger document required in the new legislation, Defense Environment Alert reported.

The authorization act requires that a final report on the munitions be delivered to Congress in 2009.

“I have no idea when the new study will be done,” a military source said.  “I don’t know if the chemical report will be released before this (new one) or not.  We believe it’s a viable report (on its own) but we’re still working on it and I don’t know if it will see the light of day” (Defense Environment Alert, Oct. 31).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.