Pentagon Seeks Funding for WMD Defenses in Iraq

By Jon Fox
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department requested $69 million for chemical, biological and radiological defenses as part of the president’s request for additional funding to continue military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2008 (see GSN, July 2).

The budget line, sandwiched between billion-dollar requests for antisniper efforts and armored vehicle modifications, is dwarfed by the more than $30 billion the Pentagon is seeking for force protection and to counter improvised explosive devices.

The money would be used to replace protective equipment that has been damaged beyond repair and to “fully upgrade and modernize” equipment handed out to National Guard and Reserve units deployed abroad, Defense Department officials said.

In the military’s budget justification for the additional funding, the Pentagon noted that “protection against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear explosives (CBRNE) threats is still of critical importance in a fight against a cunning and adaptive enemy.”

The Defense Department said that while there have been no actual unconventional weapon attacks in Iraq or Afghanistan, “the enduring danger of such an attack requires that the department be prepared for such situations.”

The funding, if approved, would provide a range of chemical and radiological monitors along with protective equipment such as masks and group shelters.

John Pike, a military analyst with the Web site GlobalSecurity.org, was not surprised that the military is taking steps to replace protective gear in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It wears out and gets used up,” he said.  “The actual equipment has a finite shelf life”

As the Defense Department noted in response to an Global Security Newswire inquiry about the additional funding, “some of this equipment has become ineffective due to battle damage or wear and tear and was not able to be repaired or otherwise recovered.”

The entire request for additional funding to continue operations in “the Global War on Terror” for fiscal 2008 totals more than $189 billion.  Congress has not yet acted on the request.

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