U.S. Response:  Pentagon to Practice for Chemical Attack

The Pentagon and surrounding Arlington County in Virginia will conduct a chemical defense exercise next week in the Pentagon’s center courtyard.  The May 8 exercise will test the county’s ability to respond to a chemical weapons attack in a public place, according to a Defense Department press release.

County emergency response units and the Defense Protective Service will conduct the exercise, although other local police and fire units and various government and private agencies will also participate.  The Justice Department’s Domestic Preparedness Program is funding the exercise.

The 300 people expected to participate will act as victims and responders.  They will practice rescuing victims, identifying chemical agents, decontaminating the site, controlling crowds and other necessary response and recovery activities (Defense Department release, May 1).

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U.S.-Russia:  Russian Delegation Visits Umatilla Depot

A Russian delegation Friday visited the U.S. Army Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon to exchange information on chemical weapons disposal methods (see GSN, April 12).

“Safety is our most important issue,” said Gennady Podtyosov, member of the Russian delegation.

Russia has decided to destroy most of its chemical weapons arsenal through a neutralization process that breaks down the agent into a less toxic product, according to the Associated Press.  The Army has proposed using neutralization to destroy 2,440 tons of mustard gas agent stored at Umatilla, but will use an incinerator to destroy the rest of the chemical weapons stored at the depot (see GSN, April 3).

Just one chemical munition released inside a stadium could cause more deaths than the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Adolph Ernst, manager with the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, told the Russian delegation (see GSN, April 24).

“What unifies us is the risk to our lives by chemical weapons,” he said (Associated Press, April 27).

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