Global Security Newswire

The U.S. Strategic Command said it on Friday stood up a new joint force center dedicated to the eradication of weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, June 14, 2011).

The Standing Joint Force Headquarters for Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction will supply specially trained staff that can in short order begin assisting a combat command with "planning, intelligence and operations" on the eradication of unconventional weapons, according to a Strategic Command release.

The new anti-WMD unit is to be based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, alongside Strategic Command's Center for Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency. 

"It will give us an opportunity to place a group of WMD experts with a forward commander so they can help manage the elimination mission," Strategic Command chief Gen. Robert Kehler stated in provided comments. "The professionals in the services (Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps) will execute that mission in whatever way is necessary, based upon the demands of the forward commanders."

Air Force Maj. Gen. Eric Crabtree will head up the new unit. He is currently deputy director of the Strategic Command's Center for Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction, a role that he will maintain (U.S. Strategic Command release, Feb. 6).