SOVIETS FOUND DEVELOPING BETTER CHEMICAL WEAPONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330029-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: October 29, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330029-3
EAR
WASHINGTON TIMES
29 October 1985
Soviets found developing
better chemical weapons
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Soviet Union appears to be developing
chemical agents capable of penetrating pro-
tective chemical warfare suits worn by NATO
forces in Europe, a Pentagon official said yes-
terday.
"There is no question in our minds - it is
&-c ertaintyin the intelligence community-
a goal of manufacturing Ichemicall agents
that will defeat our protective posture - our
masks. our detectors. our medical therapy for
casualties." said Thomas J. Welch. deputy as-
sistant secretary of defense for chemical mat-
ters, during a briefing on the release of a
report entitled "Soviet Chemical
Threa :'
The newl declassified Defense Intelli-
ence Agency re rt says that the Soviets
have developed a long-range chemical wea -
ons strike cape ity,
Maps contamed in the report show that the
Soviets have 10 chemical weapons plants and
nine storage depots in the Soviet Union and 32
forward deployment areas located in Poland,
East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Ro-
mania and Bulgaria. One graph indicates that
the Soviets' chemical weapon storage capac-
ity rose 16.2 percent between 1980 and 1985.
"This is a clear escalation by the Soviets
and we're very much concerned about it," Mr.
Welch said.
So far, the Soviets have not succeeded in
deploying a new chemical weapon capable of
penetrating cumbersome protective suits
worn by soldiers to stave off chemical attack,
Mr. Welch said.
"But we do know that they have used in
Afghanistan chemical agents against Afghan
people,' he said. "And we do know that at least
one or possibly two of the chemical agents
that they have used are unknown to us, with
the medical symptoms and other information
that has come back suggesting to us - in my
judgment in a very strong way - that they
have been using new agents"
Yesterday's briefing appeared to be a Pen-
tagon lobbying effort to convince Congress to
authorize funds for advanced chemical weap-
ons production.
"Hundreds" of older chemical weapons
munitions, many dating back to World War II
with no military value, are leaking in storage
"igloos" and a program to destroy the weap-
ons would cost $1.5 billion through 1994, Mr.
Welch said.
"We want very much for the Congress to
give us the green light to replace them with
safer binary weapons to help that soldier out
[and] at the same time destroy these older
weapons," Mr. Welch said. Congress is
scheduled to debate the 1986 appropriation
tomorrow.
The House Appropriations Committee last
week voted to delete $163 million from the
defense spending bill that had been ear-
marked for new chemical weapons.
Binary chemical weapons are made in two
parts that are harmless until they are com-
bined. The Pentagon has requested $2.5 bil-
lion for an eight-year binary weapons pro-
gram.
Current stockpiles, including the leaking
munitions, contain lethal agents already
mixed in one container. In the event of war, it
would be hazardous to move the chemicals
across land from storage facilities spread out
through eight states, Mr. Welch said.
The new report states that "almost all So-
viet conventional weapons systems from mor-
tars to long-range tactical missiles have com-
patible chemical ammunition or warheads,
and are available to their land, air and naval
forces" The long-range missiles can carry
either bulk agent or small bombs that can be
dispersed over targets.
The Soviet army, which employs a special
force of 45,000 "chemical troops," would dou-
ble that number in wartime, the report states.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330029-3