U.S. PREPARING NEW PRODUCTION OF NERVE GASES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403310028-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: August 11, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403310028-4
ARTICLE APF~;:F ~u ~'~ YORK TIP'ES
.. , ~ PdGE _~:~___ 11 August 19 8 S
U?w.7? Preparing here`'year; world 000~'~??
~ agent for the Bigrye bombother
Neu~P'roductron ~ld ~ ~ f ~ ~,
who have not been selected yet.
Of Nerve Gases ana er~'~~??~
in buskers of reinforced concs^ete, cov-
ered with earth, at Pine Bluff and nine
House Focus on Safety ~ ~~a' i~l"di~w~ ~-
Overcame Opposition
By BILL HEELER
Spsdal W The New Yat Times
PINE BLUFF ARSENAL, Ark. - At
the new Army chemical factory that
local residents nonchalantly call "the
nerve gas plant," the waiting conveyor
belts are wrapped in protective plastic.
The kettles and scrubbers were
tested In June and pronounced ready,
pending only the final pull of political
levers in Washington. If that comes -
bothsupporters and opponents say they
expect the House to pass the bill in a
final vote in September -the Pine
Bluff Arsenal and the Federal Govern-
ment will be back in the chemical
weapon business for the first time in 16
years.
7ti 7~C SC 7ti *'k * 7t:Y ~C
Ganesls d New Program
Manufacture of chemical weapons
was halted in 1989 by President Nixon
in what he called an "initiative toward
peace." But research continued, std in
1874 the Army requested money to
begin producing a near type of chemical
weapon, not on the grand of military
necessity but in the name of safety.
Unlike existing weapons, which al-
ready contain the deadly agents, the
new weapons will hold two nonlethal in-
gredients of the nerve agent in sepa-
rate canisters. They mix to torn the
deadly agent only after the weapon is
fired. The two oamponents that make
up the binary Poison can be stored
separately until they are brought to the
battlefield. The bill nearing Congree~
sional approval would require that the
components be stored to separate
states.
The nerve agents would be produced
for two new weapons. One is a 156-mil.
limeter shell to deUver GB, a poison
that disperses in about ZO minutes so
that attackers can move in. The other,
the new Bigeye bomb, will spray drop-
lets of VX, a polsat that may render an
area deadly for hours or days.
Ready to Produce m a Year
At Pine Bluff, the ne~v factory is not
to manufacture the binary gases but
canisters of methyiphosphonic diflou-
ride, a corrosive but mdethal compo-
nent of the GB artillery shell. Officials
here say that if Ca~gr+ess approves pro-
ductian, they could begin acquiring
chemicals, trail a crew sad be ready to
begin manufacture within a year. An-
The Army and the General Account-
ing Of[ice, an investigative arm of Con-
gress, say that while some of the older
weapons leak, the storage facilities are
well secured. But the Army says that in
time of crisis the weapons could be
risky to more.
SultabWty aT Weapaos
Moreover, the Defense Department
estimates that 93 percent of the exist-
ing chemical weapons are not designed
for the way the Army fights today. For
example, the inventory contains no
usable bombs or long-range missiles to
hit deep behind enemy lines.
'Even H you believe the current
stockpile is adequate now, nevertheless
it does have a shelf life," said Repro-
sentative John M. Sprott Jr., Democrat
of South Carolina, a recent convert to
support of chemical weapons.
The Soviet Usiat. accordin? to
? a1 iT..i.... 1`ee r- -
cal w
The UNted States and the Soviet
Union have both taken part in a 40-na-
tion arms conference in Geneva aimed
at a complete ben os possessiain of
chemical weapons, but those talks have
been stalled for years over the issue of
verification.
Nonettteleas, rite Pentagon, in its lob-
bying campaigge, argued strpngly that
a new weapon program might induce
the Soviet Union to talk more seriously
about a treaty bamting all chemical
weapons. Lawmakers and Pentagon of-
ficialssaid that hope may have swayed
some votes.
Inteodve Lobbying CamPV6n
The Reagan Administration has been
lobbying for its plan for new chemical
weapons since 1982. Each year the Sen-
ate has given its approval only to have
the proposal die in the House. It is the
only major weapon Congress denied
Mr. Reagan in his first term.
This year the Pentagon, sensing that
it was best to fight such a volatile issue
in a uonelection year, made the nerve
gas Program its top priority, said Rus-
sell A. Rourke, Assistant Secretary of
Defense for legislative aNairs. "It was
this year. or not at W in the near and
medium term,.' he said.
Beginning in February. Defense Sec-
retary Caspar ~Y?. Weisberger aM sen-
ior military oKicials who trooped to
Congress to testify on the budget all
made a point of including a special
pitch for chemical weapons.
?. m Marm, ntr. xeagan appomtea a
commission to ~~ the matter. The
Panel suffered cteaibility problems be.
cause no avowed critics were Included,
bat its report In support of the new
Pons, published the week before the
vote, was widely read. Several mem-
bers of the panel, including the ct-air-
maa, Waltyr J. Stoeasel Jr., a former
diplomat, and two former
House members. joi~rsaaally in
Mr? Rourke addp that Pentagon lob-
br1t Mir 136 m ~~g~
in the mont>m before the vote, stressing
safety and arms control. They focused
on new ttiembers who had not commit-
elected R ~ ~~- ~d of 30 newly
chemical w~porte ended up suppotti ~
the Pentagon - and as oppooentp who
fed they were open to oompep.
For members wtio wondered why the
military could not rely on masks and
rpro~teecdtive suits, the Pentagon ar-
soldier encased In such gwoul~d be
nearly immobilIud. For members and
aides skeptical of the Soviet threat, the
1'entag~on rran~ed inteWgence brief-
ingsthat charged the Soviet Union with
plunging ahead in research on new
chsrnical weapam and taains.
"Wherever anti-aerve.gaa lobbyists
went," said John Isaacs, who lobbied
against the weapon for the Council for a
Livable World, "Pentagon lobbyists
had been there Hrst.??
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403310028-4