Pentagon Sets Budget For Weapons Disposal

The Pentagon has told Congress that it plans to spend about $2.7 billion over the next five years to destroy obsolete chemical weapon stockpiles at military depots in Colorado and Kentucky. The Department of Defense’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program directs disposal operations at the Pueblo, Colo., Chemical Depot and the Blue Grass Army Depot, in Richmond, Ky. The program is budgeted to receive $511 million in the next fiscal year, $471 million in fiscal 2012, $503 million in fiscal 2013, $519 million in fiscal 2014, and $678 million in fiscal 2015. Chemical weapon neutralization facilities are under construction at the two installations. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has worked to secure funding for the disarmament effort, says that he is pleased with the spending plan. “It demonstrates that DOD is prepared to devote sufficient resources over the long run to carry out disposal as quickly and safely as possible,” he adds. The Pentagon plans to destroy 2,600 tons of mustard agent at Pueblo by 2017 and 523 tons of mustard and nerve agents at Blue Grass by 2021.