8.3 Chemical Threat

WHO? State and Local First Responders.

WHAT? Are prepared to identify and remove known or suspected hazardous chemical agents.

WHEN? Specialized HAZMAT units and National Guard WMD-CSTs are ready to respond 24x7.

WHERE? In all 54 States and Territories.

WHY? To safeguard the nation from domestic catastrophic chemical incidents.

United States Code, Title 18 Section 229f, makes it illegal for anyone in the US to acquire, possess, fabricate, or deploy chemical weapons. Chemical weapons are as old as civilization. It was common practice to poison an enemy’s well. It was in World War I, though, that chemical weapons achieved their most destructive potential. In April 1915, Germany released 168 tons of chlorine gas along a 3.5-mile front that killed 5,000 French and Algerian soldiers near the Belgian city of Ypres. The Allies retaliated in kind, and before the end of the war, chemical attacks claimed over 90,000 killed and nearly a million wounded. Before the war, all sides had signed the Hague conventions agreeing not to use chemical weapons. As a result, nations stockpiled chemical weapons as a retaliatory threat against their future use. It wasn’t until the signing of the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention in April 1997 that all nations agreed to destroy their chemical stockpiles, including the US. The US has destroyed 90% of its chemical stockpiles at a cost of $15.4 billion. Although it missed the UN deadline of destroying all chemical weapons by April 2012, the remaining 10% in Pueblo Colorado and Blue Grass Kentucky are scheduled to be destroyed by the end of 2023. Despite the UN prohibition, chemical weapons continued to be used, mostly by dictators against their own people. In March 1988, Saddam Hussein used them against ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq, killing 3200, and in August 2013, Bashar al-Assad used them against Syrian rebels, killing 1400. Back at home, the greater threat to the American public is an industrial accident. Chlorine is a common industrial chemical commonly transported by trains that not uncommonly derail. In January 2005, 18 freight cars derailed releasing 120,000 pounds of chlorine gas in Graniteville South Carolina. Nine people were killed, 1400 exposed, and 550 treated at hospitals. Chlorine gas, the same chemical used by the Germans at Ypres in World War I, can inflame the lining of the lungs, causing fluid to accumulate and eventually drown their victims. The 1975 Hazardous Materials Transportation Act governs the movement of hazardous materials across the country. The US Department of Transportation lists 3,000 materials subject to regulation. The Department of Transportation also estimates that 5.4 million tons of hazardous materials are transported in 817,000 shipments daily in the US. Although industrial accidents pose the greatest potential threat for domestic chemical incidents, that does not mean that the US has been immune to deliberate chemical attacks by criminals. In 2018, ricin was detected in letters mailed to the Pentagon, Congress, and the White House. Since 9/11, there have been 14 separate attacks in the US employing ricin. Ricin is a poison naturally found in castor beans. Ricin is a waste product from making castor oil. When dried and ground into powder, it can be easily inhaled or otherwise ingested. Ricin inhibits the production of cell proteins. Inhalation can lead to respiratory failure and death. Unlike nuclear and biological agents, DHS does not manage a network of national sensors to detect, track, and monitor the presence or movement of chemical agents. On the contrary, the potential presence of deadly chemical agents is determined through the use of portable detectors carried by State and Local First Responders. Each State and Territory has its own National Guard WMD Civil Support Team, some more for a total of 57 WMD-CSTs. Each team is comprised of 22 full-time Army and Air National Guard personnel. Each WMD-CST is on-call to respond to a suspected CBRN incident, and has the ability to detect and identify different chemical agents. The same is true for HAZMAT units attached to Local fire departments. The three most common hazardous materials encountered by HAZMAT teams are 1) gasoline spills, 2) drug labs, and 3) household cleaning products. Local HAZMAT units are trained to work in special protective gear to identify and remove the threat of known or suspected hazardous materials.