The Army's program to destroy the nation's chemical weapons stockpile received a failing grade in President Bush's budget plan released this week.
The 2003 budget, which for the first time publishes evaluations of government agencies and select programs alongside spending proposals, called the chemical demilitarization program "ineffective" because of a 60 percent cost increase estimate and delays stemming from "unrealistic schedules, site safety and environmental concerns, and poor planning."
The program, charged with the destruction of chemical munitions at nine sites, including the Anniston Army Depot, as well as non-stockpile weapons sprinkled among the nation's military bases, was one of nine programs assessed for the defense-spending portion of the $2.13 trillion plan sent to Congress Monday.
The criticism is part of a defense budget bursting with new spending initiatives to foot the bill for the two-pronged war against terrorism. The president seeks to raise military spending by $48 billion for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
How the grade will affect the Army's $1.5 billion request for the disposal of chemical weapons is unclear, as it comes at the beginning of the long, contentious process of shaping the federal budget. The president's proposal traditionally acts only as a starting point for the two congressional appropriations committees whose final bills may differ greatly from the president's original desires.
Officials from the Pentagon and chemical demilitarization headquarters declined to comment in detail on the assessment because of uncertainty as to its author.
However, a spokesman for the project manager for chemical demilitarization said the program would adapt to any changes that are ordered.
"Our job is to safely and effectively destroy the stockpile, and we'll do the best job we can given the budgets we're given," said Greg Mahall, the spokesman.
The assessment, meted out in blunt, concise language, caps a year in which the program was questioned in congressional hearings, had its oversight changed, and saw its estimated cost jump from $15 billion to $24 billion.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said the grade comes as no surprise.
"The history of this program has been an ongoing saga of cost overruns, schedule slippages and safety concerns," he said.
Last April, Shelby participated in a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in which the head of the program, James Bacon, was questioned on these shortcomings. Shortly thereafter, the program was moved into the office of the Secretary of Defense.
"The administration has identified precisely the same problems we have been raising for more than 15 years - the program is unsafe, environmentally unsound and mismanaged," said Craig Williams, head of the anti-incineration Chemical Weapons Working Group and a participant in the senate hearing.
Operating under an international treaty that mandates the destruction of the nation's chemical munitions by 2007, the Army has built an incinerator to destroy the more than 2,000 tons of chemical weapons stockpiled at the Anniston depot. Completed last summer, the incinerator now is undergoing a period of testing and is expected to begin burning chemical agent this year.
