Army Chemical Review

WINTER 2016

Army Chemical Review presents professional information about Chemical Corps functions related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, smoke, flame, and civil support operations.

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Army Chemical Review 26 complex, and commanders may loathe adding another re- quirement to training scenarios already clouded with tactics, techniques, and procedures; standard operating procedures; and tertiary objectives. Serious thought and emphasis needs to be put into identifying and propagating practical tech- niques for avoiding contamination in urban environments. Taking advantage of containment techniques and materials that are readily available for decontamination could have helped provide solutions for several of these events. CBRN subject matter experts must ensure that they are also taking a holistic view of threats and hazards. Responding to near and far threats from all directions improves survivability. In order to do this, non-CBRN Soldiers need to be educated in all types of threats and hasty protective measures that arise in MOUT scenarios. The days of large, air-bursting munitions that slowly drift toward friendly lines are gone. Modern threats are small, surgical releases that emphasize tactical advantages and rely on surprise and subterfuge. 8 Al- though the defense community needs to take a hard look at how CBRN scenarios are incorporated into training, it is not alone. However, several of the attacks on civilian popula- tions indicate that first responders also presented with the same symptoms as the victims. The same patterns of missed indicators and a lack of mitigation efforts were present in these incidents, as well as those found in the military forces. 9 The civilian populace should expect more confusion and dis- order than military units; however, these attacks occurred after other documented attacks. There should be discussions among incident response professionals in this country about how to educate the public on indicators of chemical attacks. Furthermore, there is the problem of the first responders not recognizing the risks to themselves. While it may be suspected that Syrian emergency services are less equipped with personal protective equipment, emergency response planners in the United States need to heed this warning and reinventory their organizations. Emergency response plan- ners should ensure that they have applicable training in threat recognition and the appropriate equipment for dedi- cated hazmat units and first responders. While military and civilian responders should ponder these discussion points, the reports provide concrete evi- dence of forensic sampling. UN mission sampling and in- terview techniques, standard operating procedures, and analysis resources are extremely well documented. 10 While positive environmental samples were obtained, their re- liability was difficult to ascertain due to the disruption of sites before the sampling teams could access them. Biomedi- cal sampling of alleged victims provided the most consistent evidence-gathering technique, especially when coupled with eye witnesses. The reports also cite the professionalism and quality of training that technicians had received as key fac- tors in gathering solid evidence. A strict chain of custody was also followed. It is clear that, at the technician level, a large array of skills and situational awareness are neces- sary to extract the usable data. The highly technical world of CBRN forensics calls for individuals with highly specialized knowledge and a unique set of skills. It is imperative that they use their experience and knowledge to prioritize evi- dence and link it together. This ability contributed greatly to the success of the UN mission and serves as a great teaching point for the CBRN forensics community. The tragedies of the Syrian civil war must be considered by the modern defense community as an example by which our CBRN defense techniques can be evaluated. Since the introduction of chemical weapons on the battlefield, we have seen few uses with which to compare our modern supposi- tions. This scarcity of examples must not be used to fuel complacency. Nearly every military process or system calls for continuous assessment and perhaps none more so than CBRN tactics, techniques, and procedures. In the introduc- tion of the anthology, War in the Age of Technology: Myriad Faces of Modern , the authors observe that "modern technology has made armies, wars, and their effects increasingly complicated and unpredictable . . ." 11 Perhaps the CBRN community can use these historical examples to remove some of the unpredictability. Endnotes: 1 "United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic," Final Report, 13 December 2013, , accessed on 12 October 2016. 2 United Nations General Assembly Security Council, "Re- port of the United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations on the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic on the Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in the Ghouta Area of Damascus on 21 August 2013," 16 September 2013. 3 There were other uses of dedicated CWA agents during de- clared combat in the 20th century, notably the German bombing of Warsaw in 1939 and the Japanese use of lewisite in China. These events are not as thoroughly documented by modern sci- entific standards, nor do they represent as common a tactic as was seen in Syria between 2012 and 2015. 4 "United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic," p. 6. 5 Ibid, pp. 7–8. 6 Ibid, p. 71. 7 Ibid, p. 52. 8 Several of the attacks involved rocket-borne CWAs that were fired following rocket barrages to disguise the attacks and soften intended targets for maximum exposure of occupants. Improvised explosive devices and air-dropped munitions were also used on specific pieces of key terrain. There were several reports of canisters being into an area by catapults during one incident. This demonstrates a small sliver of the delivery means to which a military force is vulnerable in urban terrain. 9 United Nations General Assembly Security Council. 10 "United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic," pp. 22–27. 11 Geoffrey Jensen and Andrew Wiest, War in the Age of Tech- nology: Myriad Faces of Modern , New York Uni- versity Press, New York 2001, p. 14. Captain is currently a student at the U.S. School (USACBRNS). He will be assigned to the 48th CBRN Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas. He holds a bachelor's degree the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, - ter's degree in Webster Uni- versity.

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