CHEMICAL WEAPONS: DoD Does Not Have a Strategy to Address Low-Level Exposures

摘要

Members of Congress have raised concerns regarding the adequacy of Department of Defense (DOD) policy, doctrine, and technology to identify, prepare for, and defend troops against the possible adverse effects of exposure to low-level chemical warfare agents. We examined DOD's approach for addressing U.S. troop exposures to low levels of chemical warfare agents. Specifically, we (1) determined the extent that DOD doctrine addresses exposures to low levels of chemical warfare agents; (2) evaluated the extent that research addresses the performance and health effects of exposures to low levels of chemical warfare agents, either in isolation or combination with other agents and contaminants that would be likely found on the battlefield; and (3) identified the portion of resources in DOD's chemical and biological defense research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) program explicitly directed at low-level chemical warfare agent exposures.