Part 2
Teams of Experts to Hunt Iraq Arms
(Page 2 of 2)
The Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is charged with carrying out the military's plans for its weapons hunt, has printed some 9,000 booklets to help front-line troops identify suspect facilities and dangerous chemicals, germs and other materials.
The booklets, small enough to be tucked away in a soldier's pocket and printed on sturdy waterproof paper, also instruct soldiers about how to handle such dangerous material, and outline proper procedures for isolating and securing such sites.
Administration officials said there were still no precise estimates of the mission's scope or how much it would ultimately cost.
"We are doing the most careful planning we can in light of the large number of unknowns," said Douglas J. Feith, under secretary of defense for policy. "People who are demanding precision now are being unrealistic."
Defense Department officials describe the effort as unique. The plans draw upon lessons learned from the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, where for example, a mobile lab was first deployed at some 60 sites. But the officials say they have never before undertaken such an ambitious "search and destroy" mission for unconventional weapons.
"We're going to hit some dry holes; they know we're coming," said Lisa Bronson, assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, whose office is overseeing the project.
The plans, officials stressed, are still evolving. Defense officials said they were told only in December to draw up plans to "rapidly disable" unconventional weapons production and storage sites. And the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was officially charged with responsibility for carrying out the mission only about two weeks ago.
The White House and defense planners decided less than three weeks ago that it could be useful to include former international arms inspectors on the military teams. A formal decision to do so has still not been made. But five inspectors, all of whom asked not to be identified, said they were asked about joining the mission within the last 10 days. A few of them said they were still trying to get their employers' permission to join the mission.
Though the White House officially blessed the outlines of the mission about eight weeks ago, planning for the hunt began at the Pentagon last July, officials said. In August, the Pentagon-operated National Defense University in Washington held a secret meeting to consider how best to go about disarming Iraq. In September, former inspectors of the old Unscom met with officials from several Pentagon offices, including the Central Command in Tampa, Fla., to discuss the lessons learned from the inspectors' eight-year effort to disarm Iraq of unconventional weapons.
Senior officials said the disarmament teams included veterans of the Cooperative Threat Reduction programs that worked to disarm former Soviet germ, chemical and nuclear weapons facilities. Other experts have investigated Iraqi weapons programs as intelligence analysts for a decade. Others are seasoned chemists, biologists and other experts experienced in sampling and modern lab techniques. Still others are linguists and students of Iraqi and Arab culture.
"You can't send amateurs to do this job," an official said.
Tension persists, however, between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon over how intelligence and technical experts should be used. The Pentagon has been given the lead in hunting for Iraqi weapons, but C.I.A. experts will not be included in the mobile exploitation teams, officials said, and will have a separate effort.
White House and Pentagon policy planners say disarming Iraq will involve four basic stages, the first two while the fighting is still under way. At first, sites, documents and scientists will be quickly assessed for information that can protect troops and civilians. The second stage will focus on securing and disabling weapons sites.
The third and fourth stages will prepare sites for destruction or long-term monitoring. |
