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Chemical Weapons: Sustained Leadership, Along With Key Strategic Management Tools, Is Needed to Guide DOD's Destruction Program

GAO-03-1031 Published: Sep 05, 2003. Publicly Released: Sep 05, 2003.
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Highlights

Congress expressed concerns about the Chemical Demilitarization Program cost and schedule, and its management structure. In 2001, the program underwent a major reorganization. Following a decade long trend of missed schedule milestones, in September 2001, the Department of Defense (DOD) revised the schedule, which extended planned milestones and increased program cost estimates beyond the 1998 estimate of $15 billion to $24 billion. GAO was asked to (1) examine the effect that recent organization changes have had on program performance and (2) assess the progress DOD and the Army have made in meeting the revised 2001 cost and schedule and Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) deadlines.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Army, to develop an overall strategy and implementation plan for the chemical demilitarization program that would articulate a program mission statement.
Closed – Implemented
OSD's Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics jointly with the Army prepared the Strategic Plan for the Destruction of Lethal Chemical Agents and Munitions dated April 2005 and the U.S Army Chemical Materials Agency Strategic Plan (original dated July 2005 and updated September 2006) contain the program's mission statement.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Army, to develop an overall strategy and implementation plan for the chemical demilitarization program that would identify the program's long-term goals and objectives.
Closed – Implemented
OSD's Undersecretary of Defense for Acquistion, Technology and Logistics jointly with the Army prepared the Strategic Plan for the Destruction of Lethal Chemical Agents and Munitions dated April 2005 and the U.S Army Chemical Materials Agency Strategic Plan (orginal dated July 2005 and updated September 2006) contain the program's long term goals and objectives
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Army, to develop an overall strategy and implementation plan for the chemical demilitarization program that would delineate the roles and responsibilities of all DOD and Army offices.
Closed – Implemented
OSD's Undersecretary of Defense for Acquistion, Technology and Logistics jointly with the Army prepared the Strategic Plan for the Destruction of Lethal Chemical Agents and Munitions dated April 2005 contain the roles and responsibilities of OSD and Army offices and the U.S Army Chemical Materials Agency Management Plan which complements CMA's July 2005 and September 2006 Strategic Plan contains the roles and responsibilities of Chemical Material Agency organizations.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Army, to develop an overall strategy and implementation plan for the chemical demilitarization program that would establish near-term performance measures.
Closed – Implemented
TheChemical Demilitarization Program (CDP) Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Annual Performance Plan (APP)dated September 2006 applies to the three CDP Major Defense Acquisition Programs: Chem Demil-Chemical Materials Agency (CMA), Chem Demil-CMA Newport, and Chem Demil-Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives and provides short-term goals and objectives for the CMA and the Program Manager ACWA (PM ACWA). The plan for FY 07 includes program-wide objectives, site-specific objectives for the eight U.S. stockpile chemical agent disposal facilities, and specific objectives for the Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project. The APP is expected to be revised annually to measure progress toward the long-term goals of the program. The Chemical Demilitarization fiscal year 2007 annual performance plan provides the annual performance goals and the CMA Balanced Scorecard contains the progress being made against various program measures. The annual performance plans is also used to generate annual performance results reported in the Office of Management and Budget Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Army, to implement a risk management approach that anticipates and influences internal and external factors that could adversely impact program performance.
Closed – Implemented
After several drafts extending over several years, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency Integrated Risk Management Plan dated May 2006 was approved and establishes the overarching risk management policy and strategy applicable to most elements of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA). The plan responds to Department of Defense requirements for formal risk management processes on major acquisition programs, as well as to external oversight reviews and specific requests from Program Manager for the Elimination of Chemical Weapons and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for the Elimination of Chemical Weapons.

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Topics

Chemical exposureChemical warfareChemical weaponsCost overrunsInternational agreementsProgram evaluationProgram managementSchedule slippagesChemical weapons disposalU.S. Army