As the Army pivots to battle peers, chemical, biological threats loom
By Todd South
Oct 12, 07:00 AM
A paratrooper assigned to 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment provides perimeter security with an M249 during a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) attack at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, Sept. 12, 2022. (Sgt. Luke Michalski/Army)
For the first time since the beginning of the Iraq War, the threat of chemical, biological and nuclear attacks to military forces at home and abroad has triggered new thinking, new funding and a renewed focus on preparing troops from the Army.
In July, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Deborah Rosenblum told experts at a Baltimore defense industry conference that the entire enterprise needed a serious change.
“We are not going to figure it out as we go,” Rosenblum said. “We need a radical transformation.”
She noted that advances in laboratory technology and widely spread information on how to create and deploy chemical and biological weapons specifically made countering those threats “vastly more difficult” in a “rapidly changing” environment.
A 2022 State Department report on adherence and compliance for arms control noted that China, Russia, North Korea and Iran have demonstrated, or are known to be pursuing, such weapons.
https://www.armytimes.com/home/2022/10/12/as-the-army-pivots-to-battle-peers-chemical-biological-threats-loom/
