Conduct of chemical and biological defense program

The Secretary of Defense shall carry out the chemical and biological defense program of the United States in accordance with the provisions of this section. Assign responsibility for overall coordination and integration of the chemical and biological warfare defense program and the chemical and biological medical defense program to a single office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Take those actions necessary to ensure close and continuous coordination between (A) the chemical and biological warfare defense program, and (B) the chemical and biological medical defense program. Exercise oversight over the chemical and biological defense program through the Defense Acquisition Board process. The Secretary of Defense shall designate the Army as executive agent for the Department of Defense to coordinate and integrate research, development, test, and evaluation, and acquisition, requirements of the military departments for chemical and biological warfare defense programs of the Department of Defense. The Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency may conduct a program of basic and applied research and advanced technology development on chemical and biological warfare defense technologies and systems. In conducting such program, the Director shall seek to avoid unnecessary duplication of the activities under the program with chemical and biological warfare defense activities of the military departments and defense agencies and shall coordinate the activities under the program with those of the military departments and defense agencies. The budget for the Department of Defense for each fiscal year after fiscal year 1994 shall reflect a coordinated and integrated chemical and biological defense program for the Department of Defense. Funding requests for the program (other than for activities under the program conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under subsection (c)(2)) shall be set forth in the budget of the Department of Defense for each fiscal year as a separate account, with a single program element for each of the categories of research, development, test, and evaluation, acquisition, and military construction. Amounts for military construction projects may be set forth in the annual military construction budget. Funds for military construction for the program in the military construction budget shall be set forth separately from other funds for military construction projects. Funding requests for the program may be included in the budget accounts of the military departments. The program conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under subsection (c)(2) shall be set forth as a separate program element in the budget of that agency. All funding requirements for the chemical and biological defense program shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Army as executive agent pursuant to subsection (c). research, development, test, and evaluation; procurement; doctrine development; policy; training; development of requirements; readiness; and risk assessment. Not later than May 1, 1994, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that describes the details of measures being taken to improve joint coordination and oversight of the program and ensure a coherent and effective approach to its management. The Secretary of Defense shall develop a plan to address the recommendations in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s report entitled ‘Preparedness of U.S. Forces to Counter North Korean Chemical and Biological Weapons’ (GAO–21–104C). a summary of actions that have been or will be taken to implement the recommendation; and a schedule, with specific milestones, for completing implementation of the recommendation. Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act [Jan. 1, 2021], the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees [Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives] the plan required under subsection (a). Except as provided in paragraph (2), not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall carry out activities to implement the plan developed under subsection (a). The Secretary of Defense may initiate implementation of a recommendation in the report described in subsection (a)(1) after the date specified in paragraph (1) if the Secretary provides the congressional defense committees with a specific justification for the delay in implementation of such recommendation on or before such date. a specific justification for the decision not to implement the recommendation; and a summary of alternative actions the Secretary plans to take to address the conditions underlying the recommendation.” The Secretary of Defense shall review the policies and doctrines of the Department of Defense on chemical warfare defense and modify the policies and doctrine as appropriate to achieve the objectives set forth in subsection (b). a single exposure to the agent; other potentially toxic substances in the environment, including pesticides, other insect and vermin control agents, and environmental pollutants; low-grade nuclear and electromagnetic radiation present in the environment; preventive medications (that are dangerous when taken concurrently with other dangerous exposures referred to in this paragraph); diesel fuel, jet fuel, and other hydrocarbon-based fuels; and occupational hazards, including battlefield hazards; and repeated exposures to the agent, or some combination of one or more exposures to the agent and other dangerous exposures referred to in subparagraph (B), over time. the prevention of and protection against, and the detection (including confirmation) of, exposures to a chemical warfare agent (whether intentional or inadvertent) at levels that, even if not sufficient to endanger health immediately, are greater than the level that is recognized under Department of Defense policies as being the maximum safe level of exposure to that agent for the general population; and the recording, reporting, coordinating, and retaining of information on possible exposures described in subparagraph (A), including the monitoring of the health effects of exposures on humans and animals, environmental effects, and ecological effects, and the documenting and reporting of those effects specifically by location. To provide solutions for the concerns and mission requirements that are specifically applicable for one or more of the Armed Forces in a protracted conflict when exposures to chemical agents could be complex, dynamic, and occurring over an extended period. The Secretary of Defense shall develop and carry out a plan to establish a research program for determining the effects of exposures to chemical warfare agents of the type described in subsection (b). The research shall be designed to yield results that can guide the Secretary in the evolution of policy and doctrine on exposures to chemical warfare agents and to develop new risk assessment methods and instruments with respect to such exposures. The plan shall state the objectives and scope of the program and include a 5-year funding plan. Each modification of chemical warfare defense policy and doctrine resulting from the review. Any recommended legislation regarding chemical warfare defense. The plan for the research program.” the threat of the use of chemical and biological weapons by Third World countries and by terrorist organizations has increased in recent years and is now a problem of worldwide significance; the military and law enforcement agencies in the United States that are responsible for responding to the use of such weapons require additional testing, training, and evaluation facilities to ensure that the personnel of such agencies discharge their responsibilities effectively; and a facility that recreates urban and suburban locations would provide an especially effective environment in which to test, train, and evaluate such personnel for that purpose. The President shall establish an interagency task force to determine the feasibility and advisability of establishing a facility that recreates both an urban environment and a suburban environment in such a way as to permit the effective testing, training, and evaluation in such environments of government personnel who are responsible for responding to the use of chemical and biological weapons in the United States. facilities common to urban environments (including a multistory building and an underground rail transit system) and to suburban environments; the capacity to produce controllable releases of chemical and biological agents from a variety of urban and suburban structures, including laboratories, small buildings, and dwellings; the capacity to produce controllable releases of chemical and biological agents into sewage, water, and air management systems common to urban areas and suburban areas; chemical and biocontaminant facilities at the P3 and P4 levels; the capacity to test and evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of protective clothing and facilities and survival techniques in urban areas and suburban areas; and the capacity to test and evaluate the effectiveness of variable sensor arrays (including video, audio, meteorological, chemical, and biosensor arrays) in urban areas and suburban areas. be under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Defense; and be located at a principal facility of the Department of Defense for the testing and evaluation of the use of chemical and biological weapons during any period of armed conflict.” potential terrorist use of chemical or biological agents or weapons; and emergencies or natural disasters involving industrial chemicals or the widespread outbreak of disease.” In carrying out his responsibilities under this section, the Secretary of Defense shall do the following: The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a review of the management structure of the Department of Defense chemical and biological warfare defense program, including— The plan required under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to each recommendation in the report described in paragraph (1) that the Secretary of Defense has implemented or intends to implement, include— The Secretary of Defense may decide not to implement a recommendation in the report described in subsection (a)(1) if the Secretary provides to the congressional defense committees, on or before the date specified in paragraph (1)— The objectives for the modification of policies and doctrines of the Department of Defense on chemical warfare defense are as follows: To provide for adequate protection of personnel from any exposure to a chemical warfare agent (including chronic and low-level exposure to a chemical warfare agent) that would endanger the health of exposed personnel because of the deleterious effects of— exposure to the agent concurrently with other dangerous exposures, such as exposures to— To provide for— Not later than May 1, 1999, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives [now Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives] a report on the results of the review under subsection (a) and on the research program developed under subsection (c). The report shall include the following: The Congress finds that— The facility considered under subparagraph (A) shall include— It is the sense of Congress that the facility considered under subparagraph (A) shall, if established— (Source: (Pub. L. 103–160, div. A, title XVII, § 1701, Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1853; Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title II, § 228, Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2460; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title X, § 1047, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 392.))