U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO OCPW MAKES STATEMENT TO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING ON SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

Statement to the Fortieth Meeting of the Executive Council

Remarks

Robert P. Mikulak

U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 

United States Delegation to the Executive Council

The Hague, Netherlands

May 8, 2014

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Mr. Chairman, Mr. Director-General, distinguished delegates,

Last Tuesday many of us gathered a few meters away from this meeting room to observe the Annual Remembrance Day for Victims of Chemical Warfare. It is equally fitting that we meet here today, and as many times as it takes, to ensure that there are no more victims of chemical warfare in Syria, and that the Syrian chemical weapons program is completely and irreversibly eliminated as soon as possible.

The U.S. delegation recognizes the accomplishment of having 92 percent of the declared stockpile removed from Syria. But we also share the strong concern and growing disappointment of many delegations here with the reality that 100 metric tons of chemicals remain in Syria. The 27 metric tons of sarin precursor remaining would be enough to conduct scores of sarin attacks against civilians on the scale of the August 21, 2013, attack. We also are very concerned that the physical destruction of twelve chemical weapons production facilities declared by the regime has not yet begun.

The responsibility to complete the removal and to start destroying those facilities resides solely with Syria. The OPCW as a whole, as well as the United States and other OPCW member states, has undertaken extraordinary efforts to assist Syria. There are steps that Syria could be taking right now to prepare for the final chemical removal operation. While we note news that Syria is “considering positively” taking some steps, it has not yet taken them. The regime's performance -- insufficient and late steps for completing removals, and refusal to negotiate on a destruction plan for its chemical weapons production facilities that meets treaty standards -- is contrary to its obligations as set forth in numerous Executive Council decisions and UN Security Council Resolution 2118.

Furthermore, outstanding questions about the completeness and accuracy of the Syrian declaration are not yet resolved. Tragically, there are several recent credible allegations that chlorine gas was used repeatedly as a chemical weapon. And videos posted on the Internet appear to indicate the use of chlorine gas -- a World War I chemical weapon that inspired the movement to ban all chemical weapons -- in barrel bombs dropped from regime helicopters.

Mr. Chairman,

The OPCW fact-finding team must meaningfully address all credible allegations of the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon in Syria. The Executive Council decision of 27 September 2013 is crystal clear in providing the OPCW fact-finding team with the immediate and unfettered right to inspect any and all sites in Syria. Consistent with this decision, and with UN Security Council Resolution 2118, the United States calls upon all parties in Syria to cooperate fully with the fact-finding team and provide OPCW personnel with immediate and unfettered access to all sites where there are credible allegations that toxic chemicals have been used as a chemical weapon. They must also allow immediate and unfettered access to individuals whom the OPCW has grounds to believe are of importance to this mandate. Just as the world investigated the use of sarin against opposition neighborhoods of Damascus on August 21, 2013, the world must look into allegations of the use of chlorine gas against opposition villages in the north as well. The United States strongly supports the Director-General’s action to send a team to determine the facts, and we look forward to hearing the results and will be ready to consider any appropriate next steps.

At the same time, the regime must immediately take steps to transport the remaining one hundred metric tons of Priority 1 and Priority 2 chemicals to the port of Latakia. As both the UN Secretary General and the OPCW-UN Joint Mission have made clear, the security situation is cause to complete the removal more rapidly, not more slowly. It is Syria's responsibility to find ways to deliver these final materials to Latakia as rapidly as possible.

At the 29 April meeting of this Council, the United States underscored the importance, as a matter of good faith, of "the need to see immediate and tangible signs that Syria intends to transport, in the very near future, the remaining chemicals from the last site." They should have included such steps as: on-site destruction of the remaining isopropanol; pre-positioning transport equipment; decanting chemicals; packing and site preparations; and maintaining readiness at the port of Latakia to receive the chemicals. It has been almost ten days and the regime has undertaken almost none of these actions despite an active airfield in the immediate proximity that could be used to deliver the material necessary to prepare the chemicals for ground transportation. We need to see immediate action.

Mr. Chairman,

My delegation is ready today, as we have been for weeks, to engage in technical discussions to resolve the concerns that we -- as well as others -- have about Syria's approach to the destruction of its chemical weapons production facilities. However, the Syrian delegation has refused to discuss technical matters with the international community. In fact, Syria seems to consider its destruction plan as a "take-it-or-leave it" document. No questions, no changes. For good reason, under the Chemical Weapons Convention, it is the Council's prerogative to decide if a destruction plan is satisfactory. We are not satisfied with the Syrian plan because we do not believe it meets the Convention's requirements, and we share the concerns expressed by other members of the Council in this regard.

The current situation on this issue, in which Syria refuses to discuss its plan, is highly regrettable and contrary to the spirit of the OPCW. The Council has no hope of ever reaching consensus if Syria refuses even to discuss differences. As a result of Syrian refusal to negotiate directly, the only communication is taking place through the good offices of the Technical Secretariat, which is endeavoring to facilitate an approach that can achieve consensus. But ultimately the member states of the Executive Council must agree to the approach on destruction. The U.S. delegation welcomes the Director-General's efforts to overcome differences on this issue and is cooperating fully with him.

Destruction of chemical weapons production facilities is an essential aspect of the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program. The United States wants to see the destruction accomplished without further delay. Our delegation does not have an inflexible approach and wants to find practical solutions that are consistent with CWC requirements, but we cannot do so if Syria refuses to discuss our questions and refuses to negotiate. We do believe that destruction of hangars could begin soon, while efforts to try to resolve issues regarding the tunnels could be accomplished in parallel. But recognizing Syria's position that there must instead be a package solution, we are also prepared to work hard to find such a solution. We hope that, with the help of the Technical Secretariat and with Syrian cooperation, this Council can find a mutually acceptable approach.

Mr. Chairman,

My statement today has focused on three issues that are most in need of immediate action by Syria. There is another issue that is also very important – resolution of discrepancies in the Syrian declaration. The Director-General has taken a first step that is consistent with UNSCR 2118, the Executive Council decisions and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The United States supports what he has undertaken and looks forward to learning the results so that we can consider appropriate next steps. This issue may take some time to resolve and this Council must continue to pursue it diligently.

Mr. Chairman,

In closing, let me remind the members of this Council that every step Syria has taken toward the elimination of its chemical weapons program has been the result of international pressure, not because of Syria's moral abhorrence to chemical weapons. We must, both as a Council and as the international community, remain steadfast about Syria's obligations until all remaining declared 100 metric tons of chemicals are removed, until the accuracy of Syria's declaration is fully verified, until the chemical weapons production facilities are destroyed, and until all the facts are brought to light regarding the recent allegations of use.

I request that this statement be considered an official document of this meeting of the Council and that it be posted on the OPCW's public website and external server.

SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS TO BE DESTROYED ON AMERICAN-OWNED SHIP

FROM:  DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Army to Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons Aboard Ship
By C. Todd Lopez
Army News Service

PORTSMOUTH, Va. , Jan. 3, 2014 – Some 64 specialists from the Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center are expected to depart for the Mediterranean in about two weeks aboard an American-owned ship, the Cape Ray, to destroy chemical weapons from Syria.

The nearly 650-foot-long ship, now here, will travel to a yet-to-be specified location in the Mediterranean, where it will take on about 700 metric tons of both mustard gas and "DF compound," a component of the nerve agent sarin gas. Specialists will then use two new, recently installed “field deployable hydrolysis systems” to neutralize the chemicals.

Aboard the Cape Ray will be 35 mariners, about 64 chemical specialists from Edgewood, Md., a security team, and a contingent from U.S. European Command. It's expected the operational portion of the mission will take about 90 days.
During a visit here yesterday, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, said preparations began before the United States even knew it was committed to the mission -- or that the mission would ever materialize.

“There was a recognition that something was going to happen in Syria, in all likelihood that would require us to do something with those chemical materials that were known to be there,” he said.

In December 2012, a request was made to determine what could be done if the U.S. was asked to participate in destruction of chemical weapons from Syria.
By the end of January 2013, a team with the Joint Project Manager for Elimination and the Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center had evaluated existing technology and configurations for neutralization of chemical weapons and recommended using the hydrolysis process. Construction of a deployable system began in February, and the first prototype was available in June. A second was available in September.

“We could have waited to see what happened and then reacted to that, or we could have moved out ahead of time and then prepared for what might happen or was likely to happen,” Kendall said. “Fortunately … we took the latter course.”
Aboard the ship, an environmentally sealed tent contains two FDHS units, which will operate 24 hours a day in parallel to complete the chemical warfare agent neutralization mission.

Each unit costs about $5 million and contains built-in redundancy and a titanium-lined reactor for mixing the chemical warfare agents with the chemicals that will neutralize them.

About 130 gallons of mustard gas can be neutralized at a time, over the course of about two hours, for instance, said Adam Baker, with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Edgewood, Md.
The FDHS systems can, depending on the material, process between 5 to 25 metric tons of material a day. With two systems, that means as much as 50 metric tons a day of chemical warfare agents can be destroyed. The mission requires disposal of 700 metric tons of material. But the plan is not to start out on the first day at full speed, Baker said.

“There is a ramp-up period,” he noted. "It's going to be a slow start. We're going to go very deliberately and safely.”

Rob Malone, with the Joint Project Manager for Elimination at Edgewood, Md., said the two chemical warfare agents will be neutralized with reagents such as bleach, water or sodium hydroxide.

“They are doing a chemical hydrolysis process. It brings the chemical agent together with a reagent, another chemical,” Malone said. “It creates a chemical reaction that basically destroys the chemical agent in and of itself.”
The result of that neutralization process will create about 1.5 million gallons of a toxic “effluent” that must be disposed of, but that cannot be used as a chemical weapon. Malone said the effluent is similar to other toxic hazardous compounds that industrial processes generate. There is a commercial market worldwide for disposing of such waste, he noted.

Baker said the effluent will be acidic and will be PH-adjusted to bring it up to “above neutral,” as part of the process. The end result will be a liquid that is caustic, similar to commercial drain openers, he added.

Malone said the operational plan includes a cycle of six days of disposal plus one day for maintenance of the equipment. On board will be about 220 6,600-gallon containers that will hold the reagents used in the disposal process, and will also be used afterward to hold the effluent.

“Everything will be kind of contained on the ship throughout the entire process,” Malone said.

The U.S. has never disposed of chemical weapons on board a ship before. But it has spent years disposing of its own chemical weapons on land, using the same process that the FDHS uses. The chemical process is not new, and neither is the technology. The format, field-deployable, is new, however. The platform, aboard a ship, is also new. These additions to the process have created challenges for the team.

“This has not been done on this platform, not been done at sea,” Baker said. “But it is taking the established operations we've done at several land sites domestically and internationally and is applying them here.”

In the United States, the U.S. military has been destroying its own chemical weapons for years at places like Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and the recently-closed Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ala. Lessons from those facilities and others were used to develop the process that will be used aboard the Cape Ray to destroy Syrian chemical weapons.

The process for disposing of mustard gas was used at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The process for disposing of DF compound was taken from Pine Bluff Arsenal, Baker said. The processes and technologies from those locations were scaled down to make them transportable.

“So there is no mystery about the process,” Kendall said. “It is a slightly different scale that we are doing it at here. We had fixed installations that had hydrolysis units that could do this job. But what we did not have was a ‘transportable, field deployable’ [system], the words we're using for these systems, that could be moved somewhere else.”

Malone, who has 20 years of experience destroying chemical weapons for the United States, said doing on a ship what he has done on land for two decades required some additional thought and effort.

“We had to figure out on the Cape Ray how to operate in three dimensions,” he said. The FHDS systems are inside tents inside the ship, for example. But the chemical weapons may be loaded on the ship on the deck above, and additional materials will be a deck below the FDHS equipment. On land, everything is spread out and on one level, he said.

“That's been the significant challenge and things we've had to overcome to get the Cape Ray ready for deployment,” he said.

Additionally, vibration studies were done to learn how lab equipment would operate on board a ship, he said. And the equipment had to be modified to anchor it into the ship using chains.

The U.S. chemical weapons demilitarization program often handles munitions that contain chemical weapons, such as rockets and projectiles that include a casing and explosive as well as the chemical component.

“That's that part that really limits throughput a lot of time, the de-mating of the explosive from the chemical agent and the body,” Malone said.

But aboard the Cape Ray, the mission will be different. It is not munitions that are being demilitarized, but liquid chemical agents.

“This can be done fairly quickly because all of the material we are receiving are going to be in a bulk configuration,” Malone said. “It's in large vessels, easily accessible, and for us it gives us a very high throughput.”

Rick Jordan, captain of the Cape Ray, a mariner for 40 years and an employee of contractor Keystone Shipping Company, said for this mission his crew expanded from 29 to 35. The additional six will support mainly what he calls “hotel services” on board the ship.

“We've got some really good folks on here that know how to train, and we've been training them,” he said. “They've got all kinds of shipboard damage control, damage control training and that sort of thing.”

He also said there is plenty of support for spill response as well as for fire suppression.

“The whole key here is teamwork,” he said. “There has been an unbelievable amount of teamwork in this whole process, from the Maritime Administration, Military Sealift Command, to the Keystone Shipping Company. I'm humbled by what is going on here. We've had about three or four days of hard training together where we've been making mariners out of them, and they've been making chemical destruction folks out of us. And we're going to continue to train. The whole trip will be a combination of production, training and being ready for the worst case scenario.”

Jordan said he has not yet received sailing orders, but estimated the time to sail to the center of the Mediterranean Sea at about 10 days. The mission will last 90 days.

That 90-day mission has about 45 days built in for “down days” due to bad weather. So the mission could be shorter.

“Weather is the single most important factor as a mariner that I have got to consider,” Jordan said. “The good news for the Cape Ray is we have lots of things to mitigate weather on board.”

He said the ship is equipped with stabilizers to dampen any roll. He also said that because the ship really has no destination, but is rather meant to serve as a platform, he can navigate around weather if need be.

Sea trials for the mission have already begun, and the Cape Ray will do more sea trials before it departs on its mission in about two weeks. It’s expected the mission will include the neutralization of about 700 metric tons of chemical weapon agents. Those agents will be transferred to the Cape Ray from both Danish and Norwegian ships in a process expected to take about one or two days.

“Exactly where and how that process will take place has not been finalized yet,” Kendall said.

U.S. Navy assets will provide security for the ship while it conducts operations, Kendall said.