Questions on Response to Task 3657, Biological Warfare (BW) Employment
Filename:0pgv084.91p
RESPONDS TO TASK 3A657
PASS TO THE ITF OPS OFFICER
01/24/91 1000 SENT BY: [ (b)(6) ]
Questions on Response to Task 3657, Biological Warfare (BW)
Employment
1. What happens to submunitions? Are they scattered?
Destroyed? What?
A. The Patriot doesn't detonate the missile. It
punches holes in the outside of the warhead. This will release
the submunitions, but over a much smaller area than if the warhead
had functioned normally. They are most likely not destroyed. The
Patriot isn't going to vaporize them, so they'll likely just fall
to the ground.
2. No effort is make to differentiate discrete effects
on various agents. Are there any? Or are the effects similar on
all warheads?
A. This sort of technical specificity is the province
of the Army. DIA and the rest of the Intelligence Community
doesn't have models for agent dispersion. Those are maintained by
Army (CRDEC). Suggest this question also be put to them. There
will definitely be different rates of deposition and evaporation
for the agents likely to be in the warhead. First response didn't
attempt to give more than a general feel for what would happen,
since accurate prediction by anybody is impossible. We won't know
until it happens what the intercept altitude will be, or the
content of the warhead. Generally, mustard will settle out a
little more than nerve agent. Among nerve agents, GF is the
expected agent; GB could also be weaponized, but would be largely
dissipated before hitting the ground.
3. At one point the paper notes that intercepts do not
destroy chemical agents, but states that at very high altitudes an
intercept may result in no contamination. What gives?
A. Reread paragraph 5.c. What happens is that at high
altitudes the agent doesn't settle out, but is sucked into the
upper atmosphere where it may kill a few birds but little else.
The reason that there's no contamination is that the amount
deposited is too small to be measured.
4. What effect does the Patriot have on the warhead
itself? The paper implies it simply blasts holes in it, but CNN
coverage clearly shows an explosion. Does the SCUD explode or
does the agent simply dribble out?
A. Re-read paragraph 5.a. The Patriot is not a flying
furnace that would destroy the chemical or biological agent in the
warhead. Its effect would be much like puncturing a water
balloon, with the contents not under pressure. The agent is not
destroyed, but just released.
5. The real question here seems to be should the
missile be attacked with Patriot if we know it has a chemical or
biological warhead. Definitely yes, it should be prevented from
normal function. The Patriot will at a minimum reduce the effects
of any type of warhead, but may not necessarily eliminate it.
Should consider asking the civil population to remain masked for a
few minutes after destruction to be sure not chemical was
deposited. Also should confer with CRDEC to correlate intercept
altitude with agent and weather information. Chemical monitors
could be set up in the probable target areas to determine if any
deposition has taken place.
6. POC is [ (b)(6) ]
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
