Photo By Kelly White | Raj Malhotra, center, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity Recovered Chemical...... read more read more
Raj Malhotra began working on chemical weapons stockpile disposal when the program was in its infancy. Thirty-five years later, he remains active in the program, while safeguarding decades of knowledge he and his team have acquired, to prepare the next generation of employees for the future.
As Chief of Mission Support for the Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate at the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA RCMD), Malhotra manages the financial resources, logistics, research and development, testing, and evaluation of the systems used in the safe disposal of chemical weapons recovered from bombing ranges and old burial sites at U.S. military installations. Malhotra also supports Knowledge Management – ensuring information and resources are preserved and used wisely – and he is putting that experience to work at RCMD.
Born in a small town in India, his family frequently relocated for his father’s career. Malhotra’s father bought a house to provide stability for the children, and Malhotra was raised by his grandmother until he went to college. His father, who worked at the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, told his son he would join his parents in Kabul after high school.
“So, after completing my high school, I joined the Engineering College of Kabul University, a program run by a consortium of American universities, but it was my dad’s vision that I would pursue my higher studies in the United States,” he said.
Malhotra applied to several American colleges in 1969. His first acceptance letter came from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. The second arrived a month later from Cornell University, the Ivy League research university in Ithaca, New York.
“When I got admission to Southern Illinois, I got excited. ‘I’m going to Southern Illinois, I’m going to the United States.’ I didn’t have any knowledge about the difference between Cornell and Carbondale, so here I am.”
Malhotra earned a bachelor’s degree in Thermal and Environmental Engineering from Southern Illinois University in 1974, then joined his parents, who had moved to New York. Within a day of his arrival, Malhotra set out to find a job – a task which was easier than expected. His recruiter arranged an interview with Chemical Construction Corporation in New York, and he was asked to start work the following Monday.
Early in his career, chemical engineers were a hot commodity, and Malhotra was recruited from one company to another within the first five years of graduation. Ultimately, he was approached by Environmental Elements Corporation in Baltimore. Although Malhotra was reluctant to leave his family in New York, he accepted the offer.
In late 1982, not long after becoming a U.S. citizen, Malhotra read about the Army’s plans to destroy chemical M55 rockets.
“There was an agency called the United States Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency at APG, and I said, ‘Wow, it would be very exciting to work on that program.’”
Malhotra submitted his application over the Christmas holiday, interviewed in February and was offered a job on the spot. With the ink still fresh on his Master of Administrative Science degree from Johns Hopkins University, Malhotra began his U.S. Army civilian career in March 1983.
He entered federal service when the program to dispose of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile was in an early phase. He supported the design and construction of the BZ Chemical Agent Disposal Facility at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas. He also supported the design and construction of six other chemical agent disposal systems, including the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System on a tiny land mass 800 miles from Hawaii. Malhotra became an Associate Project Manager during construction and systemization of Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah and was selected to be the Site Project Manager of Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon in July 1997, returning to APG when construction of Umatilla was complete in May 2000.
Under the mentorship and guidance of several outstanding leaders at CMA, Malhotra continued to support the mission in various roles. By 2014, CMA had destroyed 90 percent of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile and reorganized, moving Malhotra to what is now RCMD.
RCMD maintains the technology and personnel expertise to continue assessing and destroying recovered chemical warfare materiel around the country. When Malhotra joined the organization, he didn’t have an in-depth understanding of its processes and technology, but credits the tremendous guidance and support provided by CMA leadership with fortifying his “drive to learn and succeed from day one.”
Today, Malhotra supervises an exceedingly talented teams of experts who support Army readiness and modernization through the chemical weapons assessment and destruction technology. He calls his Logistics team “the backbone of any operation,” while his Research, Development, Test and Evaluation experts constantly seek new ways to increase the efficiency of destruction operations.
Many of these experts – “champions,” he calls them – have been in the field for decades, and Malhotra wants to ensure they have talented personnel on-board to pass along their expertise. Years of hiring freezes made him worry people with disposal experience may not be available to backfill vacancies to support safe, environmentally compliant operations.
“Managing our complex projects requires an in-depth understanding and several years of working experience,” he said. “I’m a strong advocate of succession planning, so I’m focused on bringing younger, talented personnel on board so they can learn from the best.”
Malhotra is also a strong supporter of Knowledge Management, a process that documents knowledge from senior team members before they retire. Malhotra once led CMA’s Lessons Learned program, and recognizes its value.
“So, now I’m asking everyone, especially the senior staff, to take time to document their program knowledge before they transfer or retire, so the next generation of leaders can learn from them,” he said. “I would hate to see the decades of knowledge acquired by these people to go away with them.”
As for his own retirement, Malhotra has the same drive and passion for his work as he had on his first day at CMA. He further adds that he would also be retiring in few years.
“People talk about and look forward to retirement, but I believe a person should continue working as long as he or she enjoys it, is contributing, and has good health,” he said. “After spending an entire career in a field a person likes, it becomes a part of his or her DNA. My goal is to ensure that we transition our knowledge and expertise to the next generation of employees, who will continue this important mission."
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2018 07:32 |
| Story ID: | 279898 |
| Location: | ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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