JMC Commander Visit to CMA Focuses on Mission, Employees

Photo By Sarah Lobos | Chemical Materials Activity (CMA) Director of Recovered Chemical Materiel Donald R. Benton, right, briefs Col. Gavin J. Gardner, Commander of the Joint Munitions Command and Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command, center, with Kelso C. Horne III, CMA Director, about the Explosive Destruction System (EDS) during a tour at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The EDS destroys chemical warfare materiel in a safe and environmentally sound manner.  

MD, UNITED STATES

03.10.2021

Story by Karen Nikol 

Army Chemical Materials Activity

The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity recently hosted the first visit to CMA Headquarters (HQ) by Col. Gavin J. Gardner, commander of the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command (JMC) and Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command, highlighting CMA’s mission and discussing those that will continue into the future.

Kelso C. Horne III, CMA director, hosted the visit, which also included the first trip to CMA HQ by Lt. Col. Edward Williams, commander of Blue Grass Chemical Activity (BGCA) at Blue Grass Army Depot, Kentucky, one of two remaining stockpile storage locations. Attending virtually was Pueblo Chemical Depot (PCD) Commander Col. Michael Cobb and members of his staff, from their location at the Colorado stockpile location.

Gardner’s visit coincided with CMA’s quarterly Readiness, Operations and Closure (ROC) meeting, which updates information about CMA’s mission, stockpile destruction and transition plans when destruction is complete.

CMA’s stockpile locations provide safe, secure storage and transportation of the chemical weapons stockpile to the destruction plants responsible for chemical demilitarization. CMA HQ also coordinates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for emergency preparedness with communities near the stockpile sites under the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program.

The JMC commander emphasized the need to provide transparent communication to the workforce on progress toward the indicated milestones for closure, including the critical need to assist personnel with career planning that supports their goals.

“CMA’s challenge is defining mission set and quantifying what that means for the intellectual support that is required for the future of CMA Headquarters,” Gardner said. “My goal is to establish what I can do, as the JMC commander, to enable you to be successful, as you determine individual employee aspirations and goals for the future.”

Horne added, “from the perspective of a former military and now a civilian employee, I know firsthand that people are the Army’s number one priority. Our focus at CMA is to ensure that when the stockpile destruction mission ends, each dedicated government employee who contributed to that success has a path for the future.”

CMA missions that will continue after stockpile destruction is complete include managing the international treaty chemical weapon obligations, maintaining the database that tracks the quantity, location and destruction status of chemical warfare materiel (CWM), and assessing and destroying recovered CWM.

Gardner received a close look at the capabilities of CMA’s Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate (RCMD), which is responsible for funding and managing the assessment of recovered items that may contain CWM, safe storage and destruction of items determined to contain CWM, and disposal of resulting hazardous waste. That complex mission requires coordination with numerous stakeholders, including other government organizations, state and federal regulatory agencies and the public.

“CMA RCMD is the central source of this expertise in the Department of Defense,” said Donald R. Benton, RCMD director. “Maintaining this mission, including the funding and expertise required, is a critical role that will continue into the future.”

Also required is dedicated funding for an in-house Research, Development, Test and Evaluation program, to continue the proactive modernization efforts that maintain Army readiness to destroy recovered CWM, Benton added.

Readiness matters in CMA’s personnel as well. Transition specialists at PCD, BGCA and CMA HQ are working with employees to determine their interests, whether it’s retirement, supporting CMA’s continuing mission, working for JMC or other Army Materiel Command entities, or finding employment with other areas of the Department of Defense, other federal organizations or private industry, Horne said.

• Date Taken: 03.10.2021
• Date Posted: 03.23.2021 10:56
• Story ID: 392047
• Location: MD, US