Operational Concerns of Decontamination in Mitigating the Effects of Chemical and Biological Weapons Against Sea Ports
Abstract
Future adversaries could render power projection facilities inoperable through contamination from chemical and biological weapons (CBW) attacks making ineffective much of our current ability to project military power overseas. Seaports of debarkation (SPODs) are key nodes for introducing assets into the theater and are an operational center of gravity that can be a critical vulnerability if attacked by the enemy. They require careful protection and commitment of resources to ensure they are adequately protected and, if attacked, quickly restored to operation. Rapid and effective decontamination is an essential requirement requiring priority attention. The ability to restore an SPOD to partial, if not full, operation may be critical to accomplishing rapid, efficient, and effective deployment of United States forces. Understanding critical vulnerabilities of SPODs to contamination and restoring them through decontamination remains a complex problem for operational commanders. Currently, existing United States military doctrine is deficient in providing operational level CBW decontamination capabilities and procedures. While there is no doubt that revolutionary change in decontamination technology is necessary, the operational commander needs evolutionary change and operational flexibility in joint doctrine, procedures, and responsibilities to meet the decontamination challenges in the face of emerging anti- access problems associated with the proliferation of CBW. Only through the consistency of Joint doctrine, will DoD improve operational decontamination capabilities timely and responsively in support of global force projection.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 13, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA410947
Entities
People
- Greg D. Olson
Organizations
- Naval War College