Biden announces US chemical weapons stockpile destroyed

The US reached a disarmament milestone decades in the making on Friday with the destruction of the final remaining munition in its chemical weapons stockpile, President Biden said in a statement.

“For more than 30 years, the United States has worked tirelessly to eliminate our chemical weapons stockpile. Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munition in that stockpile — bringing us one step closer to a world free from the horrors of chemical weapons,” read a statement from Biden, 80, issued by the White House on Friday. 

The last remaining munition in the obsolete US arsenal was a sarin nerve agent-filled M55 rocket, which was destroyed Friday at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, according to the Pentagon. 

“Successive administrations have determined that these weapons should never again be developed or deployed, and this accomplishment not only makes good on our long-standing commitment under the Chemical Weapons Convention, it marks the first time an international body has verified destruction of an entire category of declared weapons of mass destruction,” Biden said. “I am grateful to the thousands of Americans who gave their time and talents to this noble and challenging mission for more than three decades.”

In 1986, Congress mandated the destruction of the entire US chemical weapons stockpile, which at its peak comprised more than 30,000 tons of chemical warfare agents in munitions and bulk containers. 

The effort to safely destroy the US chemical weapon stockpile began in 1990. 

Over the years, additional legislation has required the Pentagon to explore ways to destroy chemical weapons by means other than incineration.

A joint-venture team led by Bechtel National, Inc. and Parsons Corporation destroyed the final remaining munition in Kentucky Friday by using “neutralization and explosive destruction technologies,” which have been deployed to eliminate more than 100,000 mustard agent and nerve agent-filled projectiles and nerve agent-filled rockets in the Bluegrass State since June of 2019, according to the Pentagon.

“Today — as we mark this significant milestone — we must also renew our commitment to forging a future free from chemical weapons,” Biden’s statement continued. “I continue to encourage the remaining nations to join the Chemical Weapons Convention so that the global ban on chemical weapons can reach its fullest potential.”

The president also urged some US adversaries to become compliant with the weapons treaty and criticized the deployment of chemical weapons by their armed forces.

“Russia and Syria should return to compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and admit their undeclared programs, which have been used to commit brazen atrocities and attacks. We will continue to stand with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to prevent the stockpiling, production, and use of chemical weapons around the world. And together with our partners, we will not stop until we can finally and forever rid the world of this scourge,” Biden said. 

The milestone comes on the same day the president decided to include controversial and widely banned cluster munitions in a new military aid package to Ukraine. 

Cluster munitions are powerful artillery shells that scatter dozens of smaller explosive submunitions over a wider area, increasing lethality as they spread out to hit multiple targets, similar to pellets spreading from a single shotgun shell.

Two-thirds of NATO alliance members — including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Czech Republic — have banned the munitions because of the weapon’s ugly track record for causing civilian casualties.