War of Nerves Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgments

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  PROLOGUE - LIVE-AGENT TRAINING

  CHAPTER ONE - THE CHEMISTRY OF WAR

  CHAPTER TWO - IG FARBEN

  CHAPTER THREE - PERVERTED SCIENCE

  CHAPTER FOUR - TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

  CHAPTER FIVE - FIGHT FOR THE SPOILS

  CHAPTER SIX - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

  CHAPTER SEVEN - BUILDING THE STOCKPILE

  CHAPTER EIGHT - CHEMICAL ARMS RACE

  CHAPTER NINE - AGENT VENOMOUS

  CHAPTER TEN - YEMEN AND AFTER

  CHAPTER ELEVEN - INCIDENT AT SKULL VALLEY

  CHAPTER TWELVE - NEW FEARS

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN - BINARY DEBATE

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN - SILENT SPREAD

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN - PEACE AND WAR

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN - WHISTLE-BLOWER

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - THE TOKYO SUBWAY

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - THE EMERGING THREAT

  EPILOGUE - TOWARD ABOLITION

  NOTES

  GLOSSARY

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  About the Author

  ALSO BY JONATHAN B. TUCKER

  Copyright Page

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am deeply grateful to the following individuals who reviewed part or all of the draft manuscript and provided valuable comments: Gordon Burck, Dawson Cagle, William C. Dee, Sigmund R. Eckhaus, John A. Gilbert, Olivier Lepick, David E. Kaplan, Ron G. Manley, Robert P. Mikulak, Vil Mirzayanov, Michael Moodie, John Ellis van Courtland Moon, Colonel Jonathan Newmark, Julian Perry Robinson, Barbara Seiders, Ralf Trapp, Mark L. Wheelis, and Jonathan Winer. Any errors of omission or commission that remain are clearly my responsibility.

  Julian Perry Robinson deserves special thanks for making available his unparalleled archive of news clippings at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England.

  Jeffrey K. Smart, the Chief Historian at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was extremely helpful in identifying U.S. government documents relevant to the history of the U.S. nerve agent program. Deborah A. Dennis, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer in the Office of the Chief Counsel at the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, efficiently expedited the process of review, redaction, and public release of formerly classified U.S. government documents.

  Sigmund Eckhaus generously granted me access to his collection of historical photographs, many of which are reproduced in this volume.

  I am also grateful to the staffs of the U.S. National Archives and the Military History Institute at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for help with archival research.

  Finally, my sincere thanks for support and encouragement go to Victoria Wilson; her assistant, Zachary Wagman; Martha Kaplan, my literary agent; and my parents, Deborah and Leonard Tucker.

  Jonathan B. Tucker

  Washington, D.C.

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  5 Soldier during a chemical defense training exercise (United States Army)

  43 Otto Ambros (National Archives)

  98 The principal officers of IG Farben on trial at Nuremberg (National Archives)

  100 Chief prosecutor Telford Taylor at Nuremberg (AP/Wide World Photos)

  104 Edgewood Arsenal in the late 1950s (United States Army)

  114 Dr. Walther Schieber (National Archives)

  131 The Phosphate Development Works at Muscle Shoals, Alabama (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  131 Production plant for phosphorous trichloride at Muscle Shoals (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  132 Plant for the Step 1 process in dichlor production at Muscle Shoals (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  136 North Plants complex at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  137 Blockhouse containing the final steps of the Sarin production process at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (United States Army)

  137 Soldiers guarding Sarin-filled containers at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  140 An M34 aircraft-delivered cluster bomb (United States Army)

  141 A 155 mm artillery shell loaded with Sarin (United States Army)

  148 Ronald Maddison (AP/Wide World Photos)

  163 Soldier self-injecting nerve-agent antidote (United States Army)

  166 An M55 rocket being test-fired (United States Army)

  167 An Honest John rocket being test-fired (United States Army)

  168 The Honest John warhead contained 356 spherical aluminum bomblets filled with liquid Sarin (United States Army)

  168 Cutaway of an M139 Sarin bomblet (United States Army)

  169 Full-scale model of the M139 Sarin bomblet (AP/Wide World Photos)

  173 Aerial view of the Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  173 Close-up of the Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  175 The building containing filling lines at Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  175 VX filling lines for 8-inch and 155 mm shells at the Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  176 Filling line for loading spray tanks with VX nerve agent at the Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  176 VX-filled artillery shells being loaded for shipment at the Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  177 Aboveground storage tanks for bulk VX at the Newport Army Ammunition Plant (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  198 Open-air burning pits at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  209 Thousands of sheep being buried in trenches in Skull Valley, Utah (United States Army)

  219 Loading of leaking M55 rockets onto a Liberty ship during Operation CHASE (United States Army)

  219 Scuttling of an Operation CHASE ship (United States Army)

  221 Aerial view of Johnston Island (Sigmund R. Eckhaus)

  222 Shipment of chemical weapons to Johnston Island during Operation Red Hat (United States Army)

  225 Mock-up of the M687 binary Sarin artillery shell (United States Army)

  247 Mock-up of the Bigeye VX bomb (United States Department of Defense)

  275 “Open house” at the Military Chemical Testing Site in Shikhany, Russia (Sovfoto)

  276 Soviet technicians demonstrating the operation of a mobile chemical-weapons-destruction unit (Sovfoto)

  278 The DF manufacturing plant at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas (United States Army)

  283 Civilian victims in Halabja (AP/Wide World Photos)

  307 Soldiers undergoing chemical defense training in Saudi Arabia, November 1990 (AP/Wide World Photos)

  310 Khamisiyah Ammunition Storage Complex with destroyed bunker (AP/Wide World Photos)

  313 U.N. weapons experts sealing leaking rockets (AP/Wide World Photos)

  327 Shoko Asahara (AP/Wide World Photos)

  334 The main compound of the Aum Shinrikyo cult with Satian 7 in foreground (Kyodo News)

  355 Chemical weapons destruction facility on Johnston Island (United States Army)

  356 Chemical weapons storage igloo (AP/Wide World Photos)

  360 The wreckage of the El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane near Amsterdam (AP/Wide World Photos)

  366 Ruins of the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum (AP/Wide World Photos)

  371 Kofi Annan and Dominique de Villepin at the United Nations Security Council during Colin Powell’s address in February 2003 (AP/Wide World Photos)

  378 OPCW headquarters at The Hague (OPCW)

  379 OPCW inspectors counting artillery shells (OPCW)

  381 Russian military officer with a Scud missile warhead at Shchuch’ye (AP/Wide World Photos)

  383 U.S. Army workers preparing M55 rockets to be destroyed (AP/Wide World Photos)

  PROLOGUE

 
LIVE-AGENT TRAINING

  THE U.S. ARMY Chemical School at Fort Leonard Wood, near the edge of the Ozark Mountains in south-central Missouri, trains thousands of soldiers, sailors, and marines each year in the art and science of chemical warfare defense. Students enrolled in the Chemical Officer Basic Course learn to detect and identify the various types of chemical warfare agents, to don and seal a gas mask in seconds, to treat chemical casualties with injections of antidotes, and to decontaminate vehicles. The climax of the twenty-week course is a “live-agent” exercise in which a group of trainees, wearing full-body protective suits and masks, perform tasks inside a sealed chamber containing lethal concentrations of nerve agents, the deadliest class of chemical weapons.

  Designed to kill, nerve agents such as Sarin and VX serve no peaceful purpose. They are colorless, odorless liquids that enter the body through the lungs or skin and attack the nervous system. Initial symptoms of nerve agent poisoning are runny nose, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, and shortness of breath, followed by profuse sweating, stomach cramps, and involuntary muscle twitches. Finally the victim falls to the ground, convulses, and loses consciousness, after which inhibition of the breathing center of the brain and paralysis of the respiratory muscles cause death by asphyxiation within several minutes.

  German chemists discovered nerve agents accidentally while doing industrial pesticide research in the mid-1930s. These compounds were then developed into weapons by the Nazi regime, which stockpiled but never used them during World War II. Although Adolf Hitler had at his disposal chemical weapons that were vastly more toxic than were any previous war gases, the Allied leaders had no inkling of this fact—a major failure of Western intelligence. Only after the war did the victorious Allies discover the secret of the German nerve agents and launch their own intensive development and production programs. During the 1950s and ’60s, the United States and the Soviet Union manufactured vast quantities of nerve agents in a shadowy chemical arms race that paralleled the high-profile nuclear weapons competition.

  For a brief period, nerve agents remained the exclusive province of the advanced industrial states. Beginning in the early 1960s, however, the technology and know-how to produce these weapons spread to about a dozen nations of the developing world. This process of chemical proliferation culminated in Iraq’s large-scale use of nerve agents during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s and its brutal campaign of repression against the Iraqi Kurds.

  Even more worrisome than the spread of nerve agents to so-called rogue states is the growing interest by terrorists in acquiring these weapons. Like some national leaders, terrorists might consider using lethal chemicals against civilians, who are far more vulnerable than troops wearing gas masks and protective suits. In a 1999 magazine interview, terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden declared his intent to attack the United States and its allies using nonconventional means. “We don’t consider it a crime if we [try] to have nuclear, chemical, biological weapons,” he said. “Our holy land is occupied by Israeli and American forces. We have the right to defend ourselves and to liberate our holy land.” Bin Laden added that any U.S. citizen who pays taxes is a legitimate target “because he is helping the American war machine against the Muslim nation.” The dispersal of a volatile nerve agent such as Sarin in a crowded subway station, shopping mall, or sports arena could potentially claim hundreds or even thousands of victims.

  Given the clear and present danger posed by chemical weapons, live-agent training at Fort Leonard Wood is not just a military rite of passage; it serves a vital purpose. Although soldiers can learn to use protective gear with nonlethal chemicals such as tear gas, only the experience of working with “live” nerve agents teaches them to handle the psychological stress of fighting on a battlefield that has been contaminated with invisible but deadly poisons. Unless troops gain confidence in the ability of their equipment to protect them, they could be paralyzed with fear when encountering nerve agents in combat for the first time.

  A soldier from the 82nd Chemical Battalion during a chemical defense training exercise at the U.S. Army Chemical School.

  LIVE-AGENT training at Fort Leonard Wood takes place inside a $27 million facility called the E. F. Bullene Chemical Defense Training Facility (CDTF), which opened in October 1999. From the outside, the modernistic, semicircular building with a domed roof bears a strong resemblance to a flying saucer. Built of reinforced concrete strong enough to withstand earthquakes and tornadoes, the 72,600-square-foot structure contains classrooms, training and administrative areas, a medical clinic, and a chemical laboratory. The CDTF is one of two live-agent training facilities in the United States; the other is at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (formerly Fort McClellan) in Anniston, Alabama, where the Department of Homeland Security teaches city and state emergency personnel to respond to incidents of chemical terrorism.

  At the core of the Fort Leonard Wood facility is a circular “hot zone,” or containment area, which has been subdivided like a sliced pizza into eight bays for training exercises with lethal chemicals. A powerful ventilation system generates negative atmospheric pressure, so that if the containment area is breached the nerve agent vapors will remain inside rather than leaking into the environment. The building’s energy and safety systems have multiple redundant backups, and contaminated air from the training area passes through eighteen high-efficiency filters before being released to the outside. Closed-circuit television cameras, air-sampling systems, and electronic alarms continually monitor the training bays. In the unlikely event of an accidental release of nerve agent, the facility has been sited so that the prevailing winds will carry the plume of lethal gas over unpopulated areas.

  Prior to the live-agent exercise at the end of the Chemical Officer Basic Course, the trainees have their blood drawn to measure their baseline levels of cholinesterase, a key enzyme in the nervous system that is specifically targeted by nerve agents. Each student is assigned a buddy and spends a week in a training area designed to simulate the hot zone, learning to perform complex tasks while wearing a gas mask and a bulky protective suit that encapsulates the entire body and weighs fourteen pounds. Donning the chemical suit involves several steps. The soldier first puts on underwear, a cotton battle-dress uniform, white canvas sneakers covered with black vinyl booties, and a battle-dress overgarment (BDO): a set of camouflaged pants and jacket lined with a layer of activated charcoal that absorbs and neutralizes toxic agents. The trainee pulls the drawstrings of the BDO tight at the wrists and ankles to seal off leaks and then straps on a hood that protects the head, face, and neck, followed by white cotton gloves and heavy black rubber gloves. Finally, he dons the M40 gas mask, which contains a charcoal filter to protect the eyes and lungs, a voice transmitter, and a plastic tube that makes it possible to drink water without unmasking.

  On the day of the live-agent exercise, the twelve masked and suited trainees, accompanied by their instructors, approach the containment area of the CDTF through a series of doors with electronic locks. Because the gas masks have oversized eye lenses and elongated snouts, the trainees resemble a swarm of giant insects. Before entering the hot zone, they move into a room where their gas masks are checked and rechecked. Even a two-day growth of beard is sufficient to break the seal around the face. To verify that the masks are airtight, the soldiers sit on chairs under clear plastic cowls and are sprayed with an acrid chemical called stannic chloride, which normally causes severe coughing. If the mask has been fitted properly, it screens out the toxic mist.

  After passing this test, the twelve trainees file into the narrow corridor that encircles the building’s core. The door to the training bays opens with a sucking sound, caused by the negative atmospheric pressure within. While a safety officer in another part of the building watches on closed-circuit television, the trainees gingerly enter the hot zone. By now, the air is thick with tension. Not only are the students anxious about the ordeal ahead, but their chemical suits are hot, awkward, and stressful. The BDO alone raises body te
mperature 10 degrees, and the gas mask has an unpleasant rubbery smell, restricts breathing, distorts vision, and dulls hearing.

  Clammy with sweat, their hearts beating a rapid tattoo in their ears, the trainees experience an oppressive feeling of claustrophobia combined with a dread of poisoning. Having studied the toxicology of the nerve agents and seen videotapes of laboratory animals convulsing and dying, they understand all too well the consequences of exposure. The presence of two medics carrying antidote-filled syringes is only slightly reassuring. If antidote is injected into the thigh muscle within seconds, it can save the life of someone who has been “slimed.” For one young soldier, the tension is too great; she breaks down in tears and has to be escorted out.

  In the first bay, the trainees form a circle around a metal table in the center of the room. Attempting to overcome their fear with a show of bravado, they begin a muffled chant: “We want the nerve! We want the nerve!”

  As if on cue, two agent handlers enter the room. Wearing heavy green rubber aprons over their protective suits, they walk with slow, measured steps. Each handler carries a small plastic tackle box containing a syringe filled with nerve agent, which has been synthesized in an on-site laboratory and stored in a guarded vault. Holding a bowl of decontaminating solution below the box to catch any stray drops, one handler carefully removes the syringe and uses it to deposit six drops of clear fluid at various points on the surface of the metal table. He then turns toward the video camera in the corner of the room and announces solemnly, “We’ve got the nerve.”

  The trainees now carry out their assigned task, which is to identify the toxic agent. Working awkwardly with thick rubber gloves, one member of each team removes a piece of M8 detection paper from a pocket-size detection kit and skims the paper over the surface of one of the drops, wetting a small portion. If the liquid contains a chemical warfare agent, the indicator paper will change color: red for a blister agent such as mustard, yellow for Sarin, green for VX. Holding the M8 paper at arm’s length, the trainee watches it turn dark green, indicating that the clear fluid is VX. He then “kills” the paper by dropping it into a bucket of decontamination solution.