The U.S. Defense Department is seeking $550.4 million in 2010 to prepare sites in Kentucky and Colorado for chemical weapons disposal operations. The Pentagon had earlier indicated it would request $300.4 million but the agency reportedly plans to expedite demilitarization operations by increasing funding by $1.2 billion through 2015. Former Ploughshares grantee Craig Williams [2]of the Chemical Weapons Working Group [3]commented, “The Pentagon has stepped up in dramatic fashion and delivered on commitments it made to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell [4](R-Ky.) last December to fully fund the chemical weapons disposal projects.” Ploughshares funded Williams’ work to accelerate the disposal of chemical weapons in 2007 and 2008.
Links
[1] https://ploughshares.org/file/686
[2] http://ploughshares.org/expert/142
[3] http://www.cwwg.org/
[4] http://mcconnell.senate.gov/
[5] http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090508_8167.php