ECBC Recognized for Success in Operation Swift Solution

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Army officials honored the efforts of 51 key members of the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) credited with completing a project to eliminate health and safety risks associated with continued storage of containers as well as other accumulated wastes.

ECBC employees gathered at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Ky., in 2007 to lend their expertise toward a project aimed at safely eliminate and manage three deteriorating steel containers of GB nerve agent and its breakdown products through a program called Operation Swift Solution.

"What was achieved through Operation Swift Solution  is nothing short of excellent," said Jean Reed, deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense and Chemical Demilitarization, during a Nov. 10 ceremony held at the Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground. 

Less than two years later, the multi-agency effort -- conducted in collaboration with the, the Blue Grass Chemical Activity, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA), the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection and local stakeholders -- was completed, eliminating the health and safety risks associated with continued storage of the containers as well as other wastes accumulated during years of their management.

U.S. Army Element, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) Program Manager Kevin Flamm recognized all contributors with certificates of appreciation and the program's leaders with honorary ACWA program manager coins.

ECBC Technical Director Rick Decker and CMA Director Conrad Whyne were presented with commemorative plaques to recognize their respective organizations and the success of the operation during the standing-room-only ceremony hosted at the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command conference center in Edgewood, Md.

In closing the ceremony, Reed thanked the teams once more and highlighted the significance of their success.

"Your efforts brought credit to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Army Material Command and the state of Kentucky," he said. "I thank you for your remarkable work."

For more information about ECBC, visit http://www.ecbc.army.mil.

ECBC is the Army's principal research and development center for chemical and biological defense technology, engineering and field operations. ECBC has achieved major technological advances for the warfighter and for our national defense, with a long and distinguished history of providing the Armed Forces with quality systems and outstanding customer service. ECBC is a US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command laboratory located at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. For more information about the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, please visit our Web site at http://www.ecbc.army.mil or call (410) 436-7718.

SOURCE Edgewood Chemical Biological Center