CBRNe Solutions for the Warfighter and Homeland

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Randolph Laye is the Deputy Director, Engineering Directorate, for the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, RDECOM.  The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is a research and development resource for non-medical chemical and biological (CB) defense. ECBC supports all phases of the acquisition life-cycle from basic and applied research through technology development, engineering design, equipment evaluation, product support, sustainment, field operations and demilitarization. ECBC’s science and technology expertise has worked to protect the United States from the threat of chemical weapons since 1917. Since that time, the Center has expanded its mission to include biological materials.

 IDGA:  What are the core capabilities of the ECBC?  Can you describe the infrastructure of the organization?

RL: The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is the nation’s principal research and development resource for non-medical chemical and biological (CB) defense. ECBC’s core competency is the chemistry and bioscience of CB Warfare.  The Center’s mission requires working safely with some of the most toxic and deadly materials known to man.  Over 1600 civilian and contractor personnel create and a diverse workforce, highly skilled in the areas of Aerosol Physics, CB Agent Spectroscopy/Algorithm Development, Emerging Threat Science, Inhalation Toxicology, Filtration Sciences, Flexible Design and Manufacturing, Systems Engineering, Full-service CB Testing, CB Agent Handling and CB Field Operations. 

ECBC has over 1.2 million square feet of critical laboratory and test chamber space that includes 317 permitted chemical surety hoods and 66 Biosafety level 2 and 3 hoods.  The Center also has a variety of unique facilities including 3 explosive/toxic containment test chambers, a sample receipt facility where true unknown samples that could potentially contain chemical, biological, radiological or energetic materials can be safely evaluated and the single U.S designated repository for research and development stocks of chemical agents permitted under the Chemical Weapons Convention.     

This diverse and highly skilled workforce, coupled with a vast array of critical infrastructure, make ECBC unique in its ability to integrate total life-cycle science, engineering and operations solutions to counter CBRNE threats to U.S. forces and the nation.

IDGA: How does the work at ECBC overlap/interact with government agencies and/or other organizations that are undertaking similar initiatives?

RL: Over the past decade, ECBC’s customer base has evolved from one of predominantly Army clients in the late 1990s, to over 70 percent joint service customers today.  To that end, ECBC supports numerous federal organizations, such as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, other service components within the DoD, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Our primary mission is to assist our customers in understanding existing and future threats to warfighters, first responders and other government entities and to provide the scientific knowledge, technology, and materiel solutions required to protect against those threats.  ECBC also partners with other government organizations, allied nations, academia and industry to leverage expertise to produce the best technology solutions.

IDGA: What future initiatives are on the horizon?

RL: ECBC has three strategic goals which are intended to guide the Center into the future and achieve our vision of being the premier resource for CBRNE solutions, uniting and informing the national defense community. The three goals are:  Grow and develop the workforce to ensure the continued health of the organization; create success for warfighter and CBRNE clients by delivering consistent customer service, and ensure that ECBC is prepared with the capabilities required to meet the nation’s current and emerging chemical and biological threats.  The Center is executing multiple initiatives that support each of the strategic goals.

IDGA: From your perspective at ECBC, what is the number one issue?

RL: I believe the number one issue facing leadership across all of government is the budget deficit, the fragile state of the nation’s economy and the expected deep cuts in appropriations looming on the horizon.  Our biggest challenge will be to get out in front of the sweeping changes that are forthcoming, try to anticipate what the impacts of these changes will be and develop contingencies that will allow us to quickly adapt and continue to function and complete our important missions.  We must work now to identify efficiencies across our organizations.  We must develop strong partnerships across the government community and with industry and academia to leverage expertise to continue to find sound technology solutions to our nation’s toughest problems.

Randolph Laye will be speaking at IDGA’s 7^th Annual CBRNe Defense Summit, to be held Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2012.  For more information on the event, visit www.cbrnevent.com, or call 1-800-882-8684.

Contributor:   Christopher Dauer

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