The Environmental Impact Statement After Two Generations

5	Johnston Island:destruction ofthe US chemicalweaponsstockpile

Introduction

Chemical weapons were first used during the First World War – with well over a million casualties and almost 100,000 deaths, including more than 50,000 Russians. The United States, concerned about potential use of these weapons against our troops, built a chemical weapons arsenal during the First World War, and that stockpile steadily increased. The United States began destroying the weapons during the late 1960s, under the so-called CHASE program (“cut holes and sink ‘em”). In 1985, decades after building the second largest chemical weapons arsenal (the USSR had more weapons), Congress ordered the US Army to destroy its aging chemical weapons stockpile. Many ...