Dugway a 'dream site'?
Facility called ideal for chemical weapons work

WASHINGTON -- Because chemical and germ weapons among terrorists are a new and worsening headache, President Clinton is calling for spending billions to fight the threat in coming years -- a potential gold mine for Utah's Dugway Proving Ground.

America has tested most of its chemical and biological defenses at the Utah site since World War II. The base is remote and large, the size of Rhode Island. Army and local leaders say that makes it perfect for much of the dangerous, stepped-up work Clinton has proposed -- in his 2000 State of the Union address and 2001 budget -- and they dream of the jobs and economic benefits that might bring.Activists, however, worry such work may endanger Utah and note that for years the Army was less than open about secret work there. Only years after the fact was the Deseret News able to dig out the extent of Dugway's vast Cold War testing, which spread to the winds everything from nerve gas to some of the deadliest germs known to man. Rules now ban open-air tests with toxics.

But for now, stepped-up work at Dugway remains more a possibility than a reality. Competition with other bases and universities for new research money is stiff. So far only a relative trickle has made it to Dugway.

The base has only 45 assigned military personnel, plus a civilian work force of 1,157. And the base still seems to be fighting more for basic operating funds than for a greatly expanded workload.

"We're still fighting for housing out there," lamented Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee. "Dugway has been adding work and facilities but not at the rate that I think the Army believes we should."

In his most recent State of the Union address, the president called for increased preparedness against potential chemical or biological attack. His Fiscal Year 2001 budget is more specific still, including "$836 million to continue to improve protection of Department of Defense Forces and activities from terrorist or adversary use of chemical-biological agents."

Why has chemical and biological defense work suddenly become so important? And why is it bringing Dugway back into focus?

As Hansen explains, "We have a conventional military force that is second to none, and it keeps some semblance of sanity in the world and prevents people from killing each other. . . . Other nations don't have to do that because they pretty well know that we're not going to come over there and invade them."