Agency Focuses on Chem-Bio Homeland Defense.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency currently spends about $800 million out of its $2 billion yearly budget on chemical and biological defense programs, said Director Jay Davis.

Even though the program focuses on chem-bio protection for troops in the battlefield, "homeland defense also is a part of it," Davis told a recent industry briefing sponsored by the Army's Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM). "Our emphasis is on events that overwhelm local resources," Davis said. According to DTRA estimates, "1,000 casualties would overwhelm any U.S. metropolitan community."

One key problem is the lack of connectivity between various detectors, said Maj. Gen. John Doesburg, commander of SBCCOM. "If I can do video teleconferencing across the United States, we ought to be able to network the sensors that we currently have, and change them from being point sensors into providing information across the battlefield," he said. "We ought to be able to do reconnaissance from a distance, detect chem-bio agents from space and from the air."

"We are looking for 'upfront' industry participation," explained Army Lt. Col. Mark Weitekamp, who manages chem-bio defense programs at the Department of Energy.