New Umatilla depot leader expected

This story was published Tue, Dec 10, 2002

By Karen Spears Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

The Pentagon is close to appointing a new leader for and perhaps making other changes in the nation's chemical weapons destruction program.

"The Army is currently looking at some organizational options for the Chemical Demilitarization Program," an Army spokesman said Monday.

Pentagon officials have all but confirmed the program will be handed over this week to a Nebraska native, Maj. Gen. Claude Bolton Jr.

In an e-mail response to the Herald's request for an interview, Bolton has said he will grant an interview "at the appropriate time."

A change would mark the second time in the past year the program, which will supervise destruction of chemical weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, has undergone a leadership change.

Mario Fiori was named its head in December 2002. He is assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment and managed the Department of Energy's Savannah River site from 1992-97.

Fiori's tenure has been marred by public relations problems, including a series of
e-mails generated from his office in August that laid out a plan to discredit county officials in Alabama who had questioned community readiness for burning chemical munitions stored at the Army's depot in Anniston.

Fiori also irked some Umatilla and Morrow county officials during a visit in March, when he suggested they could speed up destruction of mustard gas stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot by neutralizing rather than burning it.

Bolton is a Vietnam veteran with more than 30 years of service. He received his commission in 1969 through the University of Nebraska's Air Force ROTC program. He flew 232 combat missions in Vietnam, including 40 over North Vietnam. He was appointed assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions, logistics and technology in January.

 

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