NATO Readies New WMD Response Team

The Czech Republic has agreed to oversee the training of a NATO unit created in December to respond to WMD incidents, the Washington Times reported today.

The Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Battalion will consist of teams from 13 nations and is expected to become operational this summer, officials said.

“Possible operational scenarios include [the] threat or real use of (weapons of mass destruction) against military or civil objectives, industry accidents of great scale [and] outflows of dangerous materials caused by natural catastrophes,” said Petr Pavel, the Czech Republic’s deputy commander of joint forces.

Officials said the battalion would be able to send mobile laboratories into contaminated areas, operate a medical facility that will stock vaccines, and decontaminate personnel and equipment.

The United States plans to participate in the battalion and is scheduled to contribute a biology lab, a team to collect air and ground samples, and a decontamination team, Czech officials said.

Capable of operating independently, the new battalion would also be available to work with NATO’s new rapid response force (see GSN, Nov. 20, 2003; Bruce Konviser, Washington Times, Feb. 5).

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