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Ceremony marks neutralization facility’s 

end of construction Fall 2002

U.S. Army

Program 

Manager 

for Chemical 

Demilitarization

Edgewood 

Chemical Stockpile 

Outreach Office

1011 B Woodbridge 

Center Way

Edgewood, MD 21040

(410) 676-6800

Outreach Office Hours

Monday–Friday

8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

Other hours by appointment

ABCDF 

Public Affairs Office

(410) 436-5253

Bechtel Aberdeen 

Public Outreach Office

(410) 436-9507

Reach Highlighting

the U.S. Army’s

Chemical 

Demilitarization 

Program

Edgewood

Continued on page 3

If you build it, they 

will come.

That’s what the Army and 

its Bechtel teams hoped 

for when construction 

was completed on the 

accelerated Aberdeen 

Chemical Agent Disposal 

Facility just five days before 

the anniversary of the 

Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

And come they did. On 

Sept. 6, more than 200 

dignitaries, workers and 

citizens gathered at the 

Edgewood Area of Aberdeen 

Proving Ground, Md., to 

witness a ribbon cutting 

ceremony commemorating 

the completion of the 

neutralization facility. 

“What we are here to 

commemorate this morning is, in reality, one 

small but important component of our nation’s 

response to the infamy of the Sept. 11 attacks,” 

said Army Site Project Manager Joseph Lovrich. 

“As Americans across the country rose to meet the 

challenge of this new threat, so did the men and 

women of the ABCDF team, with the unwavering 

support of our larger Army family, our Harford 

County community, and our great State 

of Maryland.” 

Construction of the original disposal facility 

began in June 1999 and was more than 50 percent 

complete when the terrorist attacks occurred. 

The Army and its systems contractor, Bechtel 

Aberdeen, immediately focused on the safest, 

most effective way to speed up the destruction 

process. In February 2002, after receiving 

approval from Under Secretary of Defense for 

Acquisition, Technology and Logistics E.C. “Pete” 

Aldridge, the accelerated disposal project known 

as “Speedy Neut” officially got underway. 

“We need to say ‘Well Done’ to Aberdeen’s 

construction crews and technical teams, and also 

to our partners in other government organizations 

and in our community who have played such 

an integral part in accelerating the disposal of 

Aberdeen Proving Ground’s chemical stockpile,” 

said Project Manager for Alternative Technologies 

and Approaches Kevin Flamm. “Your presence 

here today is a tribute to the teamwork that has 

made possible this very special occasion and will 

ultimately bring this project to a safe and 

successful conclusion two years ahead of its 

original schedule.”

The newly completed state-of-the-art facility will 

undergo an intensive, six-month testing period 

before mustard agent disposal operations begin in 

March 2003. Neutralization of the mustard agent 

is expected to be complete six months later in fall 

2003. Currently, construction of the ton container 

clean out area and other remaining portions of the 

disposal facility remains on track. 

http://www.pmcd.army.mil

Photo by Army Corps of Engineers

From left, Joseph Lovrich, Army Site Project Manager; George Englesson, 

Maryland Citizens’ Advisory Commission Co-Chairman; Dr. Mario P. Fiori, 

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations and Environment); Gen. Paul 

J. Kern, Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command; Kevin Flamm, 

Army Project Manager for Alternative Technologies and Approaches; Douglas 

Richmond, Harford County Division of Emergency Operations; and Lee Smith, 

Bechtel Aberdeen Project Manager, prepare to cut the ribbon during the 

Sept. 6, 2002, ceremony.
2

“This is the 

second year that 

we’ve recognized 

people at 

the national 

conference. From 

my perspective 

it’s an impressive 

award, and that’s 

why we limit the 

number given.”

—Daniel Civis, 

Chief of FEMA’s 

chemical 

preparedness 

branch, 

Washington, D.C. 

agency headquarters 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency 

recently recognized the outstanding contributions of 

Douglas Richmond of Bel Air, Md., who manages 

the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness 

Program at Harford County’s Division of Emergency 

Operations. Richmond received the award signed by 

FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh at the program’s 

national conference in Lexington, Ky. More than 

400 emergency officials attended the annual 

conference of the joint Army-FEMA program. 

“This is the second year that we’ve recognized people 

at the national conference,” said Daniel Civis, chief 

of FEMA’s chemical preparedness branch at the 

agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. “From my 

perspective it’s an impressive award, and that’s why 

we limit the number given.”

Richmond was lauded for his “dedication to duty, 

cooperative leadership and exemplary service” 

that “places Harford County at the vanguard of 

both community preparedness and program 

closeout issues.” 

Maryland is expected to be the first state to 

neutralize its chemical agent stockpile, currently 

scheduled for fall 2003. The Army’s chemical 

weapons stockpile stored on Johnston Atoll in the 

Pacific was safely eliminated in 2000.

Harford County CSEPP Manager receives national award

With more than 30 

years of acquisition 

and project 

management 

experience, 

Delbert F. Bunch 

brings a wealth of 

expertise to the 

chemical weapons 

disposal program 

as PMCD’s new 

Deputy Program 

Manager. 

Since his 

appointment to the 

position in June, 

Mr. Bunch has been actively learning the intricacies 

of the Army’s complex disposal mission. As part 

of this effort, his first priority is to visit each of 

the stockpile sites to meet local citizens and gain 

first-hand experience with the program. Mr. Bunch 

explained, “I look forward to meeting with local 

citizens and hearing their concerns. It will be a 

perfect opportunity for me to better understand 

the local perspectives on destroying these weapons 

swiftly and safely.”

Mr. Bunch’s current Department of Defense work 

mirrors his previous service for the Department of 

Energy, where his focus was on nuclear rather than 

chemical issues. Specifically, as the department’s 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear 

Energy, he directly was responsible for programs 

such as nuclear waste cleanup. He also served 

as the department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary 

for Safety, Health and Quality Assurance, where 

he oversaw national and international nuclear 

programs. As proof of his expertise, the secretary of 

energy designated Mr. Bunch as the lead technical 

representative in the White House task force on the 

Chernobyl, Soviet Union accident in 1986.

Welcome our new Deputy Program Manager

“I look forward 

to meeting with 

local citizens and 

hearing their 

concerns. It will 

be a perfect 

opportunity for 

me to better 

understand the 

local perspectives 

on destroying 

these weapons 

swiftly and 

safely.”

—Delbert F. Bunch, 

PMCD Deputy 

Program Manager

Delbert F. Bunch became 

PMCD’s Deputy Program 

Manager in June 2002.

Photo by Army Corps of Engineers

Project Manager for Alternative Technologies and 

Approaches Kevin Flamm, right, thanks Douglas 

Richmond of Harford County’s Division of Emergency 

Operations, left, and Sue Willits of Kent County’s 

Emergency Management Agency (foreground) for 

their support of the accelerated project. Richmond 

represented the Maryland Chemical Stockpile 

Emergency Preparedness Program that includes 

Aberdeen Proving Ground, the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency, the Maryland Emergency 

Management Agency, Baltimore County, Harford 

County and Kent County as an official ribbon 

cutter at the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal 

Facility’s end of construction ceremony.
3

Photo by Army Corps of Engineers

Ginny Samuel, left, poses for a photo with her family in the neutralization 

bay of the facility dedicated to her late husband, John Samuel. Pictured 

from left to right are Mrs. Samuel, daughter Carolyn, mother Anne 

Poindexter, daughter Anne, and son-in-law Leith Kuhn.

Party on the Bay

Continued from page 1

End of construction milestone reached

At this year’s Party on the Bay in Rock Hall, Md., 

Miguel Monteverde of Bechtel Aberdeen (far left) 

and Sue Willits of Kent County’s Emergency 

Management Agency (right) talk to Toni and 

Frank Davis about the Army’s stockpile of mustard 

agent, plans for its disposal and measures in place to 

protect the workforce, the community, and the 

environment. The Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal 

Facility’s project team works closely with Willits, 

as well as other federal, state and local emergency 

management agencies, to ensure that emergency 

planners, first responders and citizens are prepared to 

respond in the unlikely event of a chemical emergency 

at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

“This project is about safety 

and it is about people teamed 

together who can accomplish the 

most difficult and demanding of 

missions. I am very proud to be 

part of this team,” said Bechtel 

Aberdeen Project Manager 

Lee Smith. 

Noting the guidance of President 

George W. Bush, Dr. Mario P. Fiori, 

Assistant Secretary of the Army 

for Installations and Environment, 

remarked, “The President said, 

‘If we wait for the threats to 

materialize, we will have waited 

too long. The only path to safety 

is the path of action.’ So, while 

the original neutralization facility 

was robust and state of the art, 

after Sept. 11, your challenge was 

to find a new path of action, one 

that would lead this community to 

safety by accelerating our program and eliminating 

the risk sooner.” 

To signify construction completion of the 

neutralization facility, Fiori; Flamm; Lovrich; 

Smith; Gen. Paul J. Kern, Commanding General, 

U.S. Army Materiel Command; Maryland Citizens’ 

Advisory Commission Co-Chairman George 

Englesson and Douglas Richmond of Harford 

County’s Division of Emergency Operations cut 

the ceremonial ribbon. Robert P. Rizzieri of the 

Army Corps of Engineers then officially declared the 

facility open for inspection.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, guests including 

Ginny Samuel, wife of the late John B. Samuel, an 

Army chemist for whom the disposal facility was 

dedicated in 1999, and her family, walked through 

the facility to learn about the process and see the 

equipment that workers soon will use to make 

chemical weapons history. 

“I think John would be very proud of this facility 

and all that will be accomplished through its 

operations,” remarked Mrs. Samuel. “It’s very 

impressive and I know he would be very pleased 

with everything we’ve seen here today.”

Photo by Nancy Hofmann

“This project 

is about safety 

and it is about 

people teamed 

together who 

can accomplish 

the most difficult 

and demanding 

of missions. I am 

very proud to 

be part of 

this team.”

—Lee Smith, 

Bechtel Aberdeen

Project Manager
Edgewood Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office

1011 B Woodbridge Center Way

Edgewood, MD 21040

Reach

The U.S. Army Program Manager for 

Chemical Demilitarization is pleased 

to announce the availability of its 

redesigned Web site! Visit 

http://www.pmcd.army.mil 

to learn more about chemical 

weapons disposal in your 

community and across the 

country. The user-friendly 

site features up-todate information on 

meetings, information 

booths and other events in 

your area where you can learn more 

about this important mission. “Our 

new and improved Web site offers the public 

round-the-clock availability to current information 

about chemical weapons disposal,” said PMCD 

Public Outreach and Information Chief Marilyn 

Daughdrill. “It also facilitates the great two-way 

communication we have established with our 

stakeholders over the years.”

Don’t have 

access to 

the Web?

The Edgewood 

Chemical Stockpile 

Outreach Office has a 

public access computer 

station you can use during 

regular business hours. No 

appointments are necessary, and 

the staff is available to help you find 

what you’re looking for.

Redesigned PMCD Web site now available! 

Visit http://www.pmcd.army.mil

“Our new and 

improved Web 

site offers the 

public round-theclock availability 

to current 

information 

about chemical 

weapons 

disposal.”

—Marilyn 

Daughdrill,

PMCD Public 

Outreach and 

Information Chief