Testing and Evaluation of
STANDOFF CHEMICAL AGENT DETECTORS
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. DTRA 01-02-C-0091 between the Department of Defense and the National Research Council. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or agencies that provide support for the project.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
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COMMITTEE ON TESTING AND EVALUATION OF STANDOFF CHEMICAL AGENT DETECTORS
EDWIN P. PRZYBYLOWICZ,
Eastman Kodak Company (Retired),
Chair
EDWARD V. BROWELL,
NASA Langley Research Center
D. BRUCE CHASE,
E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Company
JAMES A. DE HASETH,
University of Georgia
RICHARD C. FLAGAN,
California Institute of Technology
PETER R. GRIFFITHS,
University of Idaho
DAVID W. LAYTON,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
THOMAS A. REICHARDT,
Sandia National Laboratories
LORENZ R. RHOMBERG,
Gradient Corporation
Staff
CHRISTOPHER K. MURPHY, Program Officer
SYBIL A. PAIGE, Administrative Associate
DOUGLAS J. RABER, Senior Scholar
DAVID C. RASMUSSEN, Program Assistant
DOROTHY ZOLANDZ, Director,
Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
ALICE P. GAST,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Co-Chair
WILLIAM KLEMPERER,
Harvard University,
Co-Chair
ARTHUR I. BIENENSTOCK,
Stanford University
A. WELFORD CASTLEMAN, JR.,
The Pennsylvania State University
ANDREA W. CHOW,
Caliper Technologies Corp.
THOMAS M. CONNELLY, JR.,
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
JEANDE GRAEVE,
Institut de Pathologie, Liège, Belgium
JOSEPH M. DESIMONE,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University
CATHERINE FENSELAU,
University of Maryland
JON FRANKLIN,
University of Maryland
MARY L. GOOD,
University of Arkansas, Little Rock
RICHARD M. GROSS,
Dow Chemical Company
NANCY B. JACKSON,
Sandia National Laboratories
SANGTAE KIM,
Eli Lilly and Company
THOMAS J. MEYER,
Los Alamos National Laboratory
PAUL J. REIDER,
Amgen, Inc.
ARNOLD F. STANCELL,
Georgia Institute of Technology
ROBERT M. SUSSMAN,
Latham & Watkins
JOHN C. TULLY,
Yale University
CHI-HUEY WONG,
Scripps Research Institute
Staff
JENNIFER J. JACKIW, Program Officer
CHRISTOPHER K. MURPHY, Program Officer
SYBIL A. PAIGE, Administrative Associate
DOUGLAS J. RABER, Senior Scholar
DAVID C. RASMUSSEN, Program Assistant
ERIC L. SHIPP, Postdoctoral Fellow
DOROTHY ZOLANDZ, Director
Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Steven D. Brown, University of Delaware
Augustus W. Fountain III, United States Military Academy
Stanley Kaplan, Bayesian Systems, Incorporated
W. Carl Lineberger, University of Colorado
Alan B. Rothman, Argonne National Laboratory
Lynn M. Russell, Princeton University
Panagiotis G. Smirniotis, University of Cincinnati
J.D. Tate, Dow Chemical Company
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Lewis M. Branscomb, Harvard University, and Royce W. Murray, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Preface
The present study was requested by the Department of Defense (DoD) as a result of questions raised regarding the conclusions of an earlier study carried out by the Battelle Memorial Institute (BMI). The DoD asked that the National Research Council provide a “second opinion” for how to test and evaluate standoff chemical warfare agent (CWA) detectors. Because of the possible imminent need to deploy such detectors, this NRC study was conducted over a short time frame—four months. The committee’s Statement of Work, in its narrow but important focus, reflects the urgent nature of this study.1
Despite the complex technical issues addressed by the committee, this study and report contribute but a small piece to the very large and multifaceted challenge of detecting CWAs in the environment. There is a large body of information already in existence on this broad topic within the DoD and other agencies that have addressed not only the CWA topic itself but also related subjects such as delivery systems, terrorism activities, and strategies for the use of such agents. In related areas, there are meteorological and space studies that can provide necessary basic information important to modeling the behavior of CWAs in the environment. This body of knowledge can be valuable to understanding the field deployment of standoff detectors not only of the present design but also of future detectors that may be based on alternative technologies. These are areas that the committee determined were outside its purview based on its Statement of Work.
The committee believes that it has provided in this report a sound technical and practical pathway to the challenge of testing and evaluating standoff detectors for CWAs based on infrared spectroscopy.
1 |
The committee’s Statement of Work may be found in Appendix A. |