Practical Solutions
Written by Ted McKenna
Introducing himself to the crowd of several hundred people at the Washington Convention Center event, which was sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association, Brigadier General Jess Scarbrough, the joint program executive officer for CBD, said that since taking command earlier this year, he has begun working to reshape the CBD in keeping with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ goal of reforming military acquisition and spending.
“We need to rebalance [DoD’s] programs and reform how we buy, meaning a fundamental overhaul of our approach to procurement, acquisition and contracting,” said Scarbrough, in discussing Gates’ basic message about reform. “We need a dramatic change in the way we acquire equipment, and to stop programs that exceed budget and buy more capability than the nation needs. We also need to ensure requirements are reasonable and the technology is reasonably mature, so that the department can successfully execute programs.”
So what does that mean for CBD specifically? Scarbrough did not unveil any plans to cut or eliminate programs, but he said the general aim will be to spend less money and less time developing more integrated solutions that offer “dual-use” capability, including developing solutions in conjunction with other federal agencies such as Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security.
Scarbrough, who succeeded Major General Stephen Reeves as commander this spring, said the transition so far has been smooth.
“I’ve met with all the offices, and I’m slowly getting acclimated and assimilated into the chemical and biological communities,” Scarbrough said. “I’m trying to beat Reeves’ [tenure] of eight years. I hope to be here as long as or longer than he was.”
In the presentations by more than a dozen program officers and managers, the common theme in development of new and ongoing programs was efficiency and practicality. Program leaders said they are of course trying to keep costs as low as possible by, among other things, eliminating duplication of efforts and pursuing projects with relatively immediate benefits to servicemembers.
Nevertheless, getting the latest in technology and techniques is as important as ever, as noted by Dr. Albert Churilla, head of the medical science and technology division of the Joint Science and Technology Office (JTSO) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
“We very much recognize the value of cutting-edge technologies, so we want to accelerate the development cycle and leverage other government resources, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, academia and the private sector,” Churilla said. “There are lots of new ideas that we want to tap into to save funding. [But] we don’t want start-stop programs; we want to maintain our knowledge base for future technological development.”
Along with collaborating with or learning from as many other sources as possible to make the most of the latest in technology and best practices, program managers in their presentations frequently emphasized their desire to provide protective gear, technologies for cleanup and protection and other products that are as easy to use as possible.
For example, Dr. Charles Bass, manager of applied research and advanced technology development in the Chemical and Biological Defense Program for individual and collective protection, noted that migrating the production, distribution and disposal of hazardous material entails a number of practical measures, such as reducing logistical footprints and creating simple disposal processes.
“Take the example of [decontaminant] DS2,” Bass said. “You have to buy a lot to make it economical. You store it for 14 years, it deteriorates and then you need to produce more, but lo and behold, there’s no producer for it now. You also need to dispose of it. If there’s no good way, soldiers get creative. I remember once having to dumpster dive to retrieve a leaking canister of DS2.”
As Bass noted, many solutions for cleaning up hazards are limited to hot, soapy water, so maybe the fastest, most practical course of development in many cases might be simply getting better soap. But as far as the scientific and technological challenges facing the chemical-biological community, Bass listed a few of the most pressing. These include the need for new kinds of sorptive media; self-detoxifying textiles that are lighter and more breathable; aerosol filtering that is built into uniforms; tactile barrier materials that let wearers to more easily, for example, dial cell phones; novel closures for clothing that are comfortable but stem leakages from the usual places on clothing, such as zippers or buttons; and residual life indicators that keep track of the degradation or health of materials being worn or used.
Currently, joint program managers at the JPEO for CBD oversee eight basic areas:
• contamination a voidance, including nuclear and chemical detection, obscuration and reconnaissance;
• “guardian,” providing protection and support for installation and civilian authorities in the United States and around the world;
• decontamination;
• information systems;
• collective protection for servicemembers and shelters, ships, vehicles and facilities;
• biological defense;
• individual protection; and
• chemical-biological medical systems for Food and Drug Administration approved countermeasures and diagnostics for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.
Presentations by speakers at the CBD industry events—including contact information for the program managers, highlights of current programs and information about existing and potential upcoming RFPs—are posted online at the JPEO-CBD Website, at www.jpeocbd.osd.mil/packs/ default.aspx?pg=851. ♦
Outbreak
“Our program kicks off when we have sick or dead people, and we’re not sure what the cause is,” said Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Dalal, TMTI’s joint product manager. “That’s the trigger for TMTI. Say it’s an anthrax attack, for example. We don’t invest in detection technology. What we’re looking to do is understand if it’s genetically modified. But [say] it’s an emerging pathogen, such as Ebola or Marburg, for which we don’t have a therapeutic. In that case we would genetically sequence the virus, see what therapeutics exist and, if none, develop a therapeutic.”
TMTI still does plenty of advance preparation, though. Dalal said his group’s research portfolio, for which it is budgeted about $300 million through FY11, involves essentially either development of technologies for identifying pathogens or therapeutics for related treatments. More so than many of the other JPEOCBD programs, TMTI focuses on speed— speed in identifying pathogens and speed in finding therapeutics for them. But like all the other CBD programs, TMTI seeks to benefit from commercial and academic research and development to get results as quickly and practically as possible.
Among other things, this means close coordination with the Food and Drug Administration on testing. Dalal said research by TMTI currently focuses on three main areas: high-throughput screening technologies; drug design capabilities that “push the state of the art,” such as 3-D modeling; and methods for improving the drug evaluation process, such as the use of new simulation and modeling software.
More information on the program is available at www.tmti-cbdefense.org.