On This Day In Alabama History: Army Disclosed Chemical Weapons Stockpiles

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

In 1986 Congress ordered the Army to destroy its chemical weapons. But it took a decade for the Army to publicly disclose precisely the amount of materials and the locations of its secret stockpiles at eight sites across the country and on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Among them was Anniston Army Depot, where 2,250 tons of mustard and nerve agents were contained in more than 661,000 weapons, some dating back to World War II.

Anniston residents were already aware that chemical weapons were located at the Depot – but not how much. In 1981 the Army admitted that some chemical weapons at the site were leaking, which increased public calls for their removal or destruction.

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