Pentagon needs more chemical protection suits, GAO says

The Defense Department has too few chemical protection suits to equip its personnel and the deficiency is growing larger, according to a classified report by General Accounting Office, which released a public summary Monday.

Although the rate of suit production has increased recently, the demand for suits is outpacing the supply, the report concluded. Current production must replace suits used in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and older suits as they expire, the report says, all while overall demand is increasing simultaneously. Currently, defense officials have about five million suits but the Pentagon estimates that it would need about seven million suits on hand to conduct two major wars at the same time-a standard measure of readiness.

"This requirement will likely increase to include counterterrorism, force protection and homeland defense contingencies," the report says.

Last year, the GAO said that U.S. officials must focus more attention to chemical and biological defenses.

There is a "serious gap between the priority given to chemical and biological defense and the actual implementation of the program," according to the 2002 report.

Tuesday's report encouraged the Pentagon to maintain a stockpile of essential suit components in case of conflict. The GAO has also criticized inconsistent funding for chemical protection suits, which has led to an irregular and unreliable production pattern.