Chemical Warfare Technical Committee

Since the CWS had been formed as a service organization to all other branches of the Army, close liaison with them was essential in order to meet their requirements. To fulfill this function General Fries established the Chemical Warfare Technical Committee (CWTC) in March 1920, composed of officers of the CWS and of all combatant branches interested in chemical munitions. After the CWTC was formed its duties were ex-... 

Anslow, W.P., and Houck, C.R. Systemic pharmacology and pathology of sulfur and nitrogen mustards. IN Chemical Warfare Agents, and Related Chemical Problems, 2 vol. (Summary Technical Report of Division 9, National Defense Research Committee) Washington, D.C. Office of Scientific Research and Development. 1946. p. 440-478. 

Moore, S., Gates, M. (1946). Hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride. In Summary technical report of Division 9, National Defense Research Committee Vol. 1. Chemical warfare agents and related chemical problems (Pt. 1-2, pp. 7-16). Washington, DC National Defense Research Committee. 

Robert A. Beaudet is chair of the NRC Committee on Review and Evaluation of Alternative Technologies for Demilitarization of Assembled Chemical Weapons (I and II). He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Harvard University and has served on U.S. Department of Defense committees that address offensive and defensive chemical warfare. Dr. Beaudet was a member of the Army Science Board and chaired a committee that addressed chemical detection and trace gas analysis. He was chair of a series of Air Force technical workshops to develop master R D plans for... 

Congress meanwhile began to study changes needed in military organization in the light of recent war experiences. Since the establishment of the Signal Corps in i860 there had been no additions to the War Department technical services. One of the questions now to be decided was, what should be done about Chemical Warfare This matter was examined carefully by the military affairs committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

Assisting the Chief, CWS, were an Advisory Committee of fifteen civilian authorities in chemistry and chemical engineering, a CWS Technical Committee, and a Chemical Warfare Board. The Advisory Committee, which was unofficial in capacity, was set up in the American Chemical Society in 1920. The members of the committee met periodically with CWS scientists and administrators to discuss policies and problems of research and development. The CWS Technical Committee, also set up in 1920, came into existence as the result of a need for co-ordination among interested branches of the armed forces in the development and standardization of chemical warfare items.On the Technical Committee sat representatives of CWS and of the following Field Artillery, Coast Artillery, Infantry, Air Corps, Cavalry, General Staff, National Guard Bureau, and the Assistant Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments. The Chemical Warfare Board was established at Edgewood Arsenal in 1923 to study and co-ordinate technical developments with tactical doctrine and methods. 

Bonds between the USCWC and the Chemical Warfare Service were very close. On almost all subcommittees there was a plurality of CWS officers. The chairman and his principal assistant were the Chief, CWS, and his Assistant Chief for Field Operations. The various secretaries were CWS officers, and the Office of the Chief, CWS, provided the clerical assistance and most of the statistical and technical information on chemical warfare. It would appear that, although other organizations and nations had representation on the USCWC, the Chemical Warfare Service exerted the greatest amount of influence on decisions arrived at by the committee. 

In passing from the original idea to the final product, the CWS employed a procedure based upon regulations laid down by the War Department. The idea itself could stem from the laboratories at Edgewood, a CWS officer, another branch of the Army, or a patriotic civilian. It was then studied in the Office of the Chief and perhaps by the Chemical Warfare Board. If the idea was accepted the Technical Committee drew up a military requirement, an official statement that the proposed article was needed by the Army, and the military characteristics, a list of specifications that stated the desired size, shape, weight, materials of construction, and performance of the finished article. After approval of the requirements and characteristics by the Chief, CWS, and the War Department, Edge-wood Arsenal went to work. 

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