ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96092601.txt
DATE:09/26/96
TITLE:26-09-96  DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1996

TEXT:
(White broadens Persian Gulf vets illnesses probe) (540)

The Pentagon late September 25 issued this statement:

(begin text)

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE BROADENS DOD INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS ON
        PERSIAN GULF VETERANS ILLNESSES

Deputy Secretary of Defense John White today informed Congressional
leaders that the Department of Defense will redouble its efforts to
investigate matters relevant to the illnesses of Persian Gulf War
veterans. White's actions reflect President Clinton's direction to
"leave no stone unturned" in the effort to determine the causes of the
illness being experienced by veterans of the Gulf War.

In a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Senator Strom
Thurmond (with copies to Senator Nunn and Congressmen Spence and
Dellums), White ordered the establishment of a DoD Action Team that
will completely reassess all aspects of DoD's program. Reporting
directly to White, the team will draw on additional outside analytical
and management resources to help determine any necessary
organizational, resource or personnel initiatives required. "New
information recently gathered from a variety of sources, including
veterans who served in the Gulf, demands new and different expertise,"
White said.

White's actions are designed to insure that DoD activities are
well-coordinated and that a single focal point within the DoD exists
for monitoring all actions related to Persian Gulf veterans illnesses.
New actions include:

-- A $5 million research effort into the possible effects of low-level
chemical exposure and direction to the assistant secretary of Defense
for Health Affairs to identify other research projects where
additional resources could be useful.

-- Broadening clinical investigation efforts to include personnel in
the area of potential exposure around the Khamisiyah ammunition
storage facility in Iraq where U.S. troops destroyed chemical
munitions on two separate occasions in March 1991.

-- Requesting the Institute of Medicine to re-validate DoD clinical
protocols and practices in light of possible low-level exposure.

-- Directing the Army to conduct an Inspector General inquiry into
events surrounding the destruction of munitions at Khamisiyah and to
supplement the efforts of the DoD Persian Gulf Investigation Team
where possible.

-- Directing the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for
Intelligence Oversight to investigate intelligence information
received by the U.S. government about activities that occurred at
Khamisiyah in 1991 including how the information was handled. The ATSD
for Intelligence Oversight will report directly to White on this
matter.

-- Requesting the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel to
review procedures and guidelines for declassifying documents placed on
the GulfLINK and provide recommendations regarding the process.

In a related event today, Dr. Stephen Joseph, assistant secretary of
Defense for Health Affairs, testified before a joint hearing of the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Veterans
Affairs about the possible exposure of U.S. troops to chemical weapons
during and after the Persian Gulf War.

In a prepared statement, Joseph addressed the impact of the Khamisiyah
issue. "Khamisiyah has changed the paradigm of our approach to Persian
Gulf Illnesses," said Joseph. "Previously, we had a number of Gulf War
veterans who were ill and we sought explanations for those illnesses.
Now, we have evidence of possible chemical warfare agent exposures. It
is imperative that we now attempt to find clinical evidence that might
be linked to those exposures of our troops who were in the exposure
zone."

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