The events that unfolded in Syria over the last weeks surprised not only the United States, but also Russia, Iran, and the Syrian people themselves. As Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus for asylum in Russia, his security forces shed their uniforms and their weapons and disappeared into the countryside. One of the most concerning things still at large is the status of the Syrian chemical weapons that Assad periodically used against his own people. These weapons stockpiles must be located and neutralized as soon as possible. The West can ill afford Syrian chemical stockpiles to fall into the wrong hands.
The West has several times tried to contain or eliminate chemical weapons in the Middle East. After the Libyan campaign in 2011, there were stockpiles of Qaddafi’s once extensive chemical weapons throughout the country and the Obama administration sought with various actors in Libya to remove them. Two years after the Libya campaign, when called upon to make good on his promise that the use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria by the Assad regime constituted a “Red Line,” President Obama backed down for fear of involving the United States in a conflict in yet another Arab country.
Enter Russian President Vladimir Putin, who proceeded to take advantage of American reluctance to embrace decisive action. Leveraging his relationship with Bashar al-Assad, Putin proposed a compromise deal in which the Syrians would surrender their stockpiles of chemical weapons to a third party, who would in turn remove them from Syria for destruction under controlled circumstances and Western supervision. Accordingly, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2118 in September 2013 calling for an international effort to take custody of and then destroy stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons.
At the time, I was serving in the Pentagon as the Deputy Director of Plans, Policy and Strategy on the Navy staff. I had been nominated by the Secretary of the Navy as the next commander of the US Sixth Fleet, based in the Mediterranean. A friend, Admiral Mark Ferguson, had been nominated for the position of Commander of US Naval Forces Europe/Africa and Commander of NATO forces in Naples, Italy. One day, Admiral Ferguson asked me if I would like to accompany him to Norfolk to walk the waterfront and inspect a couple of ships that were on the short list to become a floating chemical weapons disposal platform. I was fascinated with the idea and accepted right away.
Upon arrival at the Norfolk Naval Air Station, within a few minutes we were standing on the pier looking at the stern of the Motor Vessel (M/V) Cape Ray. The ship, owned by the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation, had largely been used to transport heavy equipment or vehicles to war zones in defense of our interests overseas. Of all the ships on the short list, Cape Ray was in excellent material condition and after a tour of the spaces, it was determined that she would be the afloat chemical weapons destruction ship. Admiral Ferguson and I met with engineers and operators whose tradecraft involved the safety and storage of chemical munitions.
I was struck by the enormity of the task. We were going to convert a “roll-on/roll-off” car ferry ship into a platform outfitted with Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems, that would in turn would transload tons of lethal chemical weapons in order to transport them to a safe location offshore, far from civilian populace, for ultimate neutralization. Only Americans would take on such an audacious and risky task. Amazingly, within two months, the conversion was complete and the ship embarked a team of civilians from the US Army Chemical Corps setting sail for the Eastern Mediterranean in June 2013.
This operation was conducted by a coalition of the willing and a flotilla of ships that included Russian, Chinese, Danish and US flagged vessels. Russian and Chinese warships escorted the Danish ship M/V Ark Futura into Syrian ports to load stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons for transport to a western European port for temporary storage. The Russian warship was senior, but in this schema of collaboration, the Russian commander did not use the traditional title of “Officer in Charge” rather he was referred to as the “Officer in Coordination.” In January 2014, M/V Cape Ray loaded 530 tons of Syrian chemical weapons from the port of Gioia Toro, Italy, and put out to sea to conduct destruction and neutralization operations. All in all, over 700 tons of Syrian chemical weapons were neutralized and not one untoward incident was recorded.
After Senate confirmation, I took command of the Sixth Fleet in December 2014. M/V Cape Ray returned to the United States with the assurance from the Russian side that it would continue to monitor for a resurgence of chemical weapons production in Syria. But the Russian assurances were a ruse. We suspected the Syrians were hiding additional stockpiles of chemical weapons, but without a robust inspection team on the ground or Syrian permission for unfettered access to chemical weapons storage facilities, we could not prove it.
The world eventually found out that Assad had retained supplies of chemical weapons with an attack on Syrian civilians in the town of Khan Shaykun in April 2017. The response of President Donald Trump was swift and decisive. He ordered an immediate strike on the Shayrat air base from which Syrian aircraft orchestrated the attack on Khan Shaykun. Dozens of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles rained down on aircraft and chemical weapons storage facilities on the base. Despite this warning message, Assad attacked the city of Douma in April 2018, almost a year to the day of his attack on Khan Shaykun, with chlorine gas, killing 43 civilians and maiming dozens more.
By this time, I was back in Europe as the Commander of Naval Forces Europe and Africa. Incensed, President Trump ordered the Pentagon to strike Assad’s chemical weapons facilities again and this time to make it hurt. We formed a coalition of the willing in Europe with our French and British allies and conducted strikes on three chemical weapons facilities in Syria including two large storage facilities and the Barzah Research Center. The strikes were surgical and effective. It was the first instance of a Virginia-class submarine launching Tomahawk missiles in a combat operation. This time, both Assad and Putin received the message.
Now the Assad regime has collapsed. I do not believe we have an accurate accounting of existing stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons. There is an immediate need for outreach to the transitional government in Syria. In return for Western assistance to help the new Syria join the community of nations, both they and we have a responsibility to rid Syria of chemical weapons so that they may never again be used. It is time for action by the United Nations or a coalition of willing allies and partners.
