This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-03-889C entitled 'Chemical and Biological Defense: U.S. Ability to Meet Protective Suit Inventory Requirements Faces Risk' which was released on September 01, 2003. This text file was formatted by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) to be accessible to users with visual impairments, as part of a longer term project to improve GAO products' accessibility. Every attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of the original printed product. Accessibility features, such as text descriptions of tables, consecutively numbered footnotes placed at the end of the file, and the text of agency comment letters, are provided but may not exactly duplicate the presentation or format of the printed version. The portable document format (PDF) file is an exact electronic replica of the printed version. We welcome your feedback. Please E-mail your comments regarding the contents or accessibility features of this document to Webmaster@gao.gov. This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO. Because this work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately. GAO Highlights: Highlights of GAO-03-889C, a report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives Why GAO Did This Study: Department of Defense (DOD) officials have identified an increasing likelihood that an adversary will use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. forces. Therefore, GAO sought to determine (1) if DOD has a sufficient number of protective suits to meet its stated wartime requirement and (2) if DOD’s acquisition approach has affected the risk associated with having insufficient suits. What GAO Found: DOD does not have a sufficient number of protective suits to meet its official wartime requirement as shown below. This requirement will likely increase to include counterterrorism, force protection, and homeland defense contingencies. Calculating the shortage accurately is complicated by DOD’s reliance on outdated assumptions to determine wartime consumption rates. Despite recent increases in new suit production, other factors—such as the ongoing expiration of older suits and the consumption of suits during Operation Iraqi Freedom— reduced the available supply of suits, thereby widening the difference between the number of suits required and those on hand. Although DOD is taking action to improve the management of its suit inventory, DOD’s existing systems are still unable to provide an accurate accounting, which adversely affects the ability to determine the number of new suits required. DOD’s current acquisition approach increases the risk of not having sufficient suits to meet wartime needs. This is occurring because: (1) inconsistent and unpredictable annual funding for suits tends to perpetuate the current cycle of large numbers of suits expiring in some future years; (2) reliance on sole-source, foreign-based suppliers for critical suit components potentially threatens the supply of these components; (3) the ability of suit manufacturers to sustain surge production levels is unclear; (4) in the event of a major conflict, a delay will likely occur between the time current inventories are exhausted and suit manufacturers can surge production sufficiently to meet wartime needs, creating a suit shortage that could adversely affect military operations; and (5) DOD does not maintain a stockpile of the critical suit components. What GAO Recommends: GAO makes several recommendations to enhance DOD’s ability to determine its protective suit inventory requirement and future acquisition approach, such as * determine the wartime strategy to use as the basis for suit acquisition and funding decisions, and * reconsider establishing a stockpile of suit components to mitigate the potential time delay between inventory exhaustion and manufacturers’ ability to produce sufficient numbers of replacement suits. In its comments on a draft of this report, DOD concurred with the recommendations. For more information, contact Ray Decker at (202) 512-6020 or deckerrj@gao.gov. [End of section] GAO's Mission: The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the American people. 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