Syria Four days after Albania rejected a U.S. request that it host a weapons decommissioning plant, Western diplomats and an official of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at The Hague reported that they are studying the feasibility of destroying Syria's dangerous chemical weapons at sea.

While Japan has carried out such complicated operations, it would be a huge task to neutralize Syria's estimated 1100 tons of chemical agents in the middle of a civil war. A global ban on chemical weapons was agreed upon by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after Washington threatened air strikes following a major sarin gas attack on rebel-held territory in August.

Richmond, Kentucky Trace levels of mustard vapors were detected in one of the CWM munitions storage igloos during a routine weekly monitoring event at the Blue Grass Army Depot. The Army plans to conduct further investigations to identify which munition(s) in the storage igloo is leaking. Once the munition has been identified, it will be over-packed and moved to a separate storage area where it will be held until it can be properly disposed of. The Army reported that the leak does not pose a danger or risk to the general public outside of the installation.

Denver, Colorado The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking a court-ordered deadline for the Army to destroy mustard agent and toxic chemicals stored at the Army's Pueblo Chemical Weapons Depot. The lawsuit states that 780,000 artillery and mortar rounds containing over 2,600 tons of mustard need to be destroyed as well as 26 containers reportedly leaking mustard. DOD was forced to scrap previous disposal plans developed due to technical and financial limitations.