Immune Building

Today there is heightened concern about our vulnerability to chemical or biological warfare agents. As the technologies to manufacture such weapons become increasingly available around the world, as evidence grows regarding rogue nation - and terrorist - interest in the use of these weapons, and as attacks continue on our overseas military and diplomatic installations in the post-Cold War environment, it is becoming increasingly clear that our buildings are potential targets for attack by chemical and biological agents. To date, much of the Defense Department's funding in the area of Chemical and Biological Defense has been concerned with protection of military personnel on the battlefield. Many of the technologies and techniques for dealing with the battlefield threat are unsuitable for building protection - for example, caustic decontamination procedures appropriate for post-event decontamination of tanks have no place in a building environment. This program expands the area of interest in chem/bio defense to military buildings such as barracks and command-and-control structures.

Most people, even those in the military, spend the majority of their time inside buildings. Therefore, buildings are natural targets for attack by chemical or biological warfare agents. On the other hand, it may be possible to exploit the existing building infrastructure to protect the inhabitants from such attacks, especially since attacks by chemical or biological agent weapons do not disrupt this infrastructure (walls remain standing, electrical power functions, air continues to circulate). This program seeks to augment existing infrastructure in military buildings to defend against overt or covert chem/bio attack inside or around buildings, using both passive and active (dynamic) responses to the threat; the main effort is directed at the most challenging threat, covert internal attack. The Immune Building Program sets forth three goals: to protect the human inhabitants; to restore the building to function quickly after an attack; and to preserve forensic evidence for future treatment of victims and retaliation against perpetrators.

The Demonstration Phase is the final phase of the program which will be completed December 2006.