Operation Red Hat - Deployment

Deployment

On April 17, 1963, President Kennedy signed National Security Action Memorandum 235 (NSAM 235) which approved:

Policy guides governing the conduct of large-scale scientific or technological experiments that might have significant or protracted effects on the physical or biological environment. Experiments which by their nature could result in domestic or foreign allegations that they might have such effects will be included in this category even though the sponsoring agency feels confident that such allegations would in fact prove to be unfounded.

Project 112 was the United States, portion of a four-way agreement between the U.S., Britain, Canada, and Australia to conduct a highly classified military testing program which was aimed at both offensive and defensive human, animal, and plant reaction to biological and chemical warfare in various combinations of climate and terrain.

The 267th Chemical Company was activated on Okinawa on December 1, 1962, as the 267th Chemical Platoon (SVC).According to a previously unknown document, the mission of the 267th Chemical Platoon was the "operation of Site 2, Project 112," on Okinawa, for the Department of Defense (DoD) which was conducted under a guise of Project Red Hat.

Just as NASM 235 was signed, incremental shipments of chemical projectiles, rockets, bombs, mines, and Bulk 1-ton containers reported to be Sarin (GB), and distilled mustard agent (HD) left from Concord, California in three secret shipments code named increments YBA, YBB, and YBF, which included the accompanying rail moves from Edgewood Arsenal (EA), Maryland, Tooele Army Depot (TEAD), Utah, Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA), Colorado, Umatilla Depot Activity (UMDA), Oregon, and Pueblo Depot Activity (PUDA), Colorado to the port of departure, Concord Naval Weapons Station (CON) though, this description is incomplete.

• Increment YBA – USNS Private Leonard C. Brostrom (T-AK-255) carried the first movement of chemical weapons to Okinawa from the Continental United States arriving in April 1963. This was also referred to increment YBA DoD Project 112.

• Increment YBB – USNS Private Leonard C. Brostrom carried the second movement of chemical weapons to Okinawa arriving in October 1963.

• Increment YBF – USNS Private Francis X. McGraw (T-AK-241) carried the final movement of chemical weapons to Okinawa arriving May 1965.

During shipment (YBF), while the USNS Francis X. McGraw was moving out of San Francisco harbor and carrying air to ground rockets and artillery projectiles of distilled Mustard and Sarin, another ship turned across its bow resulting in a near collision. The ships cleared each other by approximately 600 feet.

Although many details of Operation Red Hat have been released, official records are incomplete or still classified, and it is not known which exactly which chemical, biological, or toxin agents that munitions transfers YBA, YBB, and YBF actually delivered. According to a biography of General John Joseph Hayes, the commanding officer responsible for overseeing Operation Red Hat, the chemical and biological agents brought, stored, and later removed from Okinawa, had been present on the island since at least 1952. It is strongly suspected that additional shipments were planned or executed. Munitions transfers labelled 'YBC', 'YBD', and 'YBE' potentially fit into both the deployment transfer operation naming convention and the 1964–1965 timeframe. Additionally, evidence within the released information indicates that the deployment of Operation Red Hat agents to Okinawa from Concord, California, required only three shipments while the removal of chemical weapons from Okinawa to Johnston Atoll in 1971 required six shipments.

Last, though agent VX was widely reported in the Wall St. Journal and The Japan Times to have leaked and been removed, the declassified records contain no official mention of incapacitating agents such as chemical Agent BZ (BZ) or lethal VX nerve agent (VX), being shipped to Okinawa during a time period in which they were deployed elsewhere. The majority of documents pertaining to both the movements of chemical weapons and Operation Red Hat are still classified. The stockpile, held at Chibana Ammunition Depot in an area known as the Red Hat Area, was reported to contain over 13,000 tons of chemical weapons, consisting of 2,865 tons of mustard weapons, 8,322 tons of Sarin weapons, and 2,057 tons of VX weapons.

In 1999, the traces of chemical agents detected in clean up material removed from Okinawa in 1971, including Sarin (GB), sulfur mustard (HD), Lewisite, and breakdown products of VX scientifically confirmed the presence of Agent VX on Okinawa as reported in newspaper accounts at the time.