Operation Red Hat - Public Opposition

Public Opposition

The growing protests over the U.S. Army’s role in Vietnam, the use of defoliants, the use of riot control agents both in Southeast Asia and on the home front, and heightened concern for the environment all gradually increased the public hostility toward chemical and biological weapons. Three events particularly galvanized public attention: the Skull Valley sheep kill incident at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, dumping at sea during Operation CHASE (Cut Holes and Sink 'Em), and the Nerve gas accident on Okinawa.

Most of Okinawa Red Hat movements took place at night to avoid observation of the operation by the Okinawans, who resented the presence of the American military and especially nuclear and chemical munitions on the island. Originally, it was planned that the munitions and gas would be moved from Okinawa to the United States, unloaded at Naval Submarine Base Bangor in the state of Washington and moved by rail to Portland and then eastward to Umatilla Chemical Depot, but this never happened due to public opposition and political pressure. When the Governor of Oregon sought an injunction to block the shipment, a decision was made to move the chemical agents to Naval Operating Base, Kodiak, Alaska. As a result of this decision, a bill was submitted to block that shipment too.

In 1971 Congress passed The Foreign Military Sales Act Amendment (Public Law 91-672) to prohibit the transportation of chemical weapons from the Island of Okinawa to Washington, Oregon, or Alaska. Due to public pressure throughout the U.S., the law prohibited the transfer of nerve agent, mustard agent, agent orange, and other chemical munitions located in other countries into all 50 U.S. states.

Public Law 91-672 further directed the U.S. Department of Defense to destroy these chemical weapons outside the United States. This law required the decision to bring the chemical weapons removed from Okinawa to Johnston Atoll.