Don E. Barclay

Acting Director, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency

Mr. Don E. Barclay, Acting Director of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA), is currently responsible for the Nation’s chemical agent/weapons stockpile storage at two locations within the continental United States, the closure of four chemical agent/munitions stockpile disposal sites and the destruction of recovered chemical agent/weapons throughout the Nation. He assumed his role on Feb. 26, 2012. The CMA employs approximately 6,600 government, military and contractor workers, and has an approximate $24 billion lifecycle value.

Prior to his current assignment, Barclay served as Deputy Director of CMA. Previous to that assignment he was the Site Project Manager for the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF) in Hermiston, Ore. He became the site project manager in April 2001. As the project manager, he was the executing agent for the Umatilla project, managing the $3 billion life cycle project through construction completion, systemization, agent destruction operations startup, and the midpoint of the operational campaign. During his tenure the facility safely incinerated 1,200 tons of chemical nerve (GB and VX) agent and 170,000 munitions which had been stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot since the 1960s.

Mr. Barclay has worked for the Army as a safety professional and manager since 1981. Previous service includes 10 years at the Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, where he safely managed explosives production operations. Since 1993, he has provided dedicated leadership for the Army in the area of chemical agent operations. His first assignment within the Army’s chemical demilitarization program was as the risk manager for the Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System (CAMDS) near Tooele, Utah. While at CAMDS he successfully tested VX and GB neutralization reactors, explosives neutralization processes, and neutralized agent bioremediation reactors. Agent destruction operations using incineration treatment units were also conducted during his tenure. In 1997, Barclay was assigned as the CAMDS project director. During his four years as CAMDS director, he managed a $28 million annual budget and a 300-person civilian and contractor workforce involved in the research, development, and implementation of toxic chemical agent disposal processes.

Born and raised in Athens, Tenn., Barclay received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Tennessee Wesleyan College. After college, the U.S. Army Materiel Command recruited him into its Safety Engineering Program conducted by the School of Engineering and Logistics in Texarkana, Texas. In 2006, for accomplishments as UMCDF Site Project Manager, the Secretary of the Army awarded Barclay the Army Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service.