# secret military experiments - chain of command



## PaperbackWriter (Nov 30, 2015)

Scenario:
A small American team of scientists is working to develop a chemical weapon of some kind. 


My question is who would sign off on something like that? I'm specifically curious to know how much of this the president would be privy to. I know I'm encouraged to do my own research but this subject is getting overwhelming for me.


----------



## Red Sonja (Nov 30, 2015)

You can choose to do what a lot of TV shows and movies do: Create a "special team" that operates outside conventional authority channels. Maybe they develop the weapon first and market it to the govt later, right? (Then no one has to sign off except whoever is footing the bill.) 

I will add that for a reader (not you personally, just in general) to assume that a "team of scientists" necessarily has something to do with the military or government kinda demonstrates how differently we view what scientists do these days, lol. I mean, here's a crazy idea, but: What if the government and military just PLAIN OLD DIDN'T KNOW about this team of scientists because they were privately funded? Not necessarily outlaw (that depends on what you want them to do in the story) but just some lab and group attached to, for example, a rich person's estate, a large corporation, an international think tank -- see what I'm saying? 

If your scientists MUST be doing what they do under govt/military auspices, then again: What exactly are they researching or working on? Is it space-related? Is it crime-related? Whatever their project, the nature of the project will determine what governmental body will have authority over it. 

Science doesn't really come from the government or the military, though. Just saying! It comes from the minds of inquisitive humans. Good science avoids the scrutiny of bureaucrats and tyrants, recognizing any imposition of authority or regulation as counter to its aims. That may not be something germaine to your story, of course, but if your scientists are working on a "chemical weapon" (i.e., bad scientists) then whatever govt entity is handling financing for same is not going to be on the books, either. You can pretty much make up your own department for that, right? 

If the scientists are the "good guys" in the story then it's less likely they're going to be working totally in concert with whoever wants them to develop the weapon. If it is a govt or military project then there might be disagreements, rebellion, mutiny. Again, you can pretty much make up your own hierarchy to manage all this activity. 

This may not be terribly helpful if you've already got all the above points figured out, so just so as not to send you away empty-handed, if the weapon is in any way long-range, then good old NASA would have some say-so in the matter. (NASA was, and still is, really just a public-funded long-range weapons program sold to the taxpayers on the strength of its scientific benefits, which are of course considerable.) 

NASA has mostly military people in charge, though that has changed a great deal in the last couple of decades and now they employ many civilians as well. NASA the conventional military style hierarchy and chain of command, but I admit it has been awhile since I looked all that up. Anyway, good luck!


----------



## PaperbackWriter (Nov 30, 2015)

Actually, you were very helpful indeed! Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. You've given me a lot to work with. At least now I know what avenues to take my research in.


----------



## LeeC (Nov 30, 2015)

I'd think your question more one of intended plot. We both know chemical weapon development is supposedly banned, but with sufficient influence and/or paranoia perspective, a country's leader might secretly sanction such. On the other hand, with the presence of a black slush fund or other funding source, some rogue group might facilitate the research. 

So my answer to your question is that while a president might sign off on such, at least indirectly, they wouldn't necessarily be privy to exactly what is being done. 

Isn't that what politicians like best, deniability ;-)


----------



## PhunkyMunky (Nov 30, 2015)

It could be a military "Black Project" and could easily fall under CIA or any other shady group and could involve a private corporation (usually does) who does research into this sort of thing. 

Consider Blackwater, a totally different animal I know, but they contracted with the US Government to do many things that... Well the rest of us would find it detestable and horribly outrageous but it works because the government could easily say "Wait, we didn't order that"... But they did of course. 

What I'm saying is it would be quite easy for a group of military people to work on such a project, hiring a corporation who has the resources and scientists to develop such a weapon. I agree with Red, the easiest way to do this would be to take a leaf from TV/Movies and create your "Special Team". OR... I recently got a new video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and in the campaign it turns out the CIA has been developing a lot of... Creepy stuff, such as a new chemical weapon. It was done at a "Black Site" which is a convenient way to say it was done in secret without approval in a secret location. You can choose this location to be anywhere you like, although I think it would be more believable for it to be in a country where US Laws have no meaning and the chance of oversight or discovery is nullified. 

But then we have 3 mile island, we have Palo Alto, Groom Lake, and probably a whole bunch of other places in the US I'm missing, but there are plenty of places where such research could be carried out. 

Rank structure could be very loose. You could start at the top with a Lieutenant Colonel and work your way down from there if you've a large group of military. But then you might only have very few military and more scientists, with one scientist as a liaison between the civilian and military aspects. Throw in security, if you wish, and they could be anything from an E7 and below and encompass any number of Soldiers/Marines/Private Military you wish. All hush-hush of course. Maybe their uniform is a suit? Something that doesn't LOOK Soldier like, which would make sense if you're trying to keep things in secret. You might consider a surveillance crew as well. You want to be able to watch over your minions and make sure they're not stealing tech or trying to "blow the whistle". 

So maybe it would go something like this: 

Military- A Lieutenant Colonel and a senior NCO in charge of maybe 30-40 Soldiers who are there for security. Chain of command would follow normal military Chain of Command. You would do it this way because it's a small command and you wouldn't have a low ranking Officer in charge of something like this. You might even have a few military scientists... The Branches have their own Chemical Corps to deal with the development, and study of chemical weapons, so it wouldn't be unusual to have a few soldier scientists on the project. Heck, maybe your civilian scientists are former soldiers. 

Civilian- A head scientist who is equal of the Ltc. and in charge of the civilians. Maybe a scientist who is the head of each department of research and/or development. 

You can create tension/drama between them if you like with this set-up, military and civilian are bound to butt heads. Different ways of thinking, all that.


----------



## InstituteMan (Nov 30, 2015)

One thing to bear in mind is that there are plenty of horrible but effective chemical weapons that have already been developed--they really are a WWI technology. I suppose certain types of people are always keen to find new ways to kill others, but I suspect research would be more likely to be about delivering the chemicals or protecting friendly troops from exposure.


----------



## J Anfinson (Nov 30, 2015)

I would think a full bird Colonel or General would be the top dog to sign the papers on something like that. Just from my own experience in the Army.


----------



## PaperbackWriter (Dec 1, 2015)

InstituteMan said:


> One thing to bear in mind is that there are plenty of horrible but effective chemical weapons that have already been developed--they really are a WWI technology. I suppose certain types of people are always keen to find new ways to kill others, but I suspect research would be more likely to be about delivering the chemicals or protecting friendly troops from exposure.



Interesting. I know so little about this that a lot of it is news to me. The secretive experiment/chemical weapon is just a side note of the actual plot, which is that a few members of the team decide to use the resources to develop something else entirely which has horrific results.


----------



## voltigeur (Dec 2, 2015)

First off anyone who would really know the answer to your question won't answer it. That gives you lots of leeway to make it up. And this is an area where you really don't want to be right. 

As others have posted your scientist would work in the civilian sector whether for a defense contractor or University research team. (Based on type of project.) The civilians do the research then sell it to the military. A university would get involved (maybe not students) to get grant money. 

Chemical weapons are banned by treaty, however I know that the government still develops new weapons no to produce but to insure our counter measures will meet and defeat any threat. If you story really depends on a horrible weapon: in today's environment it would most likely be biological in nature vs. chemical. (Selective virus etc.) 

There is an old book out called _Yellow Rain: A Journey Through the Terror of Chemical Warfare by Sterling Seagrave_ that is a fairly quick read and gives you tons of information about how chemical weapons work, where they work well where they don't. Also gives back ground on development without being a chemistry text.

It is cold war but good information. 

Hope this helps.


----------



## PaperbackWriter (Dec 2, 2015)

voltigeur said:


> As others have posted your scientist would work in the civilian sector wither for a defense contractor or University research team. (Based on type of project.) The civilians do the research then sell it to the military. A university would get involved (maybe not students) to get grant money.
> 
> Chemical weapons are banned by treaty, however I know that the government still develops new weapons no to produce but to insure our counter measures will meet and defeat any threat. If you story really depends on a horrible weapon: in today's environment it would most likely be biological in nature vs. chemical. (Selective virus etc.)



This is good. I just need the team to have a relatively legitimate (in the minds of the readers) reason for being in the first place. That's the prologue. The story doesn't contain the chemical weapon they're supposedly trying to create.


----------



## PaperbackWriter (Dec 2, 2015)

PhunkyMunky said:


> It could be a military "Black Project" and could easily fall under CIA or any other shady group and could involve a private corporation (usually does) who does research into this sort of thing.
> 
> Consider Blackwater, a totally different animal I know, but they contracted with the US Government to do many things that... Well the rest of us would find it detestable and horribly outrageous but it works because the government could easily say "Wait, we didn't order that"... But they did of course.
> 
> ...



Very good ideas, thanks.


----------

