Kentucky leaders celebrate end of Army’s chemical weapons destruction program

After decades of living in the shadow of chemical weapons, a Kentucky community on Wednesday celebrated the final destruction of the arsenal — culminating what Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called a “once seemed unimaginable” achievement marking a new era in U.S. defense policy. The milestone was reached in July, when workers destroyed the last rockets filled with chemical nerve agent that had been stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond. It completed a decadeslong campaign to eliminate a nationwide stockpile that by the end of the Cold War totaled more than 30,000 tons (27,200 metric tonnes).