18 ChemMatters, OCTOBER 2005

What is CBIRF?CBIRF stands for Chemical Biological

Incident Response Force. We’re part of theUnited States Marine Corps. If an individualis in trouble, they dial 911 and the policeand fire department come. But what hap-pens if those responders are overwhelmed?CBIRF assists the police and fire depart-ments in dealing with a horrific event, likethose resulting from bioterrorism orweapons of mass destruction.

I’ve worked as a research scientist forCBIRF for a little over a year. I’m actually acontractor for the military, but not a Marine.I’ve never served in the military a day of mylife! I’m the only individual in CBIRF thathas not. I just happened to come into thisfield. Most people in CBIRF are active-dutymilitary or retired military.

What is CBIRF’s job when a disaster strikes?Our mission is to save lives. The idea

is to go into a contaminated area andassess the area with equipment that detectschemical or biological contaminants. We’reasking ourselves: Which areas are cleanand which are contaminated? Once weknow the answer, we try to get people outof the contaminated areas safely andswiftly. That may sound simple enough, butthe scene could be disastrous. There couldbe people trapped beneath vehicles ortrapped in elevators or under desks.

CBIRF has an hour response time. Ifcalled, we get all the equipment rounded upand we leave the base in an hour. We havea second response force that’s ready to goin 4 hours if one group of responders isn’tenough.

CBIRF is located just south of Wash-ington, DC. Our main focus is protection ofthe Capitol. If a disaster happens elsewhere,then we have planes and boats that can getus where we need to be a lot faster thancars would.

Where does your work fit in with CBIRF’smission?

If there were a chemical or biologicaldisaster, the Marines can either take mewith them as an onsite chemist, or I canstay back in the lab to do some immediateresearch. I could use the Internet to look upinformation on the chemicals or biologicalhazards that are at the disaster site, howdangerous they are to people, and the signsand symptoms of exposure. If I have anidea what chemical or other hazardous sub-

Interview With a ChemistChristen Brownlee talkswith a chemist whose

mission is to save lives inthe event of a chemical,

biological, orradiological attack.

Erick SwartzResearch Scientist for CBIRF

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERICK SWARTZ

ChemMatters, OCTOBER 2005 19

stance is at work, I can tell the Marineswhich piece of equipment they might use todetect it.

I also make sure pieces of scientificequipment we use to measure and detectchemicals are maintained and calibratedproperly. I train the Marines on how to usethe instrumentation that they take down tothe contaminated area, and I instruct themon the limitations and capabilities of thatgear. I like to satisfy my scientist side bytrying to figure out new ways to use theequipment more effectively.

Finally, I train the Marines how to han-dle hazardous situations. I help create sce-narios that deal with weapons of massdestruction in chemical, radiological, or bio-logical situations. The Marines’ instructionincludes some basic chemistry, a little bit oforganic and physical chemistry, and lots ofanalytical chemistry thrown in.

Have you responded to any disasters?Last year, there was a toxin called ricin

that was found in the Senate’s mailroom.There were potentially a thousand roomscontaminated with this agent, so we had tosend in a large force to clear the area. Ourresponders had to wear personal protectiveequipment (PPE), the white outfits that looklike space suits. Those can fully protect youfrom a chemical or biological agent.

I’m trained to respond to incidents inPPE, but during the ricin incident, I neededto stay back in the lab and do research onthe toxin. I had to instruct the Marines inhow to detect ricin and get it off their PPE,and I served as a resource just in casesomething else came up.

What are you doing the rest of the time,when there’s no disaster?

There’s no downtime because we’realways in training and preparing for thenext incident. Some weeks I’m dedicated toteaching the Marines general chemistry,and other times, we have equipment train-ing. It’s important to learn how to use ourequipment not only in the lab, but in a realdisaster situation, when you’re wearingPPE. It’s not as easy as it looks!

At least once a month, we actuallyhave disaster training for the Marineswhere they have to deal with casualties—other Marines who play out a disaster sce-nario. For example, our Marine actorsmight be coughing or wheezing like they

have symptoms of massive chlorine gasexposure. My job is to make it as realisticas possible. I feed the Marines all the infor-mation they would need to respond to thisdisaster situation, and they have to makedecisions on the fly.

What’s the best thing about your job? Howabout the worst?

I absolutely love my job here. The bestpart is that I’m helping to defend the coun-try in a lifeguard-like fashion so that whensomething bad does happen, I can helpdeal with it. The worst part of my job is thatI spend a significant amount of time fixinggear, which isn’t as exciting as doing realscientific research!

How did you get into this job? I was always interested in science as a

kid—I originally wanted to be a marinebiologist because I liked swimming andscience so much. But when I went to col-lege, I couldn’t get into a marine biologycourse. I took chemistry instead. Then I fellin love with all the instrumentation! Iended up studying atmospheric chemistryand getting a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.When I finished graduate school, I got apostdoctoral fellowship with the EPAstudying air pollution. Then September11th happened. I had about six weeksstudying the air around Ground Zero. Help-ing with the aftermath of that disastermade me a perfect fit for this job.

If you’re interested in chemistry now,

the best way to get a job you love is to con-tinue with your studies. Be curious, ask lotsof questions, and learn how to take testswell. In my field, you are tested a lot. Whenyou put on PPE and go into a hazardousenvironment, it’s the biggest test of all!Sometimes, the Marines will complain thatthe exams we administer are hard—butwhen you’re in a contaminated area, that[situation] will be difficult too. If somethingterrible does happen, we want to be on ourbest game.

Christen Brownlee is a freelance science writer inArlington, VA.

PHOT

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Ricin is an extremelytoxic protein derivedfrom the castor bean(think castor oil). In anotorious 1978 inci-dent, Bulgarian oper-

atives used amodified umbrellacontaining a ricinpellet in its tip toinject dissidentGeorgi Markov.

Markov died threedays later from just

a 0.2-mg dose.

Erick Swartz and a marine are working on a portable gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer.

Factoid