EOKHUB Faces
Dr. Dieter Rothbacher
CBRN Expert
In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Dieter Rothbacher, a distinguished expert bridging the crucial intersection of CBRN and EOD sectors. As Managing Director of CBRN Protection GmbH and with over 25 years of experience in CBRN/WMD operations, Dieter brings unique insights into this evolving field. Symposium just around the corner.
Could you share your extensive CBRN background with our readers?
Dieter Rothbacher,a graduate from the Austrian Military Academy, is CEO of CBRN Protection GmbH/Austria and a Timilon consultant (CBRN SME).
His professional background includes more than 30 years of experience in the area of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Materials (CBRN) and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD):
extensive CBRN/WMD field experience in inspecting, inventorying, and destroying WMD arsenals.
more than 25 years as a CBRN Defence Officer/Arms Control SME of the Austrian Armed Forces.
10-year employment with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as an Inspection Team Leader and as lead trainer for Chemical Weapons Inspectors of the OPCW Inspectorate.
WMD destruction and inspection assignments with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in Iraq.
more than 15 years of CBRN live agent projects (training and testing), CBRN Business Development and Consulting.
He is currently part of the directive board of the Master Courses in protection against CBRNe events at the University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, where he has also delivered lectures to students since 2012.
Mr. Rothbacher has a Master of Science degree (MSc) in Business Development, a postgraduate Master of Science (MSc) degree in Safety and Security Management, a postgraduate Master of Science (MSc) degree in CBRNe Protection, and a PhD in Industrial Engineering.
How has your experience with OPCW and UNMOVIC shaped your current work?
What was UNSCOM? UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission) was founded in April 1991 under the Security Council ceasefire resolution, SCR687, to deal with the destruction and elimination of Iraq’s WMD programmes.
UNSCOM 38 Chemical Destruction Group was set up as a team of about one hundred people from twenty-five countries to supervise the Iraqis over what turned out to be a nearly three-year chemical weapons destruction operation. The decision was to get the Iraqis to do most of the actual destruction work under UN supervision. The UNSCOM 38 CDG team members were mostly military people with either a CBRN or EOD background. They were not chemical weapons experts per se, at least not at the beginning of the mission. They had been trained in defence against biological and chemical weapons, like me. The UNSCOM 38 CDG experience was extraordinary and rare; this field destruction of chemical WMD involved chemical and explosive destruction methods. It definitely shaped my work in the field of WMD disarmament, as this operational, hands-on experience on a day-by-day basis was very unique. Not too many CBRN operators had the opportunity to work intensively with chemical weapons.
I encountered something similar, but less intense and hands-on, during my time with the OPCW. The work involved not only the verification of declared chemical warfare stockpiles, but also overseeing their destaruction. On rare occasions CW possessors had to perform emergency, on-site, destruction operations, involving EOD and CBRN personnel (the OPCW calls it CWMS, Chemical Weapons Munitions specialists). This work also took us into similar working conditions like in Iraq, as an example Libya, but only for a short period of time.
Fast-Act and Modern CBRN Solutions
It is of utmost importance to establish emergency decontamination systems, based on the vulnerability assessment, which determines the decontamination technology that could be used for specific CBRN EOD/IED purpose, to render decontamination more efficient at even high contamination densities. These systems should be easy to use, and preferably should be capable of performing emergency decontamination against liquid and vapor threats. Moreover, performance specifications must include TICs and CWAs. Rigorous and effective performance specifications are essential to determine the appropriate decontamination.
The FAST-ACT technology is very different than what you would normally see deployed in CBRN EOD/IED scenarios for decontamination, yet very simple to use. While it on the surface may seem similar to other decon products, the basis of what we do is in the patented high surface area earth mineral powders for DRY DECON applications. These powders were originally developed and designed for military applications under various government agency contracts for the breakdown and destruction of chemical warfare agents. The powders are very effective at a process called “adsorptive neutralization.” This process results in more than just the capture of a chemical, but a breakdown and retention of byproducts making the incident safer for those in the vicinity. This is a very important attribute, and differentiator for Timilon, in the chemical warfare agent and toxic industrial chemical market.
This technology was developed for broad spectrum neutralization of harmful chemicals and pollutants, including chemical warfare agent and it has undergone rigorous performance and safety testing.
Could you explain how Fast-Act's decontamination technology specifically benefits EOD operations?
FAST-ACT powder can be used quickly at the CBRN EOD/IED incident site of contamination or release to quickly adsorb and contain high levels of contamination, mostly required during RSP (render safe procedures) and LSP (leak seal packaging) procedures. Most products are designed for standard contamination densities of 10 grams per meter squared, but having a quickly deployable sorbent that offers chemical breakdown at contamination densities above 10 grams per m2 is valuable in the moments right after any CBRN EOD/IED incident, as well as for any type of (emergency) destruction of chemical weapons in the field.
This is applicable to post-blast CBRN scenarios, involving toxic chemicals (CWAs, TICs).
How do you see CBRN technology evolving to meet emerging EOD challenges?
Decontamination should also inlcude the immediate response to a release of toxic vapaors. These vapors will pose a problem when opening and destroying chemical munitions or chemical IEDs. The vapor threat is often neglected, as it is not really dealt with in the respective military decontamination standards. A dry decontamination media, like FAST-ACT, that can be released from pressurized cylinders or pyrotechnically triggered pods would be an ideal additional safety tool to have.
Only operational experience makes you a credible trainer
What developments in CBRN decontamination technology should EOD professionals be watching?
A paradigm shift is needed towards the prioritisation of decontaminants that enhance the speed and efficacy of decontamination operations—both wet and dry formulations—that exhibit rapid action, ideally achieving effective and fast neutralisation that can be used with little training by EOD oiperators in CBRN scenarios. We are moving more and more towards fast and forward decontamination solutions; this requires solutions with a very low logistical burden and they should be ready and easy to use .
With your vast CBRN experience, what are some of the most interesting moments in your career?
The one that deserves highlighting is the time with UNSCOM. The UNSCOM Chemical Destruction Group (CDG) concentrated on finding, identifying, and destroying chemical weapons and related production and storage sites. We were tasked with identifying weapons systems containing chemical weapons, identifying chemical weapons production and storage sites, and destroying these weapons and sites, in cooperation with the Iraqis. Daily use of protective clothing, setting up decontamination stations, using the latest detection technology, sampling – just to name some aspects of our work. In the course of these destruction operations we experienced many chemical warfare incidents, from as little as smelling the agent all the way to contaminated and injured operators.
New decontamination technologies
Joint operation procedures
Equipment innovations
Safety protocols
Some examples of what we encountered, from leaking munitions, explosively opening munitions all the way to destroying warheads filled with more than 150l GB/Sarin, a nerve agent.
How do you maintain work-life balance while managing such a demanding career?
Let me answers this question differently. I really enjoy my line of work; the live agent training and testing projects allow me to still work with specific CBRN agents and materials. Some people might say you are crazy that you don’t slow down and focus on more academic or sales related projects; but hands-on is my prefered line of work and live agent trainings tailored to the needs of clients offers me these opportunites. Especially challenging are realistic CBRN EOD and IED trainings with live agents, including the actual RSP and LSP procedures.
Dry decontamination is included in all of our trainings, especially CBRN EOD courses, whenever we need to set up decontamination stations (e.g. personnel, equipment).
The in- and outdoor training areas allow for all year-round trainings and testing with chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, biological simulants, sealed (closed) and unsealed (open) radioactive sources.
Training procedures
Equipment compatibility
Risk assessment
Operational protocols
