Don E. Barclay

Director, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity

Mr. Don E. Barclay, Director of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity (CMA), is responsible for chemical agent storage and disposal of the chemical agent stockpile at the CMA stockpile sites. He assumed his role on February 26, 2012.

Prior to this assignment, Mr. Barclay served as the site project manager for the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Hermiston, Oregon. He became the site project manager in April 2001. As the site project manager, he was the executing agent for the Umatilla project, managing a $170 million annual budget and overseeing a workforce of 850 people focused on the safe disposal of 3,717 tons of nerve and blister agent 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 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 completed VX and GB neutralization testing, energetics neutralization testing, and agent hydrolysate bioremediation testing. Agent destruction operations using incineration treatment units were also conducted during his tenure. In 1997, Barclay was assigned as the CAMDS director. During his four years as CAMDS director, he managed a $28 million annual budget and a 280-person civilian and contractor workforce involved in the research, development, and implementation of toxic chemical agent disposal processes.

Born and raised in Athens, Tennessee, Barclay received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Tennessee Wesleyan College. After college, the U.S. Army recruited him for its Safety Engineering Program conducted by the School of Engineering and Logistics in Texarkana, Texas.