Where do the Defense Department (DOD), homeland security and other federal defense counterparts turn when they’re looking for available chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) defense products? For the past two decades, the Joint Acquisition CBRN Knowledge System (JACKS), a web-based knowledge management platform designed to support the acquisition, sustainment, and operational needs for CBRN defense products and capabilities, has helped them find what they are looking for.

Managed by the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense’s (JPEO-CBRND) Joint Project Lead for CBRN Integration, JACKS delivers comprehensive data for the 11,000 active joint force end-users who must maintain awareness of the various program details, equipment specs, readiness data, advisory messages, shelf-life information, DOD Biological Select Agent and Toxins (BSAT) inventory and more. Fifty percent of JACKS users are active duty personnel, primarily from the Army and Air Force, but the system is available to anyone with a common access card (CAC) or federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card.


In October 2024 the JACKS team held a program retrospective and luncheon to celebrate 20 years of support to the joint force for CBRN defense capability program knowledge and information management. JACKS houses the CBRN Information Resource Center (CBRN-IRC), a community resource for answering all types of CBRN related questions that receives over 450 inquiries each quarter.

JACKS not only supports the acquisition domain of the Chemical Biological Defense Program (CBDP) but also addresses critical operational needs by ensuring users have access to up-to-date, reliable unclassified data for mission planning and execution. By streamlining access to crucial CBRN information, JACKS enhances operational readiness and ensures that the warfighter is equipped with the necessary tools to respond effectively to CBRN threats. The CBRN Information Resource Center (CBRN-IRC) is a component of the JACKS program that provides a community resource for getting answers to all types of CBRN-related questions and receives over 450 inquiries each quarter.


The Joint Acquisition CBRN Knowledge System (JACKS) celebrated its 20^th birthday in October 2024. Since 2004 more than 93,000 users have accessed the DOD web-based platform for CBRN defense capability and knowledge management support. JACKS delivers comprehensive data in one web-based IT platform and includes program details, equipment specs, advisory messages, shelf-life information and more for the CBRN defense community.

Last month JACKS reached its 20^th birthday - the program was first launched in October of 2004. The JPL CBRN Integration team celebrated this important milestone with an internal JACKS retrospective luncheon and presentation. The event included a look back at where the capability started and how far the platform has come in providing critical CBRN information to the warfighter. JACKS has seen several JPEO-CBRND leadership changes to include six Joint Program Executive Officers and five Program Officers; along with organization structure changes impacting JACKS chain of command, first reporting directly to the headquarters Knowledge Management office, then to the Joint Project Leader for Information Management and Information Technology (JPL IM/IT) and now to the Joint Project Lead for CBRN Integration.

Initially, JACKS launched with only one feature - a CBRN Equipment Search function. Since then, JACKS has grown to house 40 different applications and uses, ranging from equipment information sharing to JPEO-CBRND program portfolio management, analytics support, emerging technology tracking and Biorisk program oversight. By the numbers, the most popular information housed in JACKS is the Shelf-Life Status data, used by inventory managers and warfighters to verify the serviceability status of their existing CBRN defense equipment.

The JACKS team has a great deal to be proud of as they look back on their impact over the past two decades; some notable metrics they have achieved while in service to our joint force include:

• 93K All-time Users – Since 2004, there have been over 93,000 distinct accounts created on the platform and over 16-million page requests.  
• 11K users / Year – JACKS averages 11,000 users from the CBRN community each year, but FY24 saw the highest level of user activity on record with over 13,000 users logging into the website.
• 1.3K new users / Qtr. – An average quarter sees 1,300 new user account requests
• 4.8K active users / Qtr. – An average quarter sees 4,800 active user logins and 250,000 page requests

Congratulations to the JACKS staff on an amazing two decades, we are excited to see what comes next for the capability as the JPEO-CBRND works to advance data integration for CBRN defense products.


In October 2024, The JACKS team celebrated the system’s 20^th birthday and reflect on the value it delivers to the CBRN defense community. In 2004, JACKS launched with only one feature, a CBRN Equipment Search function. Since then, JACKS has grown to house 40 different applications and uses, ranging from equipment information sharing to JPEO-CBRND program portfolio management, analytics support, emerging technology tracking and Biorisk program oversight.