Portfolio Acquisition Executive Layered Protection and CBRN (PAE Layered Protection)
PAE Layered Protection owns force protection as a capability area: CBRN defense, terrestrial sensing for base defense, and, since May 2026, mission autonomy. It sits at Fort_Leonard_Wood with the Maneuver_Support_Center_of_Excellence, the schoolhouse for engineers, military police, and chemical corps.
| Type | Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) |
| Location | Fort_Leonard_Wood, MO |
| Portfolio Acquisition Executive | Chris_Beck (MG) |
| Deputy PAE | Daryl_Colvin |
| Reports to | ASAALT for acquisition and materiel development; T2COM for requirements generation |
| Consolidates | JPEO_CBRND and terrestrial sensors from PEO_IEWS |
| Established | Announced 14 November 2025; initial operating capability January 2026 |
Naming
The November 2025 announcement used “Layered Protection and CBRND.” 2026 reporting has also used PAE Layered Protection and Integration, reflecting the addition of CPE_Mission_Autonomy. Same portfolio.
Mission
Own the layered protection capability area: requirements, science and technology, contracting, acquisition, test, programming, sustainment, and international sales for CBRN defense, force protection sensing, and the integration of autonomous systems across the force.
It carries an embedded Senior Contracting Official with award authority.
Subordinate Organizations
- CPE_CBRND — Nicole_Kilgore; joint CBRN defense for all services, headquartered at Aberdeen_Proving_Ground, MD
- CPE_Mission_Autonomy — Anthony_Gibbs (BG); moved here from PAE_Maneuver_Air in May 2026 to better coordinate cross-functional autonomy tasks
Terrestrial sensors from PEO_IEWS were planned to realign into this portfolio; as of mid-2026 CPE_Intelligence_Spectrum_Warfare still listed PM Terrestrial Sensors. Verify before relying on the boundary.
The ASAALT org chart of 23 March 2026 also grouped CPE_Simulation_Training_Test_Threat here by inference; the reform documentation places most of the former PEO_STRI under PAE_C2_CC2.
Program Element families
See CPE_CBRND and CPE_Mission_Autonomy. Most CBRN money is Defense-Wide through the Chemical_and_Biological_Defense_Program rather than Army program elements. Army-side lines include 0605038A Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defense and the robotics and launched-effects families.
Why it matters
This is the least legible of the six portfolios and the one most likely to keep changing. It has absorbed offices from three different predecessor structures and lost and gained a CPE inside its first year.
Its two CPEs have almost nothing in common commercially. CPE_CBRND is joint, biotech-adjacent, and FDA-entangled. CPE_Mission_Autonomy is software integration for unmanned systems. Treat them as separate markets that happen to share a reporting line.
Fort Leonard Wood is now an acquisition address. The Maneuver_Support_Center_of_Excellence owns CBRN, engineer, and military police requirements. Pairing the PAE with that schoolhouse is the reform’s logic applied to protection.
See Also
- ASAALT — acquisition chain
- T2COM — requirements chain; Maneuver_Support_Center_of_Excellence
- CPE_CBRND, CPE_Mission_Autonomy
- PAE_Maneuver, PAE_Maneuver_Air, PAE_Fires, PAE_C2_CC2, PAE_Agile_Sustainment_Ammo
- Chemical_and_Biological_Defense_Program, Counter_UAS
- Army_Acquisition_Reform_2025, Defense_Acquisition_System, JCIDS