Posted on 07/29/2006 11:16:47 PM PDT by hipaatwo
The government is building a highly classified facility to research biological weapons, but its closed-door approach has raised concerns.
On the grounds of a military base an hour's drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago.
The heart of the lab is a cluster of sealed chambers built to contain the world's deadliest bacteria and viruses. There, scientists will spend their days simulating the unthinkable: bioterrorism attacks in the form of lethal anthrax spores rendered as wispy powders that can drift for miles on a summer breeze, or common viruses turned into deadly superbugs that ordinary drugs and vaccines cannot stop.
The work at this new lab, at Fort Detrick, Md., could someday save thousands of lives -- or, some fear, create new risks and place the United States in violation of international treaties. In either case, much of what transpires at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) may never be publicly known, because the Bush administration intends to operate the facility largely in secret.
In an unusual arrangement, the building itself will be classified as highly restricted space, from the reception desk to the lab benches to the cages where animals are kept. Few federal facilities, including nuclear labs, operate with such stealth. It is this opacity that some arms-control experts say has become a defining characteristic of U.S. biodefense policy as carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, NBACC's creator.
Since the department's founding in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, its officials have dramatically expanded the government's ability to conduct realistic tests of the pathogens and tactics that might be used in a bioterrorism attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Left is treasonous, there is no other explanation for their willingness to expose our national security secrets
Ping
Looks like it's a 2 parter. More tomorrow.
Gee, anthrax ... anthrax - wasn't there something about anthrax one time?
I've always harbored a notion that this came from Iraq, and we knew it but couldn't actually prove it - hence WMD.
Maybe I should teach a course on Islam at Wisconson.
Wouldn't one have to culture "bugs" to do research on cures and vaccines? If this is true, and if this would be banned under treaties, then we have a problem (US vs treaties).
I give up, I really do. Might as well live our lives to the fullest, enjoy what is bad for us and party like its 1999 because the press is going to get us killed.
... or Wisconsin ... whatever!
LOL it's late, I didn't even notice the typo.
Ft. Detrick was mentioned numerous times during the post-9/11 anthrax scares. Maybe the level of detail here is new news, but the identity and location of the facility is not.
Not secret anymore. Dems will be wailing by Monday.
Fort Detrick, the home of questionable experimentation.
Below is a link to a little over an hour documentary that should open everyone's eyes. But I doubt it will
Among terrorists.
Doesn't matter. The article already claims it's a legal gray area and International blah blah, that's what this is all about. Bush the most secret President ever! MSM/Dem mantra.
Doesn't matter he's trying to save lives, it's that they view him more dangerous than any terrorist.
Thanks for the link. I saw parts of the movie on Vanity and Wimp but none of it surprised me. I've known about this for a long time. Being Jewish I was taught early how they feel about us.
It is an interesting grey area that hinges on the definition of an infectious biological agent as a weapon, even when it isn't being made for deployment as a weapon.
Intent and the safeguards against abuse make all the difference. In our hands, I trust that the agents are being used for the purpose of combatting bioweapons. In the hands of most other countries, I'd be less understanding. Russia worries me some. I doubt they've stopped research in actually weaponizing biological agents. China and every Muslim country are also highly suspect. Ourselves, I'm sure we've designed our fair share of bioweapons in the process of trying to figure out how to counter them. I don't think we're currently building bioweapons for deployment though. Bioweapons are finicky and hard to control. They're typically weapons of genocide.
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