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Saying she still has no idea who sent her a box of dead fish, former top homeland security bioweapons official Maureen McCarthy says she has resigned from the department and begun legal action to clear her name. Occasionally breaking into tears during a 45-minute telephone interview, McCarthy called her resignation "involuntary" and said she had suffered severe financial distress since being suspended without pay in February over the incident. "I resigned against my will," she said. "I had no income, and I couldn't use my accrued annual leave" for cash. "By resigning I got that back," she said, and could...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts said on Saturday they were worried by a leaked report that describes an outbreak of smallpox in the Soviet Union -- one they say may point to the testing of a smallpox biological weapon.Seven people became ill in the 1971 outbreak and three died of what appeared to be the more fatal, and more rare, hemorrhagic form of the infection, said Dr. Alan Zelicoff of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, one of the authors of the report."Someone has successfully disseminated smallpox as an aerosol," Zelicoff said in an interview."It has been talked about and it...

A new report claims that the first people infected with the virus took sick more than a month before China ever admitted the virus existed, according to The Western Journal. Based on Chinese government documents to which it had access, the South China Morning Post reported that a 55-year-old in the Hubei province, which contains the city of Wuhan, contracted the disease on Nov. 17.

On Monday, the House of Representatives will have to vote on a revised version of the coronavirus relief package that passed early Saturday morning, after “technical changes” were hastily added to the bill, (Roll Call) reported. After hours of negotiations between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, H.R. 6201, (the Families First Coronavirus Response Act) sailed through congress with a vote of 363-40-1. Democratic legislators voted in lock-step for the bill while 40 Republicans voted against, bucking President’s Trump’s stated support for the emergency relief package. Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) cast the abstaining vote. The revisions didn’t make...

A series of e-mail exchanges between officials at the Department of Health and Human Services shows growing alarm at the amount of projected profit from a government contract for a drug company whose controlling shareholder is a longtime Democratic Party activist. Ronald Perelman is controlling shareholder of Siga Technologies and a longtime Democratic Party activist and fundraiser. He's also a large contributor to Republicans, but has been a particular friend of the Obama White House. Also on Siga's board of directors is Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, who has had close relations with the Obama...

Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work. Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.

There are many who argue that President Obama has (repeatedly) broken his promise to bring transparency and openness to the White House. In literal terms, however, Obama may not have actually broken that specific promise ,.. it’s just that people may not have understood what Obama meant by transparency and openness. ..Here’s a case in point: First Dot: Several months ago, the union world was shocked when Andy Stern, the ignominious president of the Service Employees International Union abruptly “quit” as leader of the Purple Hand. Surprise and speculation swelled. Was it the Blago Trial? Is he sick?Second Dot: Then,...

Karma Forget the billions spent on China’s massive military build-up, the ongoing attempt to make the Chinese Communist Party the most powerful and feared force on the planet. The yellow peril is being decimated by tiny foes, one of them microscopic. All the chest-thumping and saber-rattling, and it finally comes down to a stand-off with a lowly bug that happens to hate communists. Boy, they didn’t see that coming! African Swine Fever (ASF) With a mortality rate near 100%, ASF has swept through China’s hog industry, decimating their primary source of protein. Best estimates put losses at 30-35% of China’s...

There Are No ‘Credible Allegations’ Against Kavanaugh Defense Department Fails to Implement Biosecurity Years After It Said It Would A Sensible Plan to Keep Schools Safe A Terrorist Resides in Arizona Four Years after U.S. Grants Refugee Status There Are No ‘Credible Allegations’ Against Kavanaugh Leftists are trying to kick the Senate confirmation for a Supreme Court nominee down field and past the November elections. They have shown they will do so at any cost. While compelling emotionally, Ms. Ford has no witnesses and no facts to back up her story. There was no legitimate reason the allegations were...

Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, predicted last week that the Ebola virus will not be contained in West Africa, and if infected people flee those countries and spread the disease to Central and South America, it could cause “mass migration into the United States” of those seeking treatment. “If it breaks out, it’s literally, ‘Katie bar the door,’ and there will be mass migration into the United States,” Kelly said in remarks to the National Defense University on Tuesday. “They will run away from Ebola, or if they suspect they are infected, they will...

Note: Posted here for general interest and archival purposes only. Note: The following text is a quote: Congressional Testimony Daniel D. Roberts Assistant Director Criminal Justice Information Services Division Federal Bureau of Investigation Statement Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security September 22, 2009 Good afternoon Chairman Cardin and the distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. I am Daniel D. Roberts, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, or CJIS, located in Clarksburg, West Virginia. I have served in the FBI for over 22 years, but have only held...

WASHINGTON - Scientific sleuths have a new suspect for what's been killing billions of honeybees: a virus previously unknown in the United States. The scientists report using a novel genetic technique and old-fashioned statistics to identify Israeli acute paralysis virus as the latest potential culprit in the widespread deaths of worker bees, a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Next up are attempts to infect honeybees with the newfound virus to see if it's indeed a killer. "At least we have a lead now we can begin to follow. We can use it as a marker and we can use...

BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are developing portable pyrolysis units that can convert poultry litter into bio-oil in a system that addresses biosecurity issues. Virginia Tech Associate Professor Foster Agblevor, who is leading the research, said the technology can convert poultry litter into three value-added byproducts -- pyrodiesel, producer gas, and fertilizer. The pyrolysis unit heats the litter until it vaporizes, the scientists said. The vapor is then condensed to produce the bio-oil and a slow-release fertilizer is recovered from the reactor. The gas can then be used to operate the pyrolysis unit, thereby making it a...

This is a website of the BioSecurity 2002 bioterrorism conference of a broad spectrum of researchers. The site contains paper and information of the material presented at the conference.