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The Secretive (Not any more) Fight Against Bioterror
Wash Compost ^

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 ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: anotherleak; bioterror; enemedia; msm; nbacc; terrorism; waronterror; wot
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Some of the research falls within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the production of even small amounts of biological weapons.
1 posted on 07/29/2006 11:16:49 PM PDT by hipaatwo
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To: hipaatwo
This lab is less than 15 miles from where I live, and I really don't appreciate the Washington Post exposing this critical operation to help keep us safe.

The Left is treasonous, there is no other explanation for their willingness to expose our national security secrets

2 posted on 07/29/2006 11:21:35 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: Mo1; Peach; sageb1; Knitting A Conundrum; RDTF; SE Mom; Txsleuth; AliVeritas; Bahbah

Ping


3 posted on 07/29/2006 11:23:08 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: MJY1288

Looks like it's a 2 parter. More tomorrow.


4 posted on 07/29/2006 11:23:42 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: hipaatwo

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.


5 posted on 07/29/2006 11:26:13 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: hipaatwo

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).


6 posted on 07/29/2006 11:27:04 PM PDT by PghBaldy (The Unabomber & Eric Rudolph were lone individuals who committed terrorist acts)
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To: hipaatwo
I think it's about time we put a few of these editors and reporters in jail for this crap. National security secrets do not fall under the umbrella of free speech, publishing them is against the law and it's about time this law is enforced
7 posted on 07/29/2006 11:28:40 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: MJY1288

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.


8 posted on 07/29/2006 11:29:57 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: dr_lew

... or Wisconsin ... whatever!


9 posted on 07/29/2006 11:29:59 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew

LOL it's late, I didn't even notice the typo.


10 posted on 07/29/2006 11:30:46 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: hipaatwo
" because the Bush administration intends to operate the facility largely in secret"

Won't remain secret for much longer if the treasonous, Al Qaueda loving Washington Post has anything to say about it.
11 posted on 07/29/2006 11:31:40 PM PDT by Jameison
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To: hipaatwo

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.


12 posted on 07/29/2006 11:32:34 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Jameison

Not secret anymore. Dems will be wailing by Monday.


13 posted on 07/29/2006 11:35:22 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: hipaatwo

Fort Detrick, the home of questionable experimentation.


14 posted on 07/29/2006 11:36:50 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: hipaatwo
I truly believe it will take a Nuclear attack before these demagogues get it

Below is a link to a little over an hour documentary that should open everyone's eyes. But I doubt it will

OBSESSION

15 posted on 07/29/2006 11:36:56 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: hipaatwo
The government is building a highly classified facility to research biological weapons, but its closed-door approach has raised concerns.

Among terrorists.

16 posted on 07/29/2006 11:37:19 PM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Former Catholic, current atheist pro-lifer)
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To: RegulatorCountry

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.


17 posted on 07/29/2006 11:37:44 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: MJY1288

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.


18 posted on 07/29/2006 11:39:17 PM PDT by hipaatwo (Kofi anti-Semite who sucks up to Arab dictators and presides over UN choking on its own filth-JPod)
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To: hipaatwo
Some of the research falls within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the production of even small amounts of biological weapons.

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.

19 posted on 07/29/2006 11:39:50 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: RegulatorCountry
This secret work could be done at any number of facilities, letting our enemies where it is being conducted is an act of treason..... Plain and simple
20 posted on 07/29/2006 11:40:11 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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