The Secretive (Not any more) Fight Against Bioterror

Wash Compost ^

[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.

[RaceBannon]

Is there any difference between this and the New York Times revealing things??

[TomGuy]

Reminds me of the stories of the 'not-so secret' bunker where the 'shadow government' was sent after the 9-11 attacks.

I still chuckle when I recall Tommy Daschle whining that he 'didn't know nothing about no secret bunker and shadow government' -- until someone whispered in his ear, 'you are standing in it.'

MSM even published some pix of the general bunker area.

[brothers4thID]

Just a small issue with your post- Homeland Security had not yet been created during the Anthrax Attacks. It was another year before the department was formed.

Personally I still think it was domestic terrorism. The use of the mail system was a sloppy disbursement method. Any intelligence office worth his/her salt would have known that the letters would never have reached the Senators and Anchorpersons desks. As was later proved, in a horrifyingly inept move by US Capitol police and others, simply releasing the spores into an elevator would have effectively contaminated the entire building and created more widespread panic, even death.

[AmericanChef]

-The government is building a highly classified facility to research biological weapons, but its closed-door approach has raised concerns.-

"Highly classified"?? Apparently not high enough. And, the whole point of "high classification" is to GET a closed door in there...somewhere...if possible...oh, never mind. Let's just broadcast all our secrets on TV and get it over with. Not that you can really hide a building in progress, but I'm going to guess the Compost got their hands on a detailed blueprint and will pass it along to our enemies any day now.

[RDTF]

Although the research may seem questionable to the WashCompost, I don't really think this is new news. They always announced that the guy that was the anthrax suspect worked at Ft Dietrich, and how they have a similar facilty there already working with anthrax, etc.

[Dinah Lord]

This is so damn wrong!

What is the matter with these people???

[VOA]

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 Wall Street Journal also needs a spanking on this issue, IMHO.
About six months ago, they had an article on some new US government buildings,
of course covered in terms of construction bidness.

There, on a front page (maybe of a section, not the very front page) was
a sizeable photo of a new CDC building for researching all sorts of nasties.

I was shocked at it's nice, open-air design...tall with lots of windows.
I could only shudder to think what could be accomplished by
even a small team of evildoers.
I remember praying "I hope that building is just a decoy, no matter
how expensive it is.".

[ßuddaßudd]

Dont eat any of the fish from the ponds on Detrick either.
(i used to live in amber meadows)

[Daus]

the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory

They reveal themselves in the language. The 'Bush Administration' is not building a massive biodefense lab... The United States is. They feel better pretending to just betray 'Bush', not the country.

[proudofthesouth]

I thought there already was a lab such as this on an island off the New England coast somewhere.

[winston2]

RE: Your post #15 with "Obsession" video link.

Reply: Excellent graphic and seemingly accurate. Damn scary also.

Anyone sitting on the fence about Muslim terrorism NEEDS to view this film!