ZacandPook,
You ask a lot of questions, most of which I can’t answer. I didn’t arrive at Mason until 2004 so have no direct knowledge regarding Timimi nor do I believe everything I read or hear. I only like to deal in facts which is why I despise the bag of lies and omissions written by David Willman.
So here are some facts for you. ATCC is across the street from George Mason University however they do have some additional space in Discovery Hall. I imagine they lease that space from either the University or the State but couldn’t tell you for sure.
Discovery Hall is a secure building but then again so is my apartment complex and my apartment. During business hours, the entry doors are unlocked and there is a security person at the front desk to check badges or student ID’s. After hours, people that have been granted authorized access by the Mason Police Dept (upon receipt of the appropriate documents) can use their card at the card reader to unlock the door and gain access to the building. It is not easy to establish one’s need to enter the building after hours however was granted such access due to the experiments I was conducting and my school schedule.
Once inside the building, there are additional security measures in place however it would be irresponsible for me to describe them in detail. What I will say is this...just because you have access to the building does not mean you have access to the Mason labs and certainly we had no access to the ATCC section. If we needed something from ATCC, we would order it just like any other company and it would actually be sent through UPS/FedEx just like for any other customer. I always thought that was very funny as it would have taken less time to walk across the street but we had no special access.
Now, why the security? The university has absolutely nothing of interest in the building except the standard lab supplies and equipment that could be found in any university laboratory. The bottom floor doesn’t even have any labs...just offices. I believe the security was mostly for theft control and such measures can be found even in a department store. You give the Center for Biodefense far too much mystery...it was just ordinary faculty offices and some BSL-2 labs...that’s it. The building was designed to have a BSL-3 lab suite however it was not used for that purpose...it wasn’t even completely set up for use at that level. I did general microbiology work on a vaccine strain (non pathogenic) of Francisella tularensis in that very suit and when I left, it was being used for extra storage space. I wouldn’t know if ATCC had a BSL-3 lab as we had no access to that area.
When talking about catalog rights in regards to students, we would be talking about a contract between the university and the students when the students are admitted to the program. Students agree to pay for the training specified in the catalog however were extremely displeased when the university changed things to the point where students could obtain the education for which they were paying. For my personal example, I was to earn a concentration in medical biodefense however they removed the courses I needed to take in order to do that other than “in name only”. There are many examples but they are not for this format. Suffice to say, students stopped receiving the education for which they were paying.
As far as security clearances go, it was just a standard university lab facility undeserving of such mystery and intrigue. Possession of security clearances were irrelevant. And as for access to the computer system, I had access too. It was nothing except access to the internet (just like at home) and whatever files you cared to save on your computer at work. Again, no mystery involved. Not even an intranet system.
I don’t wish to discuss my knowledge of any patents or publications having to do with Dr. Alibek, Dr. Bailey, or Dr. Morozov not because there is any intrigue about them but because I don’t have the full story regarding ownership or authorship. Without Dr. Bailey’s side of the story, I will keep my knowledge to myself as it is the responsible thing to do. You would have to ask Dr. Bailey for his level of involvement (contributions) regarding the patents and publications just as Mr. Willman should have asked Dr. Alibek for his side of the story.
I don’t understand what the big fuss is about regarding fax machines but at the time that I was there, I know of two different fax machines. One was in Occoquan Hall and one was in Discovery Hall. There may have been more but I know there were at least two of them.
In closing, don’t think about the Center like a small version of USAMRIID with classified work being executed and mysterious characters lurking about. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was just the regular university lab space complete with lack of supplies, broken equipment, and hardworking faculty and students. Nothing special.
Hope this helps.
1. As for Timimi’s classified work, the excellent Atlantic Monthly article explains only:
“Some of the jobs required that Ali obtain a high-level
security clearance; one assignment was in response to a call
from the White House, which provided him with a letter of
commendation after his work was done. He later enrolled as
a doctoral candidate at George Mason University, in north-
ern Virginia, near where he then lived. The specialty he
chose was computational biology, a new field that contained
the promise of breaking fresh ground in medicine through
the advanced use of computers. “
“The school even hired Ali—though it let him
go after he came under suspicion by the FBI—”
http://muslimapple.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/the-education-of-ali-al-timimi.pdf
2. As for any classified work done by the Center for Biodefense, I have no idea what the work done for DARPA entailed — the webpages of the faculty members use big words and thus are of not much help to me. During the 2000-2002 period, DARPA funded the Center in the amount of $13 million, I believe. (But correct me if I’m wrong). There is a 2005 powerpoint presentation describing Dr. Alibek’s work relating to anthrax infection, listing his assistant and contact person. I don’t know whether such research is classified or not, but it doesn’t relate to a method of weaponization. I’m told by a government expert, however, whose lab knows enough to have been raided by the FBI, that the March 2001 patent does relate to a method useful in concentrating biological agents — and useful in weaponizing them. It involves silica in the growth medium. A simple method resulting in a sophisticated product concentrated beyond what otherwise would be the case. While GMU Center for Biodefense students such as yourself did not have accesss to ATCC facilities, the bioinformatics students did as explained on the university webpage. As to the details of Ali’s security clearance, and whether it was still in effect, I have no idea. But thanks very much for the clarification on the BL-3 as of 2004 — that’s the only way to progress to a correct understanding of the details.
3. Like I said, I credit Alibek as an expert and do not mean to suggest he or the Center did anything wrong.
4. The Viorst article says Ali published a half dozen articles while at GMU.
I can’t find more than a couple in case you are better at researching the literature. His published research I’ve seen involved cancer.
5. On the subject of computers, former CIA Director Deutsch used to email notes from classified Pentagon briefings to his home computer via his AOL account. It never pays to underestimate the ability of someone who hopes for the destruction of the United States to read one’s communications.