Free Republic

The Department of Homeland Security is dismantling a next-generation biological attack warning system in New York City subways because of technical problems, U.S. officials said. Robert Hooks, a deputy assistant secretary, said the department no longer believes it is necessary to expand the pilot program, as he told Congress in July, because of resource and technology limits. Hooks said a long-planned alternative sensor system, set for initial deployment late next year, also will not be available nationwide until 2012, to allow for more testing. The deactivation of the pilot program in late March marks a setback in U.S. efforts to...

Berlin (CNSNews.com) - Adding another sticking point to strained relations with the United States, Germany says its troops will not come to the rescue of American soldiers if they invade Iraq and face a chemical or biological attack there. German defense minister Peter Struck said Friday that his forces will only defend and assist American soldiers and civilians based in Kuwait, where some German troops are currently stationed. German soldiers in Kuwait possess equipment to detect contamination by biological and chemical weapons. But if the attack takes place in Iraq, German troops will not go forward to assist U.S....

<p>It was, the doctor at the Long Beach Veteran's Administration Hospital said, an incidental finding. A little gray smudge on the X-ray, a blob next to the pituitary gland.</p> <p>Six months later, University of California at Los Angeles surgeons worked six hours to sever a tumor from the brain of a muscular, 25-year-old ex-Special Forces Ranger and Gulf War veteran. The costly surgery was performed at UCLA, the patient said, because VA doctors denied that the "incidental finding" caused his excruciating, unremitting headaches.</p>