Free Republic

Some public- and private-sector medical professionals were impressed with what they saw during an Oct. 19 visit to observe detainee operations at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Defense Department's senior medical official said here Oct. 26. The group's impressions will be used to update departmental policy guidance related to the handling of detainees captured in the global war against terrorism, Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in an interview with American Forces Press Service. After their daytrip to Guantanamo, the group returned to Washington and met with Winkenwerder that evening at Andrews...

December 3, 2002 C.I.A. Hunts Iraq Tie to Soviet SmallpoxBy JUDITH MILLER he C.I.A. is investigating an informant's accusation that Iraq obtained a particularly virulent strain of smallpox from a Russian scientist who worked in a smallpox lab in Moscow during Soviet times, senior American officials and foreign scientists say. The officials said several American scientists were told in August that Iraq might have obtained the mysterious strain from Nelja N. Maltseva, a virologist who worked for more than 30 years at the Research Institute for Viral Preparations in Moscow before her death two years ago. The information came to...

Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, announced today that on Jan. 12 the Department of Defense (DoD) received notice that the General Accounting Office (GAO) upheld the award of the Tricare Retail Pharmacy Contract (TRRx) to Express Scripts Inc. (ESI) of Maryland Heights, Mo. The Tricare Retail Pharmacy contract is for a pharmacy benefits manager to provide a nationwide network of retail pharmacies to fill prescriptions for Tricare beneficiaries in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The GAO review was prompted by protests filed by...