* Will it take Congressional subpoena power to fill in the blanks in the email asking about weaponized anthrax that came to Detrick via FedEx and then was shipped out and some was missing?
Posted by DXer on July 29, 2015
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/democrats-will-order-fbi-white-house-counsel-to-preserve-records-shared-with-mueller/2019/03/22/462fc54a-4ca2-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.24cf3652a0ee
Democrats will direct FBI, White House counsel to preserve records …
Washington Post-Mar 22, 2019
The six House leaders and their Senate Democratic counterparts have signed a letter that will be sent to the Department of Justice, FBI and …
***
The feud could wind up in court. House Democrats have discussed issuing subpoenas for the information, to compel the administration to cooperate.
DXer said
DOJ, House GOP lurch toward confrontation in document fight
‘We’re going to get compliance or the House of Representatives is going to use its full arsenal of constitutional weapons,’ one Republican said.
By KYLE CHENEY and AUBREE ELIZA WEAVER
06/17/2018 10:31 AM EDT
Updated 06/17/2018 03:53 PM EDT
The Justice Department and House Republicans appear to be careening toward their tensest confrontation yet in a long-running dispute over documents, with one GOP lawmaker warning that the House could seek to hold officials in contempt of Congress if the FBI and DOJ fail to comply with subpoenas for information.
House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Speaker Paul Ryan led a meeting Friday with FBI and DOJ officials in which lawmakers “went item by item” through outstanding subpoenas from the House intelligence and judiciary committees.
“And Paul made it very clear. There’s going to be action on the floor of the House this week if the FBI and DOJ do not comply with our subpoena request,” Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday.” “So [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein, [FBI Director] Chris Wray, you were in the meeting. You understood him just as clearly as I did. We’re going to get compliance or the House of Representatives is going to use its full arsenal of constitutional weapons to gain compliance.”
Asked by host Chris Wallace whether that could include holding officials in contempt of Congress, Gowdy said yes.
“I don’t want the drama,” Gowdy said. “I want the documents.”
Comment:
If Congress subpoenaed the documents relating to Amerithrax — even just those cited, quoted and relied upon in the Amerithrax Investigative Summary — the world might learn that Robert Mueller botched Amerithrax.
I have a lot of admiration for Mueller and what he stands for (the rule of law). But one has to wonder whether his good reputation got way ahead of the reality, if the FBI (including the WFO) — in order to cover its ass in Amerithrax — has to misplace all of the documents it relied upon in closing Amerithrax and declaring the case solved. And if it actually located the documents and thinks some some exemption applies, then the controlling precedent in Vaughn requires that it specify the exemption so that the federal court can rule on its applicability.
There is a reason that Robert Mueller never thanked or complimented the Amerithrax investigators he led. (See Willman book describing their bitterness).
A copy of the 22 page Interim Case Management Table of Contents and 16-page section on Bruce Ivins should be provided to the United States District Court for review of these issues. (There is no need to give the busy US federal court more than those 38 pages).
If the United States Attorney Jessica Liu lost all the documents cited and relied upon in the Amerithrax Investigative Summary under her watch, history will mark this day if Al Qaeda ever attacks an American city in a mass biological attack.
Given his experience on issues relating to anthrax, I would think that Attorney Giuliani would be a more effective player on this issue of prompting the FBI to comply with the rule of law.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawhahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Did someone make a powder out of the missing 340 ml. of virulent Ames for DARPA or DTRA research?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on August 22, 2016
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/did-someone-make-a-powder-out-of-the-missing-340-ml-of-virulent-ames-for-darpa-or-dtra-research/
Is Southern Research Institute the phrase that fits in front of laboratory in regard to the location that aerosol work for DARPA was done? Was it Johns-Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory? Or instead were the special facilities built at USAMRIID. The research involved the FBI’s anthrax expert John Ezzell and his assistant Joany Jackman.
Posted by Lew Weinstein on July 21, 2011
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/is-southern-research-institute-the-phrase-that-fits-in-front-of-laboratory-in-regard-to-the-location-that-aerosol-work-for-darpa-was-done-or-was-it-johns-hopkins-university-applied-physics-labora/
DXer said
I no longer can find the USAMRMC Electronic Reading Room. Is it that I just haven’t had my morning coffee?
I have written FOIA requestor Ken Dillon and the wonderful FOIA Officer Sandra Rogers to ask if they know.
“Ken and Sandra,
I no longer can find the USAMRMC Electronic Reading Room – was it taken down?
Sandra, we are trying to have the FBI provide the emails that the FBI relied upon in closing Amerithrax (and quoted in their Amerithrax Investigative Summary). As the wonderful USAMRMC official John Peterson explained to me at the time, the DOJ and FBI had John pull them from his USAMRMC production years ago. That was appropriate and sensible at the time given the “law enforcement exemption” and the pendency of the criminal investigation Amerithrax. But once that investigation closed in February 2011, there was no grounds for their withholding. And they should now be produced.
John would send batches to a large number of FBI and DOJ officials and they would review them to see what, if any, emails needed to be culled or redacted.
As produced, the emails would be produced with proper names redacted under (b)(6).
I would then publicly distribute them.
see, e.g.,
https://cryptome.org/ivins/ivins-email.htm
https://cryptome.org/ivins/ivins-docs.htm
The former lead Amerithrax investigator Richard Lambert has told the New York Times and Fox News and other media outlets that the FBI is witholding a staggering amount of information exculpatory of the late Bruce Ivins, the scientist at USAMRIID who committed suicide.
Ken DIllon, represented by DC counsel, is litigating the issue in federal district court presently. Some of the exculpatory information is contained in those emails that will reveal that Bruce Ivins was working, as scheduled, doing late night and weekend animal checks.
My view is that the FBI selectively and misleadingly quoted those emails. Withholding them so that the FBI officials do not get in trouble for accusing the USAMRIID scientist of murder is not grounds to claim that the dog ate the emails. These were all the emails quoted and relied upon its Amerithrax Investigative Summary.
Sandra, I hope you are well and are having a good summer.
Life is short. Bruce Ivins should be judged fairly — without the selective and misleading presentation of evidence alleged by the former lead Amerithrax investigator Lambert. No FOIA exemption beyond the routine (b)(6) exemption applies — but the first order of business is to have someone lay their hands on the culled emails.
No proper Vaughn Index points to any exemption that applies to the culled emails now that Amerithrax was closed in February 2011.
This is the URL of the reading room that I am not finding. Is the website down so that the reading room can be supplemented and the culled emails restored?
http://mrmc.amedd.army.mil/content/foia_reading_room/Form%2011-R/115_Form%2011R_9-4-01%20Redacted.pdf”
Ross Getman
ross_getman@verizon.net
DXer said
The DOJ / FBI culling and vetting of Bruce Ivins emails was excruciatingly slow because of the number of DOJ and FBI officials and employees who John Peterson shared the emails with as part of the vetting.
more of Dr. Bruce Ivins’ emails … With the 2 new batches of Ivins emails (up to 12/2005), it has taken the USAMRIID 2 years to produce the simple stack of emails that should have been produced in September 2008
Posted by Lew Weinstein on July 6, 2010
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/more-ivins-emails-with-the-2-new-batches-of-ivins-emails-up-to-122005-it-has-taken-the-usamriid-2-years-to-produce-the-simple-stack-of-emails-that-should-have-been-produced-in-september-2008/
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/ivins-email-6-28-05-discusses-powder-deemed-closest-to-attack-anthrax/
As uploaded, I would share them on this blog in real time.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/new-release-of-bruce-ivins-emails-from-september-2004-%e2%80%93-may-2005/
The newly released Ivins emails show that no record was kept of transfers to former Zawahiri associate because it was done at USAMRIID
Posted by Lew Weinstein on May 25, 2010
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/newly-released-ivins-emails-show-that-no-record-was-kept-of-transfers-to-former-zawahiri-associate-because-it-was-done-at-usamriid/
DXer said
I would post on the drawn out process as the months and years passed:
“John Peterson at USAMEDD and Lt. Colonel Laurel at USAMRIID told the USAMRIID CO that 50 pages every time DXer made a fuss was quite enough.”
“Their approach, in close collaboration with DOJ/FBI has been to string out production over the past two years, thus preventing the relevant emails from being produced.”
“The USAMRIID CO’s acquiescence in the Lt. Col. Laurel’s and USAMEDD’s John Peterson foot-dragging on the production of Ivin’s post-911 emails should not continue.”
“They should be told to take the emails into a room, take a black magic marker to the proper nouns requiring b(6)(7) redaction and then leave them for someone to come and copy and upload by tomorrow.”
“You want timelines? I could give you a timeline based on written correspondence showing a total abdication of the duty to comply with FOIA. If Lew were handling the production, I think he would have them turned around in a day — not two years.”
“This glanders issue illustrates deliberate mischaracterization of the documentary evidence made possible only because the DOJ/FBI was allowed interfered with USAMRIID’s compliance with FOI.”
“The USAMMED officials with the relevant responsibility idly sat by and let it happen.”
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/dxer-why-werent-all-of-dr-ivins-emails-provided-as-required-under-the-freedom-of-information-act/
DXer said
Will the FBI ever produce an Ivins or other section from the memo by Richard Lambert to FBI Director Mueller that addresses this?
DXer said
With Kushner set to be indicted, and the country facing possible constitutional crisis, it doesn’t seem that Congress will ever find out what happened to the missing weaponized anthrax. But at the very least, a federal district court could order the FBI to comply with the FOIA statute and abide by the rule of law.
DXer said
Where and when did Southern Research Institute first obtain virulent Ames? (The former SRI Prez Voss and usually helpful VP Franz declined to tell me when I asked some years ago). Did the rumored misshipment transfer of Ames involve a shipment from USAMRIID and/or Southern Research Institute? USAMRIID has not yet been able to lay its hands on the documents relating to the re-shipment of the 340 ml that arrived on June 28, 2001. Did SRI get its virulent Ames from USAMRIID’s Special Pathogens?
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/dugway-anthrax-will-it-take-congressional-subpoena-power-to-fill-in-the-blanks-in-the-email-asking-about-weaponized-anthrax-that-came-to-detrick-and-then-was-shipped-out-and-some-was-missing/
Al-Timimi shared a fax with Ken Alibek and Charles Bailey. Dr. Charles Bailey for DIA wrote extensively on the the biothreat posed by other countries (and presumably terrorists). He shared a fax number with Al-Timimi. What came over that fax line in Spring and Summer of 2001? Perhaps an EA-101 announcing the imminent transfer of virulent Ames? The requestor fills out Parts 1 and 2 and the transferor fills out parts 3 and 4. (For example, in the case of the 340 ml., notes that Dr. Hawley faxed the EA-101 on June 25, 2001 regarding the planned FedEx shipment on June 27, 2001).
So it seems that Ali Al-Timimi could have advance notice of any planned transfer of a Select Pathogen if the EA 101 simply was faxed to the heads of the DARPA Center for Biodefense at GMU, where they shared a salafist imam shared a suite with the DARPA researchers whose multimillion dollar project involved research with virulent Ames at Southern Research Institute in Frederick, MD.
See, e.g., “Systemic cytokine response in murine anthrax” Serguei G. Popov 1 *, Taissia G. Popova 1 , Edith Grene 1 , Francis Klotz 1 , Jennifer Cardwell 1 , Chris Bradburne 1 , Yusuf Jama 1 , Matthew Maland 2 , Jay Wells 2 , Aysegul Nalca 2 , Tom Voss 2 , Charles Bailey 3 and Ken Alibek 1,3
1 Advanced Biosystems Inc., Manassas, VA 20110, USA.
2 Southern Research Institute, Frederick, MD, USA.
3 George Mason University Center for Biodefense, Manassas, VA 20110, USA.
The article notes that “All experiments with Ames strain were carried out in the BSL-3 facility of Southern Research Institute, Frederick, MD. This work was supported in part by grants from the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, and by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, USA.”
“Authors thank … personnel of the Homeland Security Division of Southern Research Institute, Frederick, MD, for carrying out experiments with virulent B. anthracis strain ….”
After agents raided Al-Timimi townhouse on February 26, 2003 — 100 agents came here the same day and minute so I was paying attention that day — I called Alibek to ask if and where he was using virulent Ames. He was — the research was done at the local BL-3 in the area at SRI.
It was announced that Southern Research Institute was a subcontractor on the DARPA award to Advanced Biosystems when the grant was made in 2000.
PR Newswire
May 4, 2000, Thursday
HADRON Subsidiary Awarded $3.3 Million Biodefense Contract by DARPA
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 4
Hadron’s subsidiaries, Avenue Technologies, Inc. and Advanced Biosystems, Inc., will perform the biodefense research programs under this contract. The scientific and medical research will consist of several related programs regarding the development of rapid-acting broad-spectrum protection against biological threat agents. Southern Research Institute, a well known research organization … is a subcontractor on this program.
At some point, Dr. Al-Timimi, Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey also shared the same maildrop. It certainly would not be surprising that the two directors who headed the DARPA-funded Center for Biodefense — and had received the biggest defense award in history for work with Delta Ames under a contract with USAMRIID — would have been briefed on the threat of mailed anthrax. The 1999 short report by William Patrick to Hatfill at SAIC on the general subject was far less important given that it did not relate to actual experimental findings.
Plus, it is common sense that while someone might use as a model something they had surreptitiously learned of — they would not use as a model something in a memo that they had commissioned. Thus, it was rather misdirected to focus on the 1999 SAIC report commissioned by Dr. Hatfill rather than the 2001 Canadian report. The Canadian report related to the anthrax threat sent regarding the detention of Vanguards of Conquest #2 Mahjoub in Canada. Mahjoub had worked with al-Hawsawi in Sudan (the fellow with anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop). The anthrax threat in late January prompted the still-classified PDB in early February 2001 to President Bush on the subject.
DXer said
Is the 340 ml. shipped from Dugway in June 2001 to USAMRIID the anthrax shipped to USAMRIID that was rumored to have gone missing? Ivins calculated that it would take about 300 ml to make the anthrax used in the mailed letters. (at the concentration of Flask 1029).
Was the 340 ml. ever shipped from Dugway to USAMRIID in June 2001 for irradiation ever shipped back to Dugway?
The USAMRIID has delayed for many months responding to records relating to Dugway anthrax shipments
I had not remembered that Flask 1030 was the seed stock for Flask 1029. It is counterintuitive given that the number 1030 is bigger than 1029. (1030 itself was a mixture and had a silicon signature; it had 3 morphs).
Four vials from 1030 was sent to Dugway in 1997. Both the FBI and USAMRIID have failed to give me Notebook 3655 (pertaining to Flask 1030) and they are not complying with FOIPA.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/for-the-notebook-describing-usamriids-shipment-of-4-vials-of-ba-ames-to-dugway-which-contained-numerous-entries-by-ivins-see-this-notebook-that-usamriid-refuses-to-produce-despite-repeated-reque/
Dugway then sent back 340 ml in June 2001 for irradiation.
USAMRIID radiation was sometimes was ineffective. See 2004 report in pumpkin graphic. After irradiation, it was kept in the cold room near the loading dock.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/in-2004-the-fbi-was-told-that-ivins-handled-irradiation-of-dugway-spores-which-then-were-kept-in-the-cold-room-even-though-irradiation-was-not-always-successful/
And there was a Dugway shipment vaguely rumored to have gone missing. See email in graphic above.
Ivins calculated that it would take 300 ml. to make the anthrax used in the mailings.
Are there in fact shipment records proving that USAMRIID shipped back the 340 ml of Ames that was sent from Dugway to USAMRIID after irradiation?
CDC referred my request to USAMRIID — after these months of delay — but now USAMRIID has gone silent on the request (and so I don’t know what to expect or when to expect it. The truly wonderful USMRMC FOIPA officer won’t give me an estimate … which is not like her. I’ve suggested that JAG has it — lawyers representing the Army would have wanted to see the record so directly related to the so-called “murder weapon”.
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/dod-inspector-general-staff-judge-advocate-handling-the-subpoena-for-the-lab-notebooks-is-named-in-the-april-2007-correspondence-with-bruce-ivins/
Is the 340 ml of Ames the source of the so-called “Iraq sample” that Ivins was asked to look at? He intentionally mislabeled it and then what was left of the powder went missing when Fellows left.
GAO: Why are the so-called “Iraq sample” and Battelle discussed under the heading about IVINS’ knowledge of reported proposals to start conducting animal challenges at USAMRIID with dried Ames anthrax powder? What consulting did the DARPA-funded researchers at GMU’s Center for Biodefense who came to share a suite with Ali Al-Timimi do for Battelle in 1999? What work with virulent Ames did SRI in Frederick, MD do for those researchers?
DXer said
After producing the email attachments that have already been collected but have not yet been uploaded (to include documents such as Amerithrax Inventory 1-13), will USAMRMC be producing the documents relating to shipments of anthrax spores between USAMRIID and Dugway?
Consider the first quarter of 2003, for example. I am advised that spores from Dugway to USAMRIID were shipped on 15 JAN 03. Then spore were shipped from USAMRIID to Dugway on 4 MAR 03. And then spores were shipped from Dugway to USAMRIID on 11 MAR 03.
Is USAMRIID going to only produce the documents relating to shipments after 9/11? Did someone at USAMRIID or USMRMC destroy the documents of such shipments predating the murder of the five people, including the elderly Ottilie Lundgren? Or do the documents still exist and USMRMC/CDC/Army still insist on concealing them — all the while the Secretary of the Army is flying the banner of transparency and accountability.
DXer said
CDC hires top lab safety official to address string of incidents, culture
Alison Young, USA TODAY9:46 a.m. EDT September 15, 2015
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/15/cdc-lab-safety-director-hire/72299642/
DXer said
Operations Suspended At 3 Md. Labs Due To Anthrax Probe
September 3, 2015 9:43 PM
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/09/03/operations-suspended-at-3-md-labs-due-to-anthrax-probe/
The Army wants answers on how these labs handle safety procedures and equipment. Until then, some are suspended. Others are under review.
It’s an investigation that started three months ago–potentially deadly live anthrax shipped across the country and world.
“Everyone in the Department of Defense takes this issue very seriously.”
***
“This is sort of being killed by friendly fire. Our own Defense Department is sending these spores around,” said Michael Greenberger, University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security.
It was a private Maryland lab that first reported the active sample in May.
The Pentagon admits the spores were mistakenly sent from a facility in Utah to dozens of labs in 50 states–more than initially thought.
In August, the CDC conducted a spot check at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, concerned about the handling of research materials.
DXer said
HHS Develops an Anthrax Vaccine While DoD Stumbles
Share on faceboSep 03, 2015 | by Richard Sisk
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/09/03/hhs-develops-an-anthrax-vaccine-while-dod-stumbles.html
“It’s safe to say that the effort here is to try to track down exactly where every one of these shipments went,” Cook said. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta was assisting in the review, he said.”
Comment:
Not really. They are not even looking where the pre-911 shipments went. They took things back to 2003 and then stopped. Thus, the DOD review, led by the former FBI people Hassell and Majidi, is (effectively) a total whitewash from the start.
DXer said
Army suspends operations at 9 labs due to Anthrax probe, Thursday, September 3, 2015 5:29 pm
http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/army-suspends-operations-at-labs-due-to-anthrax-probe/article_da3405d5-504f-5301-b63d-74f0a41ae633.html
•
McHugh is also directing a broad safety review at nine department labs involved in the production, shipment or handling of biological toxins. He ordered a report within the next 10 days.
His order expands the initial moratorium announced in July, which suspended activities with anthrax. He is ordering the labs to review their training on safety procedures, maintenance on equipment, record-keeping, and standard practices for the handling of the toxins.
Samples of live anthrax from the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah were shipped to 194 labs.
Comment:
Would Army Secretary John McHugh fill in the blanks in the above email message if asked by a member of Congress? If not, then isn’t an “F” due for the work this past summer?
DXer said
Pentagon orders safety review of 9 labs that handle toxins,anthrax
Daily Mail – 52 minutes ago
WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Thursday it was ordering a safety review at nine Department of Defense labs and facilities that handle toxins and agents such as anthrax.
The review follows the discovery of anthrax contamination at a facility in Utah and incorrect record-keeping at two other locations, the Pentagon said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3221579/Pentagon-orders-safety-review-9-labs-handle-toxins-anthrax.html#ixzz3kiD3kMOQ
Comment: What are the 9 labs?
DXer said
When John Ezzell supplied gamma irradiated Ames to Edgewood at Aberdeen Proving Ground (in a soil suspension), how many rads were used to irradiate the Ames strain? What sterility testing was done?
Click to access 3474.full.pdf
Immunomagnetic-Electrochemiluminescent Detection of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Soil Matrices
JOHN G. BRUNO1* AND HAO YU2
Vol. 62, No. 9
Applied Research Associates, U.S. Air Force, Armstrong Laboratory, Environics Directorate, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida 32403,1 and Systems Research Laboratories, U.S. Army, Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-54232
Received 9 February 1996/Accepted 5 June 1996
Spores of one avirulent (Sterne) and two gamma-irradiated virulent (Ames and Vollum 1B) B. anthracis strains and B. cereus ATCC 7064 (American Type Culture Collection, Rock- ville, Md.) were the generous gifts of John Ezzell, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort De- trick
***
Rapid ( Ames > Vollum 1B. Detection was up to 3 orders of magnitude less sensitive in soil suspensions, and the rank order of sensitivity was altered.
***
For spore-spiked soil IM-ECL assays, two soil suspensions from fine particulates of a moist dark brown to black soil (soil 1) and a dry light yellowish sandy soil (soil 2), taken from two different locations in the vicinity of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., were prepared in PBS.
Comment:
Dr. Ezzell told me that the mailed anthrax was tan whereas the powdered anthrax he later made for DARPA researchers was fine white. JE acquired the Ames he made into a powder for DARPA researchers from Bruce Ivins’ Flask 1029.
Where he did acquire the Ames that he supplied to Edgewood on this prior occasion — the time it was supplied in a soil suspension?
DOD’s Christian Hassell and Vahid Majidi — both former FBI officials who led the science investigation of the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings — oversaw a DOD review that did not study the effectiveness of irradiation at Edgewood and USAMRIID and Dugway prior to 2003. They should not have not limited the probe. It was the effectiveness of gamma irradiation PRIOR to the US Fall 2001 anthrax mailings that would have shed even more light on the validity of the conclusions they drew in connection with the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings.
DXer said
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/07/fedex-bans-select-agents-after-dod-anthrax-lapses
FedEx bans select agents after DoD anthrax lapses
Filed Under: Anthrax; Biosecurity Issues
Robert Roos | News Editor | CIDRAP News | Jul 30, 2015
The Nature editors noted that the Army lab had never optimized its procedure for killing BA spores and said the base’s own records showed that the process failed once in every five attempts. Further, neither Dugway nor the receiving labs had done enough testing to ensure that the spores were dead, they asserted.
“Academic labs could be justifiably rankled at the amount of money and time they have to spend complying with regulations on less dangerous pathogens and harmless amounts of radiation,” the editorial stated. “A university that flouts CDC regulations would probably be subject to harsh penalties. But US law allows government labs to maintain secrecy around their procedures and the results of investigations into their biosafety mishaps, of which there seem to be many.”
The editors noted that a congressional committee has called for a new investigation of the DoD missteps, a list of labs that handle select agents, and details of biosafety violations.
Research on BA and other select agents is essential for biodefense, but “incompetent oversight combined with a culture of secrecy could threaten that work,” the authors wrote. “And, given the overabundance of caution applied elsewhere, there should be some spare to deploy at the government labs at which it is most needed.”
DXer said
Nature Editorial
Secret service
Government labs should be subject to the same transparent oversight as academic facilities.
29 July 2015
http://www.nature.com/news/secret-service-1.18081
Furthermore, neither the sending nor the receiving labs had done enough to verify that the samples were dead. Dugway, for instance, tested only 5% of each sample for viability, which would not have detected a low concentration of live spores. In a twist of irony, DOD scientist Bruce Ivins, who was allegedly responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks, had suggested that half of a sample should be screened to rule out viability.
Dugway has been in hot water before. An investigation by the news outlet USA Today found that the CDC had reprimanded the facility eight years ago for using a different experimental protocol to inactivate anthrax spores and then shipping them even when tests showed that they were still alive.
***
That could soon change. On 28 July, both the DOD and the CDC were hauled before a congressional committee that is demanding answers and a new probe into the latest incident. The committee has also called for the agencies to produce a list of the labs that are authorized to work with anthrax and other bioterror agents, and for details of biosafety violations.
DXer said
Jul 24, 2015
Effective July 17, 2015, Federal Express (FedEx) will no longer accept for transport Select Agents. FedEx will continue to accept for transport Category A infectious substances.
Please review the below to determine if this change will impact your future shipments.
http://www.inmarkstp.com/inmarku/news/fedex_discontinues_transport_of_select_agents
DXer said
Some background:
FedEx CEO urged not to deliver anthrax
Posted : 2015-06-19
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/06/116_181204.html
The Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union criticized the firm Friday for having ignored its duty to protect its workers and the public from hazardous materials.
“The company must take safety measures immediately to protect handling and delivery workers,” the union told a news conference. “In addition, the company must stop delivering anthrax samples.”
***
The union said it is planning to file a lawsuit against the company.
Comment: CDC thwarted my FOIA request that sought learning about this rumored missing weaponzied anthrax in a FOIA to USAMRIID. Perhaps litigation would shed light.
DXer said
I have not seen the Fed Ex letter announcing the change in policy and am unclear on how it applies.
But Dr. Ebright points out to me:
“The irony is that the DoD shipments of putatively killed but actually anthrax spores were not shipments of select agents (since inactivated select agents are not deemed select agents)…and when Dugway, USAMRIID, ECBC, and NMRC resume producing and shipping inactivated anthrax spores, they still will be able to ship by FedEx (since select agents still will not be deemed select agents).'”
But I am both uncertain as to how the FedEx policy will operate in effect — and whether it will all be rendered academic by a courier like DHL taking it over.
DXer said
Officials call for new probe into US Army facility that mistakenly sent anthrax for years
http://www.neurope.eu/ap_feed/officials-call-for-new-probe-into-us-army-facility-that-mistakenly-sent-live-anthrax-for-years/
At a press briefing Thursday, Pentagon officials said half the lots of anthrax produced at the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah contained live anthrax after attempts to kill the bacteria failed.
The Pentagon has ordered a new investigation to determine who was responsible.
The problem was first identified in May, but the investigation provided new details that showed the problem goes back more than a decade.
DXer said
The House Armed Services Committee quickly issued a statement saying it was “dissatisfied with the timeliness and the level of detail in this report,” concluding “this reads like a report that spent more time getting scrubbed in the E-Ring than investigated in the field.”
Pentagon: No ‘root cause’ of live anthrax shipments
House committee issues statement ‘dissatisfied with the timeliness and the level of detail in this report’
http://www.wmur.com/politics/pentagon-no-root-cause-of-live-anthrax-shipments/34321134
DXer said
Bipartisan Committee Leaders Continue Efforts to Hold Federal Agencies Accountable for Handling of Live Anthrax
July 21, 2015
http://energycommerce.house.gov/icymi/news-usa-today-cdc-review-oversight-bioterror-labs-after-usa-today-investigation
DXer said
Senators, health experts demand action to address biolab accidents
Alison Young, USA TODAY 6 a.m. EDT June 29, 2015
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/29/actions-needed–improved-lab-safety/29296625/
DXer said
The CDC has shut me down — even though my request was to USAMRIID, not CDC! — by looking to charge me as a commercial requester! A reporter will have to make the same request.
DXer said
Is CDC going to tell USA Today’s Alison Young about the 2007 probe of the earlier misshipment of anthrax? Bruce Ivins asked: “Does this refer to any material that DPG sent here for irradiation, then was sent back?”
https://twitter.com/alisonannyoung
DXer said
Situation Report: Big choices for the White House; anthrax officials under the microscope; Army takes to e-publishing; more moves at the NSC and more…
• BY PAUL MCLEARY
• JUNE 16, 2015 – 7:44 AM
• PAUL.MCLEARY
Naming names. When Pentagon investigators report back to Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work at the end of this month with their assessment of how a U.S. Army lab mistakenly sent live anthrax to dozens of labs around the world, someone, somewhere, will have to be held responsible.
The question is who?
The easiest answer would be to look at the managers running the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, which over the past decade has sent potentially live anthrax samples to at least 69 labs in 19 states and Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, and the U.K. A systemic failure that widespread, and that long in the making, means that there is plenty of blame to go around, and the failures are the work of more than just a handful of people.
That said, there are two people who have probably been pretty busy since the anthrax scandal broke last month. Atop the chain is Army Col. Ronald F. Fizer, who has run Dugway since 2010, or about half the time that the tainted samples have been shipped out.
Dugway is a big place, however, and there are several labs that handle biological and chemical agents. Dugway spokeswoman Sheryl Grubbs tells SitRep that the anthrax all came from the lab’s Life Sciences Division, which is run by Douglas Andersen, according to stories posted to Dugway’s website.
The Life Sciences division, by the way, is just about to finish construction on a $39 million, 41,000 square foot annex to test defenses against biological weapons, a facility that will more than double the size of the current site. There’s no word from the Pentagon as to exactly when the final report will be briefed to Work, or how much of it will be released to the public.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/16/situation-report-big-choices-for-the-white-house-anthrax-officials-under-the-microscope-army-takes-to-e-publishing-more-moves-at-the-nsc-and-more/
Comment: It is so easy to pretend to be addressing the issue by finding someone to blame. It’s far more important, I think, to understand the technical issues and logical implications of the uncertainties involved in the irradiation of anthrax and distribution (inadvertent or not) of virulent anthrax.
There is a risk that punishment will deter candid disclosure of problems — and deter disclosure of historic events that would get someone in trouble.
The DOD should demonstrate its commitment to a successful resolution of the problems posed by more meaningful probe — to include extending back in time to the late 1990s.
DXer said
In 2007, Bruce Ivins found it amazing that 6 million rads was not killing the spores. “Irradiation sterilization failure … again.” Emailed dated June 13, 2007.
Click to access 20070611_batch78(redacted).pdf
Before 9/11, virulent Ames was being irradiated with 5 million rads.
The FBI’s entire analysis was based on the scientifically unvalidated assumption that irradiation was effective and only samples not irradiated needed to be included in the genetic analysis.
Click to access 20000321_Anthrax%20spores.pdf
From: To: Subject: Date:
Ivins, Bruce E Dr USAMRIID (b) (6) USAMRIID
Anthrax spores
Tuesday, March 21, 2000 7:50:34 AM
Yesterday, 20 MAR 00, B. anthracis Ames spores were irradiated by your department with 5 million rads. The samples were plated out onto Tryptic soy agar and found to be sterile.
– Bruce Ivins Bacteriology Division
DXer said
Ayman Zawahiri, Anwar Awlaki, Anthrax, and Amerithrax: The Infiltration Of US Biodefense
DXer said
Was virulent Ames genetically identical to the attack anthrax at Dugway Proving Ground at Utah?
DXer said
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
North Korea Accuses US of Targeting It With Live Anthrax
UNITED NATIONS — Jun 12, 2015, 7:27 PM ET
By CARA ANNA Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/north-korea-accuses-us-targeting-live-anthrax-31720886
North Korea is accusing the United States of targeting it with anthrax and wants the U.N. Security Council to look into they called America’s “biological warfare schemes.”
A letter from North Korea’s U.N. ambassador to the council president and the U.N. chief, made public Friday, claims that the U.S. “possesses deadly weapons of mass destruction” that it is trying to use against them.
***
Ja Song Nam’s letter says the shipment of live anthrax to South Korea means the U.S. “is attempting to use them in actual warfare” against his country.
State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters in Washington the allegations were “ridiculous,” and didn’t “merit a response.”