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Threat Assessment: Investigators Find Poor Security at U.S. Agriculture Laboratories Investigators have found poor security and oversight at hundreds of U.S. Agriculture Department laboratories that stockpile dangerous pathogens, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, May 10). A review by the department’s inspector general indicated that a number of Agriculture facilities did not keep accurate records of biological agents, had no central inventory system and kept unmarked vials of biological agents, AP reported. The review found several examples where inventories had the wrong number of biological agent vials, with one facility having lost track of a vial of 3 billion doses of Vesicular stomatitis virus, which can cause flu-like symptoms, according to AP. Investigators found that security improvements were needed at almost half of the 124 facilities they inspected. Some laboratories did not have the necessary security cameras, alarms and fences, AP reported. At laboratories on college campuses, security was often handled by campus security and background checks were not always performed on those who had access to biological agents, according to the inspector general’s review. Although laboratory directors often said they knew security upgrades were needed, they said they had not been performed because of budget constraints and “pre-Sept. 11 management priorities.” Several high-risk laboratories had not installed security fences, even though they had been recommended, the review said. Agriculture said it was working to improve security at department laboratories and to conduct a full inventory of its biological agents (Associated Press/New York Times, May 12). Forest Service Tanker Planes a Theft Risk Investigators examining aviation security soon after the Sept. 11 attacks found that dozens of U.S. Forest Service tanker planes used to drop chemicals to fight forest fires could be stolen by terrorists, the New York Times reported yesterday (see GSN, April 25). The tanker planes “could be attractive to terrorists wishing to disperse biological or chemical weapons,” investigators said. Although law enforcement officials were grounding cropdusters after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Forest Service had determined the threat of terrorists stealing a tanker plane was too small to examine closely, the investigators said. After a security audit harshly criticized the Forest Service, it agreed to re-examine the threat, saying it could take a year to do so, according to the Times. Members of Congress said they would use the security reviews conducted by several department inspectors general as guidelines for developing a better government-wide counterterrorism program. “Too little has changed since Sept. 11,” said Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.). “Federal departments and agencies are not nearly as prepared as they need to be to prevent a second wave of terrorist attacks” (Philip Shenon, New York Times, May 12).
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