Anthrax I:  Some Post Offices Need Retesting, Scientists Say

U.S. postal facilities that have been tested for anthrax using dry cotton swabs should be retested because that method is unreliable, scientists told a House subcommittee yesterday (see GSN, April 22). 

The postal facilities that should be retested are “those facilities deemed free of anthrax based on a single dry swab,” said Keith Rhodes, chief technologist for the General Accounting Office’s Center for Technology and Engineering.  Rhodes and other officials testified before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations (Associated Press/New York Times, May 20). 

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Anthrax II:  Genetic Engineering Could Create Improved Weapons, Scientist Says

Genetic engineering could help create biological agents that could evade the human immune system, a biological defense researcher said yesterday (see GSN, May 1).

There have already been several cases where dangerous microbes had been accidentally produced through genetic engineering of viruses and vaccines, said University of Darmstadt professor Kathryn Nixdorff.  For example, Russian researchers were able to create a strain of the anthrax bacterium that could resist the current anthrax vaccine when both were administered to hamsters.

There are several ways microorganisms could be genetically modified to be better weapons, such as by enhancing their resistance to antibiotics or increasing their lethality, according to Nixdorff. 

She discounted claims, however, that the human genome sequence could be used to help develop a biological weapon capable of targeting a specific racial or ethnic group (see GSN, May 21, 2002). 

“At present this seems unlikely for several reasons.  It has been pointed out in several reports that races do not exist from a genetic perspective; there is generally more genetic variation within groups than between groups,” Nixdorff said.  “Indeed, it has been suggested that a re-examination of the race concept is due,” she said (David Hearst, London Guardian, May 20).

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International Response:  WHO to Consider Improved Regulations

World Health Organization officials are expected today to begin discussing new powers to combat international epidemics that could be caused by bioterrorism.  The agency is scheduled to begin its 10-day annual meeting today in Geneva (see GSN, Oct. 22, 2001).

The World Health Assembly is expected to consider revisions to WHO guidelines that would require members to report a much larger number of diseases than currently required, according to the Washington Post.  The revisions would also give the organization the authority to respond even when members will not admit they are facing a health crisis.

“These are major changes in the way WHO works,” said David Heymann, executive director of WHO’s communicable diseases program.  “The way we work now is passive.  This would now be active,” he said.

The disease outbreaks that nations must currently report — cholera, yellow fever and plague — “with the possible exception of cholera, are not really what you’re worried about anymore,” Kimball said.  “If you leave a body of internationally agreed regulations that limited, it becomes irrelevant,” he said.

The proposed revisions would create a new, more general requirement that countries report any “public health emergency of international concern,” according to the Post.

The Bush administration was reviewing its position on the proposed revisions late last week and has not made its position public.  The White House is concerned that the proposals “not go too far,” said Health and Human Services Department spokesman William Pierce. 

“You want to be very clear about what you should do in these cases, but at the same time you don’t want to create undue panic or take undue actions,” Pierce said (Rob Stein, Washington Post, May 18).

The World Health Assembly meeting is also expected to include discussion on the eradication of smallpox virus stockpiles, according to a WHO release (see GSN, Nov. 6, 2002; World Health Organization release, Feb. 27).

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Anthrax:  Hatfill Conversation Led to Pond Search, Sources Say

The FBI’s recently reported discovery of discarded laboratory equipment in a pond near Frederick, Md., was prompted by a tip from an acquaintance of former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill, who has long been the public focus of the bureau’s investigation into the fall 2001 anthrax attacks, Newsweek reported today (see GSN, May 12).

In December 2002 and January of this year, the FBI conducted two searches of a section of forest outside Frederick, using divers to investigate a set of ponds in the area.  The Washington Post reported earlier this month that, during those searches, divers recovered a clear box with holes that could accommodate gloves, as well as vials wrapped in plastic, from one of the ponds.

FBI agents searched the pond after an interview with the Hatfill acquaintance, who told them about a conversation he had with Hatfill, according to Newsweek.  The acquaintance told the agents that Hatfill, who had been questioning the theory that whoever produced the anthrax used in the attacks would need access to sophisticated equipment, said the anthrax could have been made in the woods and the evidence could be tossed “in a lake,” Newsweek reported.

The discovery of the box led to some FBI agents developing a theory that whoever was responsible for the anthrax attacks submerged the box into the pond to work with anthrax spores without fear of self-infection.  Other law-enforcement officials, however, have dismissed such a theory.

“It got a lot of giggles,” an FBI source said.

The FBI tested the box for anthrax and initially received a positive result, according to Newsweek.  Further testing, however, has come back negative.  The bureau now plans to drain the pond in an attempt to find more evidence, such as a wet suit that might have been used and discarded by the person responsible for the attacks, Newsweek reported (Newsweek/MSNBC.com, May 19).

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Iran:  Tehran Capable of “Delivering Deadly Blows” With Biological Weapons, Opposition Group Says

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — An Iranian opposition group with ties to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization claims Tehran has developed the capability to deliver “deadly blows” using biological weapons (see GSN, May 15).

At a press conference yesterday, representatives from the National Council of Resistance of Iran provided a detailed outline of Iran’s alleged biological weapons program.  The group described an official 2001 Iranian document, the Comprehensive National Microbial Defense Plan, which detailed Tehran’s goals for its biological weapons program, as well as which agencies and centers would be responsible for various research and procurement activities.

The council is the political arm of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, which the U.S. State Department has formally identified as a terrorist organization.  Mujahedin-e Khalq is a Marxist-influenced group that conducted terrorist attacks in the 1970s that killed U.S. military and civilian personnel in Iran, has a long history of attacks against the Iranian clerical regime and advocates a secular government, according to a Federation of American Scientists fact sheet.

Tehran anticipates tripling its biological weapons capabilities within two years, according to council representatives who also provided the names of Iranian officials and scientists — as well as those of research centers and universities — involved in the program.

Iran’s biological weapons efforts have apparently reached the point where Iran could conduct biological attacks today, said council representative Alireza Jafarzadeh.

“Our sources have confirmed that if decided today, the Iranian regime is capable of delivering deadly blows and inflict[ing] massive casualties, human casualties,” Jafarzadeh said.

The council has made its information available to international arms control organizations and to U.S. officials, Jafarzadeh said.  “We urge attention to this matter,” he said.

A U.S. State Department official confirmed today to Global Security Newswire that Washington has received the council’s information.  “We’ve been concerned about Iran’s chem/bio programs for a long time now,” the official said (see GSN, April 11).

While refusing to confirm the council’s descriptions of Iran’s biological weapons efforts, the State official did note the group’s past successes in bringing aspects of Iran’s WMD programs to international notice.

“These guys have been proven to be sort of accurate in the past,” the official said.

Iran today denied the council’s allegations, according to reports.

“I strongly deny that we have biological weapons because we do not need any banned weapons,” according to a senior Iranian official quoted by Reuters.

The council’s presentation described a far more developed and advanced biological weapons program than the CIA described in a report released earlier this month.  The agency’s WMD assessment says Tehran “has capabilities to produce small quantities of BW agents, but has a limited ability to weaponize them.”

According to council representative Soona Samsami, Iran’s biological weapons efforts include a number of components, including the production of anthrax and aflatoxin at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Imam Hussein University and the weaponization of several biological agents, including anthrax, smallpox, typhoid, plague and cholera.  Iranian scientists are also conducting weapons-related genetic engineering research at the Malek Ashtar University, Samsami said.

The components of Iran’s biological weapons program have been divided among a number of Iranian agencies, including the ministries of defense and intelligence and security, the Armed Forces Command Headquarters and the Revolutionary Guards Joint Command Headquarters, Samsami said.  Coordinating the activities of the various involved agencies is the Armed Forces Command Headquarters’ New Warfare Directorate, headed by senior Revolutionary Guards Commander Nasser Toqyani, Samsami said.

The Iranian Intelligence and Security Ministry has established the Directorate to Assess Weapons of Mass Destruction, which works to illegally obtain foreign WMD-related technologies, especially those related to biological weapons, Samsami said.  She added that the directorate has installed agents in a number of countries to carry out this mission.

Tehran has established within the Iranian Defense Ministry the Special Industries Organization, which is responsible for arming the Iranian military with biological weapons and for procuring biological weapons-related technologies, Samsami said.  She also said the Special Industries Organization has hired experts from China, India, North Korea and Russia to assist Iran’s biological weapons program. 

Iran has also established several research centers under various agencies to conduct biological weapons-related research, Samsami said.  These include the Martyr Meisami complex, headed by the Special Industries Organization, and the Revolutionary Guards Baqiyatollah Research Center, affiliated with unit’s Baqiyatollah Hospital.  The Baqiyatollah center is headed by a man named Karami, who is also a member of Iran’s National Body of Biological Weapons Disarmament Convention, Samsami said.

A key research center in Iran’s WMD efforts is the Sina Industry facility, Jafarzadeh said, describing it as “one of the most important biological and chemical laboratories of the Iranian regime.”  Sina Industry, which has conducted biological weapons tests on animals, uses medical research as a cover for its activities, he said.

In addition, Iran is working to almost quadruple its number of biological experts — from 3,000 to a planned 11,000, Samsami said.

The council received its information on Iran’s biological weapons program by using “human resources” placed within the clerical regime, Jafarzadeh said.  He also highlighted past information the council had obtained through such sources on Iran’s WMD- and ballistic missile-related efforts, such as the existence of a uranium enrichment facility at the Iranian city of Natanz (see GSN, Feb. 20) and the test-firing of a Shahab 4 ballistic missile (see GSN, Oct. 18, 2002).

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U.S. Response:  Lawmakers Question Project Bioshield

U.S. lawmakers yesterday criticized Project Bioshield, the Bush administration’s 10-year, $5.6 billion plan to spur the pharmaceutical industry to produce medicines for bioterrorism agents, United Press International reported (see GSN, Jan. 30).

During a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, Representative Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) said the $5.6 billion is “chicken feed to this (pharmaceutical) industry.”

Rogers also suggested that the money be allocated each year instead of the decade-long appropriation.  The long-term spending bill removes appropriation power from Congress, he added.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the long-term package was needed to assure drug companies that funding was available to support development of antiterrorism medicines.

Representative Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) questioned the wisdom of focusing the program on several select biological agents, such as anthrax, smallpox and Ebola.

“What if they just do the one thing we don’t have?” Shays asked.  Garry Adams, a veterinarian and associate dean for research at Texas A&M, said the object is to close out avenues for the terrorists, making them go for more and more exotic weapons that are less effective and perhaps harder to handle (Nicholas Horrock, United Press International/Washington Times, May 16).

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Iran:  Tehran Is Actively Producing Weapons, Opposition Group Says

An Iranian opposition group has said Iran is producing weaponized anthrax and has begun research into at least five additional biological weapons agents, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 10).

The anthrax weapons are the first results of a program that began in 2001 in an attempt to triple the size of Iran’s biological weapons program, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, citing sources inside Tehran.  The council is the political arm of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, which the United States has listed as a terrorist group, according to the Post.

“We can say with certainty that the Iranian regime now has the capability of mass production of biological material for weapons use,” Alireza Jafarzadeh, the council’s U.S. representative, said in an interview with the Post.

Details of Iran’s increased biological efforts are contained in a document entitled the “Comprehensive National Microbial Defense Plan,” which was approved by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in 2001, Jafarzadeh said.  The plan details a program to triple Iran’s biological weapons production capability by the end of this year and divides responsibilities for the effort among several research facilities connected with the Iranian military or Revolutionary Guard, the Post reported.

In addition to anthrax, Iran has also begun weaponizing aflatoxin, typhus, smallpox, plague and cholera, Jafarzadeh said.  Iran has also recruited scientists from several countries, such as North Korea, China, Russia and India, to aid the program, he said.

“The report about smallpox was very carefully assessed and verified,” Jafarzadeh said.

A single director coordinates the efforts of five Iranian agencies involved in the program and reports directly to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, council officials said.  Even though Iran had previously depended on foreign suppliers for advanced equipment, it can now produce almost all necessary equipment indigenously, officials said (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, May 15).

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