Pentagon Struggles With Questions About Anthrax Shipments

The Pentagon said Thursday it was testing anthrax samples it had sent to as many as nine states after one came up “hot” for live, and potentially dangerous, spores. The scare comes amid an investigation by two top U.S. homeland security experts that raises concerns about government mishandling of chemical and biological agents.

Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters that only one anthrax sample — sent to a lab in Maryland — has so far come up “hot.” Four civilian employees at the lab are under evaluation and have been placed on Cipro, although officials said none has displayed any symptoms of infection.

Still being tested are samples sent to government and commercial laboratories in California, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Additionally, Warren said a sample sent to a U.S. Air Force base in South Korea has already been destroyed, so it was not known if that sample was live or not. Twenty-two personnel at the Osan Air Base in South Korea — including 10 soldiers, five airmen, four contractors and three government civilians — have also been placed on Cipro.

Since December, former Sen. Joe Lieberman and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge have held a series of hearings on U.S. biodefense systems. The panel, sponsored by the Hudson Institute, will release its findings this fall.

But already, the hearings have shown serious concerns about the ability of federal authorities to handle a biological crisis. They also have highlighted worries about site security and the U.S. protocols that govern the handling of chemical and biological agents.

The Pentagon acknowledged Wednesday that a military laboratory in Dugway, Utah, shipped what it believed to be inert anthrax samples to various facilities for testing and training purposes. But civilian employees at the Maryland lab discovered the sample sent there was still potent.

Warren was unable Thursday to give a timeline for when the Osan staffers were potentially exposed, or how and when the anthrax was shipped to the labs. He said it’s possible they were shipped using commercial cargo aircraft or even a passenger jet, but those details were not yet available.

However, he and other officials maintained the civilian population is in no danger of infection, and no lab workers or military personnel have shown signs of infection.

Asked why the U.S. military is sending what it believes to be inert anthrax samples across the country, Warren said they are being used in training exercises and for research purposes. Officials at Osan released a statement Wednesday explaining that the sample was meant to be used “in a training laboratory environment by laboratory personnel” as part of a “Threat Recognition Program.”

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