Open Golden “Death” Pit

At the top of the Peruvian Andes, Newmont Mining operates YANACOCHA GOLD MINE, one of the largest open pit mines in the world.
Faced with devastating mercury pollution and acid mine drainage, the families of Cajamarca fight a desperate battle to defend their water resources – and their way of life. Meanwhile, Newmont Mining enforces their business model through corruption, intimidation and violence.
OPEN PIT reveals the face of “dirty gold” in Peru today.


Published on Jan 30, 2013

Feature documentary Open Pit is a tour de force of investigative journalism and guerilla filmmaking that reveals the vicious face of “dirty gold” in Peru. A film by Gianni Converso. Produced by Daniel Santana and Gianni Converso.

In the heart of Cajamarca, Newmont Mining Corporation operates the Yanacocha Gold Mine, one of the largest Open Pit mining operations in the world.

Using the cyanide leach process, Newmont Mining has come to define “dirty gold” for a generation of Campecinos — the indigenous people who have lived at the top of the Peruvian Andes since the Inca civilization.

These 4 countries are ramping up gold production

Nevada Gold mines to pay $618,000 for pollution

“All three mines are subsidiaries of the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. – Barrick Cortez Inc.’s Cortez Gold Mine near Crescent Valley, Barrick Gold US Inc.’s Ruby Hill Gold Mine near Eureka and Homestake Mining Co.’s Bald Mountain Gold Mine near the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

The three agreed to pay a total of $278,000 in fines and spend an additional $340,000 on an environmentally beneficial project as part of a settlement for allegedly under estimating reports of their toxic release inventory required under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, EPA officials said.

“Cyanide, lead and mercury used at these mines have the potential to pose a health threat,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest Region based in San Francisco.

“We insist on accurate reporting of chemical releases so that citizens have a clear idea of the risk from the facilities near their communities,” he said. He added there is no evidence to suggest that the violations posed any immediate danger to workers at the facilities or neighboring communities.”

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN CHINA: POLLUTION, MERCURY, LEAD POISONING, CANCER VILLAGES, AND HEALTH PROBLEMS

Scientist Calls Peru Conga Mining Project an ‘Environmental Disaster:’ Interview with Reinhard Seifert

Written by Alice Bernard and Diego CupoloTuesday, 01 May 2012 16:20

Reinhard Seifert

This article is part of a series on resistance to mining in Cajamarca, Peru, written by Alice Bernard and Diego Cupolo.Read Part 1: Peru: Cajamarca Protests Continue as Conga Gold Mine Awaits Green Light

Read Part 2: Regional Peruvian Government Fights Conga Gold Mining: An Interview with Dr. César Aliaga Díaz

Read Part 3: Cajamarca Anti-Mining Movements Celebrate and Question Study Results For Peru Conga Gold Mine

Over the last three decades, German-born environmental engineer Reinhard Seifert has played a significant role in the movement against mining operations in Cajamarca, Peru. He is former president of the Frente de Defensa Ambiental de Cajamarca and has conducted extensive research on the effects of mining on the region’s water resources.

For his actions, Seifert has been persecuted, threatened and arrested, but he continues his work as the Peruvian government currently weighs its decision on the future of the Conga gold mine. If approved, the project would give Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. the ability to construct one of the world’s largest gold mines on fragile, high-altitude wetlands.

Seifert has lived in Cajamarca with his family for more than 35 years and specializes in hydrogeological sciences.

Let’s start simply: Can you tell us why the Conga Gold Mine project is facing so much resistance from residents in the Cajamarca region?

Well, that’s very simple. It’s been about twenty years since Newmont opened its Yanacocha gold mine in Cajamarca. In the beginning they promised to bring new jobs to the area and said the mining process wouldn’t contaminate the environment, but neither of those things happened. The jobs went to foreigners and people from other regions while heavy metals and other toxins were dumped into our water supply on a daily basis.

But the water issue is just one part. The resistance also comes from Newmont’s horrendous mining practices, its lack of serious environmental studies and the lack of regulations due to widespread corruption. Newmont is free to do what it pleases as the rest of us suffer.

After twenty years, the people of Cajamarca have seen how Newmont works and they won’t be fooled again. That’s why they’re so determined to stop Conga. The project is basically an expansion of the Yanacocha mine, but it will be much bigger and much worse. They want to go into an area that supplies our drinking water and replace four high-altitude lakes with toxic waste dumps and artificial reservoirs.

Why should we, the people of Cajamarca, drink artificial, contaminated water for the profit of a foreign-owned private company?

You’ve conducted many water quality studies in the Cajamarca region. What kinds of contamination are you finding?

Now, I can tell you for sure that there is contamination with arsenic and heavy metals in the region’s largest rivers. Since Yanacocha opened, we’ve noticed livestock have been loosing their teeth and trout have died by the thousands in rural areas.

A normal pH for water is 6.87. When it goes under 5 the water becomes acidic and trout begin to die. In the Rio Grande and Rio Porcon, the two biggest rivers supplying Cajamarca’s drinking water, we observed a pH of 3.5. It’s catastrophic.

 

 

Australia’s partnerships with China and Japan

Reblogged from China Daily Mail:

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Australia and the two great powers in Asia, China and Japan – the former already economically dominant, the latter enjoying an unexpected renaissance – depend on each other for their economic and strategic futures.

Here the ambassadors of those countries, interviewed in their Canberra offices, speak with rare frankness about how they view the big developments of our day – and especially about their crucial relations with Australia.

Read more… 1,637 more words

The Corporation

Published on Jul 21, 2012

THE CORPORATION is a Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The documentary examines the modern-day corporation, considering its legal status as a class of person and evaluating its behavior towards society and the world at large as a psychiatrist might evaluate an ordinary person. This is explored through specific examples. Bakan wrote the book, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, during the filming of the documentary.

Official Website:
http://www.thecorporation.com

To σχέδιο του αιώνα: Ιδιωτικοποίηση της ύδρευσης σε όλη την Ευρώπη Ιουν 14

Reblogged from TheNewsGr:

«Οι σημαντικότερες πολιτικές αλλαγές, κρύβονται καμιά φορά στη λεπτομέρεια.

Μυστικά, κρυμμένα σε μια οδηγία, που προσπαθεί η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή να περάσει το σχέδιο του αιώνα. Δεν πρόκειται για τίποτε λιγότερο από την ιδιωτικοποίηση της ύδρευσης σε όλη την Ευρώπη.

Εάν περάσει το σχέδιο της Επιτροπής, το νερό από ένα συλλογικό αγαθό θα μετατραπεί σε αντικείμενο κερδοσκοπίας με το οποίο μπορούν να κερδηθούν και στη Γερμανία δισεκατομμύρια.

Read more… 27 more words

Published on Jan 17, 2013 WDR, German public TV broadcasted a 8 minutes video as a part of Monitor program in December, exposing the Commission's push for privatisation in Greece and Portugal, via the Troika. [...]

New Subduction Zone Forming Off Spain's Coast

Reblogged from Family Survival Protocol - Microcosm News:

Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer

Date: 13 June 2013 Time: 12:12 PM ET

inShare1

Possible future scenarios for the subduction zone developing off Spain's coast.
CREDIT: João Duarte/Geology

View full size image

A budding subduction zone offshore of Spain heralds the start of a new cycle that will one day pull the Atlantic Ocean seafloor into the bowels of the Earth, a new study suggests.

Read more… 112 more words

Kurdistan: the Next Big Buy Out

“” This summer we can expect the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set new targets for US ethanol use while the policy comes under massive criticism. The market has been unkind to the ethanol mandate, and we’re not sure how the EPA is going to now attempt to push through a higher blend ethanol in fuel—above the 10%/gallon, when ethanol supplies aren’t there.

So the new targets to be released this summer will require a bit of a re-think, and the EPA will have to decide how to resolve the issue, which could mean a lowering of targets or an elimination of them altogether.

Refiners and ethanol producers are up in arms over the mandate, which is already threatening to cause fuel shortages and higher prices for consumers—along with higher food prices thanks to the diversion of corn for the ethanol blend.

Of course, the beneficiaries of the EPA’s ethanol targets—primarily the corn-growing states—are hoping there won’t be any lowering of the requirements, but the market clearly sees things differently.

Those trading in Renewable Identification Markets (RINs)—otherwise known as ethanol credits—are also hoping the largesse of the forced mandate continues. The more difficult it becomes to blend low supplies of ethanol with gasoline, the more valuable these RINs become for traders. And the opposition to increasing this mandate from 10% is making the RIN market more vulnerable. For this year, it looks like refiners will be able to meet the ethanol requirements—with help from RIN credits—but next year looks impossible.

What will the EPA’s summer target be? No one’s quite sure yet, including the EPA, so it’s impossible to predict, but we’re inclined to think that the market will convince them that the planned 2014 target of 18.15 gallons of ethanol (up from this year’s 16.5 gallons) is unrealistic.

Here’s one indication of how things are shaping up: The State of Florida this week moved to repeal its Renewable Fuel Standard and get rid of the 10% ethanol blend mandate.

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) got a boost this week with the announcement that the first commercial SMRs will eventually be housed near the banks of the Clinch River in eastern Tennessee. Later this month, engineers will begin drilling core samples and conducting geologic, hydrologic and seismic research for the site and hope to have two prototype SMRs by 2022.

B&W, TVA Sign Contract for Clinch River mPower Construction Permit

CHARLOTTE, N.C., February 20, 2013

The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE: BWC) announced today that its subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox mPower, Inc. (B&W mPower), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have signed a contract to prepare and support Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) review of a Construction Permit Application for a B&W mPower™ small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear plant at TVA’s Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

This contract formalizes the first steps toward the anticipated B&W mPower deployment at Clinch River, as contemplated in TVA’s May 2011 Letter of Intent to B&W for the project. It also represents the first definitive milestone in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) recently initiated SMR Licensing Technical Support Program for commercial demonstration of SMRs by 2022. The DOE selected B&W mPower in November 2012 as the recipient of the Program’s competitively bid cost-share funding grant.

Work at the Clinch River site will commence once B&W mPower and the DOE sign a cooperative agreement for the grant funds. The contract defines the respective responsibilities and work scopes for TVA and B&W to conduct the Clinch River Site geological characterization, develop a Preliminary Safety Analysis Report, and prepare an Environmental Assessment for deploying up to four mPower SMR reactors. TVA currently expects to submit the Construction Permit Application to the NRC in 2015.

“This agreement between TVA and Babcock & Wilcox represents an important step toward TVA’s inclusion of small modular reactors as a source of exactly the kind of clean, reliable, safe, and low-cost electricity the Tennessee Valley needs to attract good jobs,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

“Today’s agreement is another positive step toward deployment of this breakthrough reactor technology in Tennessee that will hopefully be the beginning of a new surge in safe, clean and affordable nuclear power,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). “I’m proud to represent a state that is playing a leading role in advancing proven technologies that will improve our energy security and make our country stronger.”

“This is an exciting project for East Tennessee and I am glad to see this important milestone reached,” said Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.). “The third district has a long history of nuclear power leadership, I look forward to the economic growth and clean energy that the Clinch River project in Roane and Anderson County offers.”

E. James Ferland, President and Chief Executive Officer of B&W said, “This Construction Permit contract with TVA is evidence of real and definitive progress toward our goal of completing the first commercial deployment of an SMR in the United States by 2022.”

“B&W thanks the State of Tennessee, Governor Haslam, Senators Alexander and Corker, Representative Fleischmann and the DOE,” Ferland said. “Without the DOE’s Program, this Clinch River mPower project, which is so critical to the future of America’s energy security and transition toward a cleaner American energy portfolio, wouldn’t be possible.”

The B&W mPower reactor is an advanced integral pressurized water reactor designed to generate 180 MW of electricity. The reactor incorporates technology innovations which advance the state-of-the-art in nuclear plant safety, security, and economics.

About B&W

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a leader in clean energy technology and services, primarily for the nuclear, fossil and renewable power markets, as well as a premier advanced technology and mission critical defense contractor. B&W has locations worldwide and employs approximately 12,700 people, in addition to approximately 10,400 joint venture employees. Learn more at http://www.babcock.com.

About TVA

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

B&W cautions that this release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the performance, timing and value, to the extent contract value can be viewed as an indicator of future revenues, of the U.S. Naval Reactors Program contracts. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, modification or termination of the contracts. If these or other risks materialize, actual results may vary materially from those expressed. For a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, please see B&W’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. B&W cautions not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release, and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except to the extent required by applicable law.

The new SMRs will be 180MW, compared to the traditional nuclear reactors, which are between 500-1,000MW. The advantage of SMRs is that they can be removed as a unit, making them safer and easier to manage in terms of waste and recycling. And it’s all about the size of a Boeing 737. It’s very early days, but still a promising move forward.

Elsewhere in the world, we’re closely following events in Turkey, where mass anti-government protests have continued for a week and show no signs of abating yet, with Prime Minister Recep Erdogan horribly mismanaging the crisis. Our sources in Turkey say that Erdogan appears to be severely damaged and they are not sure if he can recover from this, while key members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) aren’t necessarily coming to his rescue. Despite what you may see on television and in the international newspapers, the atmosphere in Turkey among the protesters is one of jubilant empowerment rather than violent anger, and there is one clear beneficiary so far: Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who has taken a contrary stance to Erdogan and is pursuing a more conciliatory agenda, which is scoring him plenty of points with the public while Erdogan continues on with his strategy of arrogant defiance. [..] “‘

 

By Ayesha Rascoe

WASHINGTON | Wed Jun 5, 2013 3:35pm EDT

(Reuters) – The Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce targets for U.S. ethanol use in 2013 and 2014 this summer, an EPA official told lawmakers on Wednesday, even as critics of the program warned of a brewing fuel crisis.

 

 

Monsanto Blowback: GMOs found in non-GMO wheat, "threatening the outlook for U.S. exports of the world's biggest traded food commodity"

Reblogged from Exopermaculture:

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If the May 25th global March Against Monsanto (on the third and final eclipse date of this spring's massive eclipse season) was the opening volley of the dismantling of Monsanto, let's hope that this news, first published on May 13, but now more widely disseminated, that American supposedly non-GMO wheat is contaminated, will prove to be Monsanto's Waterloo.

Also see where…

Read more… 883 more words

The Russians Prove Small Scale Organic Farming CAN Feed the World

The Russians Prove Small Scale Organic Farming CAN Feed the World

If you’ve already been through an economic collapse, you might know a thing or two about how to feed your family with little money. More importantly, you might know how to do it without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and GMO seed. On a total of about 20 million acres managed by over 35 million Russian families, Russians are carrying on an old-world technique, which we Americans might learn from. They are growing their own organic crops – and it’s working.

 

According to some statistics, they grow 92% of the entire countries’ potatoes, 77% of its vegetables, 87% of its fruit, and feed 71% of the entire population from privately owned, organic farms or house gardens all across the country. These aren’t huge Agro-farms run by pharmaceutical companies; these are small family farms and less-than-an-acre gardens.

 

A recent report from Agro-ecology and the Right to Food says that organic and sustainable small-scale farming could double food production in the parts of the world where hunger is the biggest issue. Within five to 10 years we could see a big jump in crop cultivation. It could also take the teeth out of GMO business in the US.

 

According to World Watch, we can also farm fish responsibly and feed the planet. Sustainable fish farms along with organic gardening are becoming the new agro-business.

 

“Farmed seafood has certain advantages over wild fish in meeting modern demand. For a global marketplace that demands increasingly predictable products—uniform-sized fillets available year-round, free of the vagaries of weather or open-ocean fishing—fish farming delivers this predictability. Farms are also becoming more productive, raising fish at a lower cost and expanding the potential market.” (Brian Halwell, Farming Fish for the Future).

 

As long as this is done in sustainable ways without GMO salmon, we really can feed over 7 billion people.

 

Unfortunately, not all of us want to utilize organic farming. Purchasing 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock in 2012, Bill Gates is just one key figure who argues that GMOs are an absolute necessity in order to fight global starvation. Of course along with ‘saving the world from starvation’, GMO crops also bring along a large number of unwanted health and environmental effects. This isn’t even considering the fact that long term, we truly don’t know what kind of impact this will have on the earth on a major scale. Though we do know once everything is GMO, it will be virtually impossible to go back to a natural world.

[read more at link above]

 

More War, “Kill Courts” at Home. The Real Meaning of Obama’s National Security Speeches ~ by Ron Paul

Reblogged from Piazza della Carina:

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SOURCE

This past Thursday and Friday, President Obama delivered two speeches designed to outline his new thinking on national security and counter-terrorism. While much was made in the media of the president’s statements at the National Defense University and the US Naval Academy suggesting that the most active phase of US military action overseas was coming to an end, this “new” approach is but the same old policy wrapped in new packaging.

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What happened in South Africa?

In 1998 South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission held hearings investigating activities of the apartheid-era government. Toward the end of the hearings, the Commission looked into the apartheid regime’s Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) program and allegations that it developed a sterility vaccine to use on black South Africans, employed toxic and chemical poison weapons for political asssassination, and in the late 1970s provided anthrax and cholera to Rhodesian troops for use against guerrilla rebels in their war to overthrow Rhodesia’s white minority rule.

South Africa’s CBW program was headed by Dr. Wouter Basson, a former Special Forces Army Brigadier and personal heart specialist to former President P.W. Botha. Basson ran the CBW program during the 1980s and early 1990s. CBW, also known as Project Coast, was initiated in the early 1980s to provide detection and protection capabilities to the South African Defence Force. However, there was an offensive component to the program and the claims are that CBW’s offensive program:

• Developed lethal chemical and biological weapons that targeted ANC political leaders and their supporters as well as populations living in the black townships. These weapons included an infertility toxin to secretly sterilize the black population; skin-absorbing poisons that could be applied to the clothing of targets; and poison concealed in products such as chocolates and cigarettes. (Read the interviews with former President F.W. de Klerk, and Dr. Daan Goosen, who worked with Basson in the CBW program.)
• Released cholera strains into water sources of certain South African villages and provided anthrax and cholera to the government troops of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the late 1970s to use against the rebel soldiers in the guerrilla war. In 1979 the world’s largest outbreak of anthrax took place in Rhodesia where 82 people were killed and thousands became ill. Zimbabwe’s current Minister of Health, Dr. Timothy Stamps, has ordered an investigation into whether South Africa was involved in the incident.

South Africa’s CBW program underwent drastic changes after F.W. de Klerk became president in the early 1990s. De Klerk appointed General Pierre Steyn to investigate the CBW program and his report, known as the Steyn Report, exposed some of the alleged abuses of the program. De Klerk ordered the firing of numerous CBW scientists and officials and the destruction of all documents pertaining to CBW technology. All of the information was transferred to CD-ROMs to be kept under lock and key by the president. However, the official position of the South African government throughout the 1990s was that the program had been a strictly defensive one.

Basson was pressured to retire and became a consultant who travelled frequently, including trips to Libya which drew attention. Twice during de Klerk’s presidency and once during Mandela’s, the United States and Britain made démarches to express their concerns about the leaking of knowledge from the CBW program. The South African government re-hired Basson in 1995 in an effort to keep him close and under control. (Read the interview with Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa’s current Deputy Defense Minister.)

View this document on Scribd

In 1997 Basson was arrested on charges of selling the drug Ecstasy. During the investigation, authorities found CBW documents, which were supposed to have been destroyed, stored in Basson’s home. Basson was pressured to come clean with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), but he refused to seek amnesty and delayed testifying until July 1998. He was the TRC’s last witness and gave limited testimony. People who worked for Basson, however, did testify and have applied for amnesty and qualified for immunity from prosecution.

Efforts continue on uncovering the truth of what happened in the CBW program. Basson is still employed by the government in the military’s medical section and South Africa continues to have a CBW program but says it is strictly defensive. The country is now a member of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

 

Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence,and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in theCongo (DRC)

Rape there are different types of rape. They are all forbidden. There is therape when a soldier is away, when he has not seen his women for a while and has needs and no money. This is the lust
[viol ya posa]. But  there are  also  the bad rapes, as a result of the spirit of war to humiliate the dignity of people. This is an evil rape

View this document on Scribd

 

Are there good rapes and bad ones?

Dark Winter Project: the Johns Hopkins Center Biological Warfare Scenario

 

In the name of the War on Terror many has been written but who has been creating or even defining the term of “terror”if not this kind of “exercises” Since 2002,it has been solidly proven that the Terror is conceived and practiced in high places at the expense of unsuspected civilians no matter the geographical latitude.The more I read the more I learn,okay I agree but in some cases i’d rather not read at all and live a normal life.I don’t believe not even for a second that this project/game was purposed to help civilians especially when USA Homeland Security is involved AND a famous UNI for its researches.Assumptions are all yours.

In early December 2002, the National Security Council learns of a smallpox outbreak in Oklahoma. Twenty cases are confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with 14 more suspected. There are 16 more reported cases in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Federal and state authorities quickly inform the public and implement a vaccine distribution policy to those people most at risk of being exposed to the smallpox virus.

Six days after the initial outbreak, a total of 2,000 smallpox cases are reported in 15 states. Three hundred people have died. All of the cases appear to be related to the initial outbreaks in Oklahoma, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. A public health investigation points to three shopping malls as the initial sites of exposure. Even without evidence to suspect any individual or group, sporadic violence is reported against individuals who appear to be of Arab descent. Seaports are closed, food shortages emerge, schools are closed nationwide, and nonessential travel is discouraged. Misinformation regarding the smallpox outbreak spreads quickly on the Internet and in the media, including false reports of cures for smallpox. Within days, chaos swamps those trying to manage the crisis.

Three days before the Christmas holiday and 13 days after the initial outbreak, a total of 16,000 smallpox cases are reported in 25 states, and 1,000 people are dead. Ten other countries report cases of smallpox, likely caused by visitors from the United States. Canada and Mexico close their borders to the United States. Vaccine supplies are depleted, and health officials predict that by February, there will be three million cases of smallpox, leading to as many as one million deaths.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today each receive an anonymous letter demanding the removal of all U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia and all warships from the Persian Gulf within one week. Failure to comply, the letters threaten, will result in new smallpox attacks on the U.S. as well as additional attacks with anthrax and bubonic plague. Each letter contains a genetic fingerprint that matches the fingerprint of the smallpox strain that caused the epidemic, proving the authenticity of these claims and the seriousness of the threats.

GAME OVER.

 

The above scenario was, in fact, a game. In June 2001, several collaborative groups staged an exercise entitled Dark Winter, which simulated a covert smallpox attack on the United States. This exercise offered insights and lessons for those with responsibility for biological warfare preparedness. Dark Winter also demonstrated the ease with which a motivated group could launch a biological attack.

 

In years past, the United States and other countries put significant effort into developing biological weapons for offensive purposes. These days, U.S. programs aim to prevent, prepare for and defend against potential attacks. Let’s have a look at the science behind offensive and defensive biowarfare techniques.

 

OFFENSIVE biological warfare – creating harmful biological agents

 

In their natural state, bacteria, viruses and fungi can make pretty good biological weapons. Throw some genetic engineering into the mix, however, and more harmful agents can emerge.

 

Each of these organisms maintains its genetic information in the form of DNA or, in some viruses, RNA. This genetic material contains genes, which encode all of the information the organism needs to survive and replicate. Some of these genes govern the organism’s pathogenicity, or its ability to infect a cell of a plant or animal. Through genetic engineering, pathogenicity genes may be manipulated to make the organism more infectious or more resistant to a therapy or cure.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union ran several offensive biowarfare programs to develop so-called “Super Bugs.” One such program, Project Bonfire, worked to create bacteria that were resistant to about ten varieties of antibiotics. This was done by identifying and cutting out genes that conferred antibiotic resistance in many different strains of bacteria. By pasting these genes into the DNA of the anthrax bacterium, the Project Bonfire researchers created a strain of anthrax that resisted any existing cure, making it impossible to treat.

 

The Hunter Program was another Soviet biological warfare research program that focused on combining whole genomes of different viruses to produce completely new hybrid viruses. These artificial viruses could cause unpredictable symptoms that have no known treatment. In an innovative twist, the Hunter Program researchers also created bacteria strains that carried pathogenic viruses inside them. These strains would be double trouble: a person who contracted the bacterial disease would likely be treated with an antibiotic, which would stop the infection by disrupting the bacterial cells. This would release the virus, resulting in an outbreak of viral disease. Such a scenario would confuse medical personnel, making treatment very difficult.

 

It is not known whether the biological agents developed by the Soviet Union were ever actually used to infect people.

 

At the same time, the United States was mounting its own offensive biological warfare agenda, focusing on the difficult task of delivering biological weapons such as anthrax to a population. In experiments conducted at sea or at the Dugway Proving Grounds desert facility in western Utah, large populations of animals such as guinea pigs, monkeys, and sheep were exposed to these deadly agents. Even more unsettling was the research performed at Fort Detrick, Maryland, another major site of biological weapons research. To test the dispersal of bacterial spores on human populations, harmless bacterial spores that mimicked anthrax in size and shape were covertly dispersed in the Pentagon ventilation system, over the bay of San Francisco, and in the subways of New York. Results from these experiments revealed not only the difficulty of delivering anthrax to a populace, but also the deadly consequences of a successful distribution.

 

The existence of these experiments was unknown to the public until the 1970s, and the actual results were not revealed until 1999, when some of the data was declassified by the Department of Defense. Most of the details about the U.S. offensive biological weapons program still remain secret.

 

DEFENSIVE biological warfare – vaccines and detection methods

 

In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon terminated the U.S. offensive biological warfare program and ordered stockpiles destroyed. The biological warfare research focus shifted from offensive to defensive techniques. Three years later, at the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, more than 100 nations signed a treaty prohibiting the possession of deadly biological agents, except for purposes of defensive research. Nations around the world concentrated on developing vaccines as well as enhancing detection of biological agents. The Soviet Union signed the treaty, but instead of dismantling their offensive program, they stepped up their pace. The Soviet program was not terminated until after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, when Russian President Boris Yeltsin banned all offensive biological weapons-related activity. All biological weapons stockpiles were destroyed and research was considerably downsized, but it is unknown if Russia has completely dissolved the old Soviet program.

 

Vaccines

 

Traditionally, vaccines consisted of a preparation of the infectious agent itself – either living, weakened or killed. Introducing the vaccine into the body activates the immune system, resulting in the production of antibodies against that particular agent. If a vaccinated person is later exposed to the infectious agent, he or she will already have built up immunity against it.

 

More recently, researchers have started using fragments of the pathogen’s DNA genome as a vaccine, rather than the entire organism. This approach helps eliminate the risk of infection that comes with using traditional vaccines.

 

Detection methods

 

While vaccination helps protect a population from known infectious agents, rapid detection of a suspected act of biowarfare allows fast action to be taken to control the spread of disease. Current detection methods take advantage of the fact that each biological agent maintains its own unique DNA signature. Rapid detection methods use a technique called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to make a billion copies of a single DNA strand within minutes. This method allows researchers to positively identify an infectious agent, by means of its DNA signature, using even the tiniest samples.

Putting it all together

 

The Dark Winter project gave us a glimpse of how a biowarfare scenario might unfold. But what is the government’s planned response to such a scenario?

 

• Although it may be difficult to confirm right away that an unusual illness in a community is caused by a biological attack, the local health officer is immediately notified. It is this person’s responsibility to inform the state health department, which in turn notifies the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• The state health department conducts a full investigation to determine whether the incident is an act of biological warfare. To protect themselves from any potentially harmful biological or chemical agents, investigators at the scene are outfitted in protective suits and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) respirators (same as the “SCUBA” gear used underwater).
• Investigators collect samples from patients and the surrounding environment, then test them for the presence of harmful biological agents. In order to know which agents to test for, investigators evaluate all of the evidence they collect at the scene, including signs and symptoms shown by patients and patterns of disease transmission. Through a process of deduction, investigators can narrow the list of suspected pathogens to just a few candidates.

  While testing can take place in existing laboratories, it can be performed more quickly in temporary field laboratories, using compact, portable detection units such as Idaho Technology’s R.A.P.I.D.®, which stands for “Ruggedized Advanced Pathogen Identification Device.” The R.A.P.I.D., detection unit uses PCR to identify the unique DNA signatures of suspected pathogens. Genomic DNA or RNA extracted from collected samples is added to a cocktail of reagents that will amplify a particular pathogen’s DNA signature. If that specific pathogen is present in the sample collected, it will be positively identified using this approach. The entire process from sample preparation to detection takes less than 60 minutes.

• If a biowarfare incident is confirmed or thought to be probable, the state investigators notify the FBI and local law enforcement agencies immediately. Law enforcement and health officials work together to implement a plan to contain the site of contamination, clean it up and pinpoint the source of the attack.

 

Biowarfare over the years

Historically, biological warfare is nothing new:

• In the 14th and 15th centuries, warring parties used decomposing corpses as catapult ammunition, which could spread disease among enemy troops.
• During the French-Indian war, it is believed that a British general ordered that blankets and handkerchiefs be taken from smallpox patients in Fort Pitt, Pennsylvania’s infirmary, and given to the Indians surrounding the fort.
• Throughout the 20th century, bacterial agents such as anthrax, plague, typhoid, tularemia, and Salmonella were used as bioweapons.

 

Hitting the nation’s pocketbook

Along with affecting the health of a population, biological agents can also cause major economic damage. For example:

• Viruses that cause disease in livestock, such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease and African Swine Fever, can decimate entire populations of sheep, pigs and cattle.
• Agents such as wheat cover smut fungus can wipe out grain crops, causing billions of dollars in economic losses and possible food shortages.
• The end result of events such as these would be billions of dollars in economic losses and possible food shortages.

 

Dispelling the myths

Presently, biological attacks on the U.S. are of utmost concern to government officials. Besides defense, one of the main challenges they face is making sure that the public is informed and prepared for potential incidents. When Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge recently declared an elevated risk of terrorist attacks, putting the country on heightened alert, much false information was generated and perpetuated. Here are some of the myths that emerged:

• Myth #1: All agents used for biological warfare are contagious.
  Most biowarfare agents are NOT contagious. Diseases such as anthrax can only be transmitted by exposure to the actual bacteria and cannot spread from person to person. Exceptions include smallpox, pneumonic plague and Marburg/Ebola virus.
• Myth #2: Biological weapons are easily spread throughout a population.
  Creating “weaponized” biological agents is extremely difficult because the organisms need to be processed in such a way that they are small enough to be inhaled, but not so small as to be exhaled. A “dirty bomb” containing biological agents is unlikely to distribute the organisms because they would not survive the heat and force of the blast. Even if a cloud of weaponized anthrax were released over a city block, windy or wet weather would greatly decrease the likelihood of infection.
• Myth #3: A mask, plastic sheeting, and some duct tape will save you from a biological attack.
  Weaponized biological agents are typically one to five microns (0.0001 cm or 0.00003937 inch) in diameter. The Department of Homeland Security suggests wearing a dense-weave cotton mask to help filter contaminants. Such a mask is a barrier only to particles thousands of microns or larger in size. In addition, partitioning off a room with plastic sheeting and duct tape can slow the movement of air from outside to inside, but it will by no means seal the area from outside air.

Shining Light on “Dark Winter”

1. Tara O’Toole,
2. Mair Michael, and
3. Thomas V. Inglesby

+ Author Affiliations

1. 
   
   Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

1. Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Thomas V. Inglesby, Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Pl., Candler Building, Ste. 830, Baltimore, MD 21202

Abstract

On 22–23 June 2001, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, in collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Analytic Services Institute for Homeland Security, and the Oklahoma National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, held a senior-level exercise entitled “Dark Winter” that simulated a covert smallpox attack on the United States. The first such exercise of its kind, Dark Winter was constructed to examine the challenges that senior-level policy makers would face if confronted with a bioterrorist attack that initiated outbreaks of highly contagious disease. The exercise was intended to increase awareness of the scope and character of the threat posed by biological weapons among senior national security experts and to bring about actions that would improve prevention and response strategies.

On 22–23 June 2001, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies [1], in collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) [2], the Analytic Services (ANSER) Institute for Homeland Security [3], and the Oklahoma National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism [4], held a senior-level exercise entitled “Dark Winter,” which simulated a covert smallpox attack on the United States. Tara O’Toole and Thomas Inglesby of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies and Randy Larsen and Mark DeMier of ANSER were the principal designers, authors, and controllers of the Dark Winter exercise. John Hamre of CSIS initiated and conceived of an exercise in which senior former officials would respond to a national security crisis caused by use of a biological weapon. Sue Reingold of CSIS managed administrative and logistical arrangements for the exercise. General Dennis Reimer of the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism provided substantial funding for exercise.

The first such exercise of its kind, Dark Winter was undertaken to examine the challenges that senior-level policy makers would face if confronted with a bioterrorist attack that initiated outbreaks of highly contagious disease. The exercise was intended to increase awareness of the scope and character of the threat posed by biological weapons among senior national security experts and to catalyze actions that would improve prevention and response strategies.

Of all potential biological weapons, smallpox is historically the most ominous and feared [5–7]. It is a disfiguring, communicable disease with a case-fatality rate of 30% [8, 9]. There is no effective medical treatment [9]. The World Health Assembly officially declared smallpox eradicated worldwide in 1980 [10]. Since its eradication, smallpox vaccination programs and vaccine production have ceased around the world [6]. The United States stopped its mandatory vaccination program in 1972. Thus, residents of the United States—and indeed, the global population—are now highly susceptible to an inadvertent or deliberate release of smallpox.

It has been argued that the smallpox virus is the organism least accessible to potential bioterrorists. Since its eradication, the only officially existing stocks of the smallpox virus have been stored in 2 World Health Organization reference laboratories located in the United States and Russia [11]. Many experts believe, however, that the smallpox virus is not confined to these 2 official repositories and may be in the possession of states or subnational groups pursuing active biological weapons programs [12]. Of particular importance and concern is the legacy of the former Soviet Union’s biological weapons program. It is widely known that the former Soviet Union maintained a stockpile of 20 tons of smallpox virus in its biological weapons arsenal throughout the 1970s, and that, by 1990, they had a plant capable of producing 80–100 tons of smallpox per year [13].

 

Exercise Participants

The 12 participants in Dark Winter portrayed members of the National Security Council (NSC). Each is an accomplished individual who serves or has served in high-level government or military positions. Among these, the Honorable Sam Nunn, former US Senator from Georgia, played the President of the United States, and the Honorable Frank Keating, the governor of Oklahoma, portrayed himself. Five senior journalists who currently work for major networks or news organizations observed the deliberations of the simulated NSC and participated in a mock press conference during the exercise (table 1). In addition, ∼50 people with current or former policy or operational responsibilities related to biological weapons preparedness observed the exercise.

 

Exercise Design

Dark Winter was a “tabletop” exercise. Decision makers were presented with a fictional scenario and asked to react to the facts and context of the scenario, establish strategies, and make policy decisions. To the extent possible, the decisions made were incorporated into the evolving exercise, so that key decisions affected the evolution and outcomes of the scenario.

Dark Winter was divided into 3 segments and simulated a time span of ∼2 weeks. Each segment portrayed an NSC meeting, which were set several days apart in the story: on 9, 15, and 22 December 2002. The participants began segments 2 and 3 with a review of all events that had taken place in the intervening period since the last meeting. In an effort to mirror the process of NSC meetings, exercise participants received information through a variety of sources. Exercise controllers played the roles of deputies or special assistants, providing briefings of facts and policy options to participants throughout the meetings as needed. Participants were also presented with newspaper summaries and video clips of television news coverage of the epidemic. In addition, specific individuals were given memoranda during the exercise on issues or events that would normally fall within the purview of that individual’s position or agency. Thus, for example, the Director of Central Intelligence was given memos that provided updated intelligence data during the course of the meetings.

 

Exercise Planning Assumptions

In designing Dark Winter, the authors of the exercise analyzed plausible delivery methods for bioterrorist attacks as well as available scientific and historical data from smallpox outbreaks in the past [14–18]. Numerous factors influence whether a pathogen will successfully invade a host community and how that pathogen will spread once established in that community [19, 20]. Two key assumptions were made that had a direct effect on the scope of the epidemic portrayed in the exercise: the number of people infected in the initial attack and the transmission rate (i.e., the number of people subsequently infected by each person with a case of smallpox). These assumptions were not intended to be definitive mathematical predictors or models and should not be interpreted as such. However, these assumptions were derived from available data and the current understanding of the smallpox virus and, therefore, serve as a foundation for the Dark Winter scenario. These assumptions are further articulated below.

The quantity of available smallpox vaccine also significantly affected the options and outcome of the exercise. The authors posited that the quantity of undiluted vaccine available during the exercise equaled the amount in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stockpile at that time: ∼15.4 million doses of vaccine.

Number of persons infected by the initial attack. In the Dark Winter scenario, 3000 people were infected with the smallpox virus during 3 simultaneous attacks in 3 separate shopping malls in Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. It has been estimated that only a few virions are required to cause human smallpox infection, and thus the total quantity of virus necessary to cause 3000 infections in humans is small [9]. For example, William Patrick, a senior scientist in the US offensive biological weapons program before its termination in 1969, has stated that 1 g of weaponized smallpox would be sufficient to infect 100 people via an aerosol attack [21]. Accordingly, as little as 30 g of smallpox could cause 3000 infections, the number of infections resulting from the initial attack in this exercise. Given the small infectious dose required to cause disease, and considering that the former Soviet Union was able to produce smallpox by the ton, an attack resulting in 3000 infections is scientifically plausible.

Smallpox transmission rate. The transmission rate for smallpox is not a static characteristic of the smallpox virus that can be readily determined, but a complex, dynamic, fluctuating phenomenon contingent on multiple biological (both host and microbial), social, demographic, political, and economic factors [17, 19]. As such, the smallpox transmission rate within any given population is highly context dependent. Therefore, any effort to estimate how smallpox might spread through contemporary societies must account for contextual differences, to the extent possible.

Dark Winter was designed to investigate the challenges following a covert attack with the smallpox virus. As described in the scenario above, the first recognition of a covert attack with smallpox virus will likely occur when people infected in the initial attack begin showing signs of infection and start appearing in emergency departments and doctors’ offices [16]. At this point, those people will have become capable of transmitting smallpox to others. Thus, by the time a covert attack is discovered, the disease will already be spreading to the next generation of cases, known as “second-generation” cases. Given that very few doctors currently practicing medicine have ever seen a case of smallpox, and given that there is currently no widely available, rapid diagnostic test for smallpox, it is likely that the diagnosis of initial smallpox cases will be delayed, further promoting spread of disease. These factors are crucial in estimating the transmission rate in this exercise.

Another important factor in such estimations is the level of national and global susceptibility to smallpox virus infection. Human beings are considered universally susceptible to smallpox virus, unless they have been vaccinated or have been infected previously with an orthopox virus [17]. Given the absence of endemic smallpox in the world and the absence of vaccination programs since the 1970s, the global susceptibility to smallpox virus is higher than it has ever been in modern history [6]. Data from the 2000 US Census indicate that ∼42% of the US population is aged <30 years and, therefore, has never been vaccinated against smallpox [22]. For those who have been vaccinated, the susceptibility to smallpox infection is uncertain, because acquired immunity is known to wane over time. Exactly how long and to what extent smallpox immunity endures is unknown. Epidemiologic data offer some information and insights into the expected duration of immunity and the benefits of past revaccination: “an increased level of protection against smallpox persists for ⩽5 years after primary vaccination and substantial but waning immunity can persist for ⩾10 years….antibody levels after revaccination can remain high longer, conferring a greater period of immunity than occurs after primary vaccination alone” ([23], pp. 3–4).

These findings suggest that those who were vaccinated in the United States before vaccination programs ceased 30 years ago would have waning immunity, although those who were vaccinated ⩾2 times may have maintained higher levels of immunity. A rough estimate of the level of total population herd immunity to smallpox in the United States is 20% (D. A. Henderson, personal communication), a number that will continue to decrease over time. A recent analogous estimate for the United Kingdom is 18% [24]. Thus, an estimated 228 million US citizens would be expected to be highly susceptible to smallpox infection. Some experts have recently argued that immunologic memory in response to vaccination against smallpox may last considerably longer than hypothesized [25] and, consequently, that the level of herd immunity may be higher. However, for now, that remains a matter of conjecture.

The authors of the exercise used a 1 : 10 ratio for the transmission rate of smallpox in Dark Winter, which was based on an analysis of 34 instances of smallpox importation into Europe between 1958 and 1973 [14, 17]. These smallpox importations were instances in which a person contracted smallpox in a country where the disease still occurred naturally and then unknowingly brought the virus back to a country that no longer had endemic smallpox. Ten of those importations occurred in the months June–November, when the smallpox transmission rate is at its seasonal low. These importations were not included in further analysis, because the smallpox attack simulated in Dark Winter took place in December, when the smallpox transmission rate is at its seasonal high. Of the remaining 24 imported cases that occurred during the seasonal high for smallpox transmission (December–May), most were quickly diagnosed and contained [14, 17].

The authors of this exercise determined that 6 of these 24 importations most closely paralleled the conditions and context of the Dark Winter exercise, as well as what should be anticipated and planned for in the event of a smallpox attack on the modern United States. In those 6 importations, health care practitioners were slow to diagnose initial smallpox cases, and infected people had considerable interaction with other people before appropriate infection-control measures were initiated [14]. The number of second-generation cases in those 6 outbreaks ranged from 10 to 19 cases, with an average of 13.3 secondary cases per initial case (95% CI, 9.3–17.3). Gani and Leach [24] have recently analyzed these smallpox importations and have estimated that the transmissibility of smallpox in those outbreaks was 10–12 new infections per infectious person. This estimate may be toward the low error bound, because it does not account for seasonal differences in transmission rates (D. A. Henderson, personal communication).

Of the smallpox importations analyzed, the importation into Yugoslavia in 1972 is particularly instructive because that outbreak encompassed many of the attributes that would be expected if a smallpox outbreak occurred today (e.g., a large number of susceptible people, delayed diagnosis, both hospital and community transmission, wide geographic dispersion of cases, difficulty in contact tracing) [17]. In that outbreak, a man on a religious pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina became infected with smallpox virus while in Iraq and subsequently brought the disease back to Yugoslavia. His infection with smallpox virus went undiagnosed, and he unknowingly infected 11 others, whose infections also went undiagnosed. The smallpox outbreak was not recognized and control measures were not initiated until the advent of the second generation of cases, which comprised 140 new cases (transmission ratio, 1 : 13). Ultimately, a single index case caused 175 cases of smallpox and 35 deaths before the outbreak was brought to an end. Gani and Leach [24] estimated the transmissibility of smallpox in the 1972 Yugoslavia outbreak to be 10.8 new infections per infectious person.

Given the low level of herd immunity to smallpox and the high likelihood of delayed diagnosis and public health intervention, the authors of this exercise used a 1 : 10 transmission rate for Dark Winter and judged that an exercise that used a lower rate of transmission would be unreasonably optimistic, might result in false planning assumptions, and, therefore, would be irresponsible. The authors of this exercise believe that a 1 : 10 transmission rate for a smallpox outbreak prior to public-health intervention may, in fact, be a conservative estimate, given that factors that continue to precipitate the emergence and reemergence of naturally occurring infectious diseases (e.g., the globalization of travel and trade, urban crowding, and deteriorating public health infrastructure) [26, 27] can be expected to exacerbate the transmission rate for smallpox in a bioterrorism event.

Meltzer et al. [28] have reviewed data from a selected series of past smallpox outbreaks and determined that “the average rate of transmission is <2 persons infected per infectious person” ([29], p. v). However, they also conclude that “data suggest that one person can infect many others,” that a “large percentage of the population in the United States is now susceptible” to smallpox, and that “the average transmission rate following a deliberate release of smallpox might be µ2 [persons infected per infectious person]” ([29], p. v). The authors of this article believe that the average past transmission rate calculated by Meltzer et al. [28, 29] does not have significant application to planning for a smallpox attack on the contemporary United States. Their analysis does not adequately account for confounding factors, such as poor herd immunity [24], seasonality, and likelihood of delayed or inadequate vaccination or other public health interventions and, therefore, significantly underestimates the transmission rate that should be anticipated if a smallpox attack occurred today. Gani and Leach [24], on the other hand, incorporated a number of these confounding factors in their mathematical analysis and predicted that the rate of transmission of smallpox in contemporary industrialized societies is 4–6 new infections per infected person, and possibly as high as 10–12 new infections per infected person in the absence of appropriate hospital infection-control procedures.

During Dark Winter, participants were told that the rate of transmission beyond the first-generation to second-generation cases (i.e., to third and fourth generations of cases) would be highly dependent on additional variables (e.g., vaccination and isolation). The Dark Winter exercise ended in the middle of the second generation of cases. However, exercise participants repeatedly requested worst-case scenario predictions for the spread of disease beyond the second generation of cases to guide their key policy decisions. Accordingly, participants were given estimates of the projected number of smallpox cases and deaths, on the assumption that no additional vaccine would become available and no systematic, coordinated isolation procedures could be broadly and effectively enacted—in other words, the worst-case scenario. In these worst-case scenario conditions, it was determined that the transmission rate would continue to be 1 : 10, on average. Therefore, it was estimated that the third generation of cases would comprise 300,000 cases of smallpox and lead to 100,000 deaths, and that the fourth generation of cases could encompass as many as 3,000,000 cases of smallpox and result in as many as 1,000,000 deaths. It was emphasized to participants that these numbers were worst-case projections and could be substantially diminished by institution of large-scale and successful vaccination programs and disease-containment procedures.

Available doses of smallpox vaccine. The United States, through the CDC, maintains a stockpile of 15.4 million doses of smallpox vaccine [30]. Exercise participants were asked to assume that only 12 million doses of vaccine would be available. This estimation was based on practical experience obtained during the smallpox eradication program in the 1960s and 1970s. During the World Health Organization’s smallpox eradication campaign, it was common to lose ∼20% of the available doses of vaccine from any given vial because of unavoidable inefficiencies and waste (D. A. Henderson, personal communication).

 

Exercise Scenario

The year is 2002 [31]. The Unites States economy is strong. Tensions between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China are high. A suspected lieutenant of Osama bin Laden has recently been arrested in Russia in a sting operation while attempting to purchase 50 kg of plutonium and biological pathogens that had been weaponized by the former Soviet Union. The United Nation’s sanctions against Iraq are no longer in effect, and Iraq is suspected of reconstituting its biological weapons program. In the past 48 h, Iraqi forces have moved into offensive positions along the Kuwaiti border. In response, the United States is moving an additional aircraft carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf.

NSC Meeting 1

Information presented to NSC members, 9 December 2002. The 12 members of the NSC gather for what initially was to be a meeting to address the developing situation in southwest Asia but are given the news that a smallpox outbreak is occurring in the United States. In Oklahoma, 20 cases have been confirmed by the CDC, with 14 more suspected. There are also reports of suspect cases in Georgia and Pennsylvania. These cases are not yet confirmed. The initial exposure is presumed to have occurred on or about 1 December, given the 9–17-day incubation period for smallpox (figure 1).

Figure 1

Map showing cumulative reported smallpox cases (n = 50) reported to the National Security Council at meeting 1 (9 December 2002) as part of the Dark Winter simulation exercise.

The governor of Oklahoma, who is in Washington, D.C., to deliver a speech, agrees to participate in the NSC meeting to clearly articulate the priorities and needs of his state before rushing home to manage the growing crisis. NSC members are briefed on the status of the outbreak and on smallpox. It is explained that smallpox produces no symptoms at the time of exposure and that fever, malaise, and rash will develop 9–17 days after exposure; that, although vaccination before exposure or up to ∼4–5 days after exposure may prevent or ameliorate disease manifestations, there is no effective treatment once the disease has developed; that the case-fatality rate for smallpox is ∼30%; that smallpox virus is communicable from person to person and is spread at close range by respiratory droplets or, in some instances, at longer range by aerosols (i.e., droplet nuclei) [18]; that although the transmission rate for smallpox virus is a complex dynamic that is dependent on multiple factors, epidemiologic evidence indicates that a single infected person in a highly susceptible population can be expected to infect 10–19 others; and that the US stockpile of smallpox vaccine is 15.4 million doses, but it is estimated that this amount translates to ∼12 million usable doses [8, 9].

The Deputies Committee advises the NSC members on possible disease-containment strategies, including isolation of patients, identification and vaccination of patient contacts, and minimization of public gatherings (e.g., closing schools in affected states). In addition, the Deputies Committee provides the NSC members with 3 vaccine distribution policy options. Policy option 1 is a ring vaccination policy, in which enough vaccine would be distributed to each of the 3 affected states to vaccinate patient contacts and essential personnel, and 2.5 million doses would be set aside for the Department of Defense (DoD). Policy option 2 is a combination ring/mass vaccination policy, in which enough vaccine would be distributed to each of the 3 affected states so that all residents of affected cities could be vaccinated, as well as patient contacts and essential personnel, and 2.5 million doses would be set aside for the DoD. Policy option 3 is a combination ring/mass distribution policy, in which enough vaccine would be distributed to each of the 3 affected states so that all residents of affected cities could be vaccinated, and 2.5 million doses would be set aside for the DoD, and the remaining 47 unaffected states would immediately receive 125,000 doses of vaccine each, to use as they see fit.

Critical debate issues and decisions. The NSC confronts an array of important questions and decisions. With only 12 million doses of vaccine available, what is the best strategy to contain the outbreak? Should there be a national or a state vaccination policy? Is ring vaccination or mass immunization the best policy? How much vaccine, if any, should be held for the DoD? Should health care workers, public safety officials, and elected officials be given priority for vaccination? What about their families? Should vaccine be distributed to all of the states now, or as new cases emerge? What should the size be of the aliquots of vaccine given to each state? Should there be a mandatory or voluntary immunization policy? What is the federal role in emergency response? What are the state roles in emergency response? How are the 2 responses coordinated? Should the National Guard be activated? How best can the Guard be used (under state or under federal control)? What should be done about the developing situation in southwest Asia? What should the public be told? What should our allies be told? Was this a deliberate attack on the United States? If so, who is responsible? Is the nation at war?

The NSC members agree that the public should be fully informed as quickly as possible to maximize public confidence and adherence to disease-containment measures and to minimize the possibility that disease-containment measures would need to be forcibly imposed. NSC members decide to use vaccine distribution policy option 1, which is the ring vaccination policy intended to focus and limit vaccination efforts to those at highest risk of contracting smallpox (e.g., patient contacts and health care and public safety personnel in Oklahoma, Georgia, and Pennsylvania) while preserving as much vaccine as possible for use as the epidemic unfolds. NSC members decide that the same directed vaccination strategy will be followed if additional new cases emerge in other cities or states. In addition, NSC members decide to set aside sufficient doses of vaccine for the DoD to meet its immediate needs, with the expectation that this will be ∼1 million doses and with direction to the DoD to determine those needs. NSC members decide to proceed with the deployment of the additional aircraft carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf but defer other decisions regarding deployments, pending further developments. NSC officials hope that the people of the United States will view these policy decisions as rational and equitable. The meeting closes as the NSC prepares a presidential statement for the press, detailing their decisions and actions.

NSC Meeting 2

Information presented to NSC members, 15 December 2002 (6 days into the epidemic). A total of 2000 smallpox cases have been reported in 15 states, with 300 deaths (figures 2 and 3). The epidemic is now international, with isolated cases in Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Both Canada and Mexico request that the United States provide them with vaccine. All of the cases appear to be related to the 3 initial outbreaks in Oklahoma, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The public health investigation points to 3 shopping malls as the initial sites of exposure. Only 1.25 million doses of vaccine remain, and public unrest grows as the vaccine supply dwindles. Vaccine distribution efforts vary from state to state, are often chaotic, and lead to violence in some areas. In affected states, the epidemic has overwhelmed the health care systems, and care suffers. The DoD expresses concern about diverting its critical supplies and personnel to the civilian health care system, given the evolving crisis in the Persian Gulf.

Figure 2

Map showing cumulative reported smallpox cases (n = 2000) reported to the National Security Council at meeting 2 (15 December 2002) as part of the Dark Winter simulation exercise.

Figure 3

Smallpox cases reported to the National Security Council at meeting 2 (15 December 2002) as part of the Dark Winter simulation exercise.

Several international borders are closed to US trade and travelers. Food shortages emerge in affected states as a result of travel problems and store closings. Sporadic violence has been reported against minorities who appear to be of Arab descent. There are no solid leads regarding who may have perpetrated this attack. The government response to the epidemic has been criticized. The media continues its 24-h news coverage of the crisis. Misinformation regarding the smallpox outbreak begins to appear on the Internet and in the media, including false reports of cures for smallpox. Schools are closed nationwide. Public gatherings are limited in affected states. Some states limit travel and nonessential gatherings. The Department of Health and Human Services establishes a National Information Center. Three US drug companies agree to produce new vaccine at the rate of 6 million doses per month, with first deliveries in 5 weeks. Russia offers to provide 4 million doses of vaccine.

Critical debate issues and decisions. NSC officials confront a growing set of challenges and decisions. Given the shortage of vaccine, how can the spread of smallpox be halted? Should patients with smallpox be confined to facilities dedicated to care for them? Should contacts of patients be forced to remain at home or in dedicated facilities until they are proven to be free of smallpox? Should national travel restrictions be imposed? How can disease containment best be balanced against economic disruption and the protection of civil liberties? To what extent can and should the government infringe upon civil liberties? Under what conditions can those powers be exercised? What federal actions can and should be taken to care for the sick? Should the National Guard be federalized (i.e., put under federal control)? What additional assistance can the federal government provide to the states? Should troops continue to deploy overseas to southwest Asia? What should the President tell the people of the United States? Who orchestrated this attack and why? Is the nation at war?

NSC members make a series of important policy decisions. Members decide to leave control of the National Guard as well as decisions on quarantine and isolation in the hands of state officials. Members decide to pursue a crash production program for new smallpox vaccine, despite unresolved liability issues. They also decide to accept smallpox vaccine offered by Russia, provided it passes safety evaluations. In addition, a statement is produced for the President to deliver in a press conference. In the press conference, the President provides an assessment of the gravity of the situation and discusses the government’s response. He appeals to the people of the United States to work together to confront the crisis and to follow the guidance of their elected officials and their public health professionals regarding necessary disease-containment measures.

NSC Meeting 3

Information presented to NSC members, 22 December 2002 (13 days into the epidemic). A total of 16,000 smallpox cases have been reported in 25 states (14,000 within the past 24 h) (figures 4 and 5). One thousand people have died. Ten other countries report cases of smallpox believed to have been caused by international travelers from the United States. It is uncertain whether new smallpox cases have been transmitted by unidentified contacts of initial victims, by contacts who were not vaccinated in time, or by people who received ineffective vaccine, or are due to new smallpox attacks, or some combination of these. Vaccine supplies are depleted, and new vaccine will not be ready for at least 4 weeks. States have restricted nonessential travel. Food shortages are growing in some places, and the national economy is suffering. Residents have fled and are fleeing cities where new cases emerge. Canada and Mexico have closed their borders to the United States. The public demands mandatory isolation of smallpox victims and their contacts, but identifying contacts has become logistically impossible.

Figure 4

Map showing cumulative reported smallpox cases (n = 16,000) reported to the National Security Council at meeting 3 (22 December 2002) as part of the Dark Winter simulation exercise.

Figure 5

Smallpox cases reported to the National Security Council at meeting 3 (22 December 2002) as part of the Dark Winter simulation exercise.

Although speculative, the predictions are extremely grim: an additional 17,000 cases of smallpox are expected to emerge during the next 12 days, bringing the total number of second-generation cases to 30,000. Of these infected persons, approximately one-third, or 10,000, are expected to die. NSC members are advised that administration of new vaccine combined with isolation measures are likely to stem the expansion of the epidemic. NSC members ask for worst-case projections. They are advised that in worst-case conditions, the third generation of cases could comprise 300,000 new cases of smallpox and lead to 100,000 deaths, and that the fourth generation of cases could conceivably comprise as many as 3,000,000 cases of smallpox and lead to as many as 1,000,000 deaths. It is again emphasized to participants that these numbers are worst-case projections and can be substantially diminished by large-scale and successful vaccination programs and disease-containment procedures (figure 6).

Figure 6

Smallpox epidemic projections, worst-case scenario (in the absence of disease-containment measures or new vaccine delivery), reported to the National Security Council meeting 3 (22 December 2002) as part of the Dark Winter simulation exercise. Gen, generation of cases; K, thousand.

Table 1

Roles of key participants in the Dark Winter exercise.

No solid leads as to who masterminded the attack have emerged. A prominent Iraqi defector claims that Iraq is behind the biological attack. Although the defector cannot offer proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the intelligence community deems his information highly credible. Polls of US citizens show overwhelming support for retribution when the attacker is identified.

The scenario ends when it is announced that the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today have each received an anonymous letter demanding the removal of all US forces from Saudi Arabia and all warships from the Persian Gulf within 1 week. The letters threaten that failure to comply with the demands will result in new smallpox attacks on the US homeland as well as other attacks with anthrax and plague. To prove the veracity of these claims and the seriousness of their threats, each letter contains a genetic fingerprint that matches the fingerprint of the smallpox strain causing the current epidemic, demonstrating that the author of these letters has access to the smallpox strain.

Critical debate issues. With no vaccine remaining and new vaccine not expected for at least 4 weeks, how can the rapidly expanding epidemic be contained? What measures should the federal and state governments take to stop the epidemic, given the scope of the crisis, the lack of remaining vaccine, and rising stakes? Should the United States pull its forces out of the Gulf in response to the anonymous letters? With no conclusive evidence as to who orchestrated the attack, how and should the United States respond? If the United States discovers who is behind the attack, what is the proper response? Would the American people call for response with nuclear weapons?

 

Lessons of Dark Winter

The authors of this article have drawn a series of lessons from the Dark Winter exercise. These lessons are based on an analysis of comments and decisions made by exercise participants during the exercise, subsequent Congressional testimony by exercise participants, and public interviews given by participants in the months after the exercise [32]. The lessons learned reflect the analysis and conclusions of the authors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies and do not necessarily reflect the views of the exercise participants or collaborating organizations.

In this section, these lessons are listed, each accompanied by a short explanatory note and quotations from participants in the exercise to illustrate it. The Dark Winter event did not permit attribution of comments without permission from individual participants. Where comments are ascribed to a particular person, permission has been obtained.

Leaders are unfamiliar with the character of bioterrorist attacks, available policy options, and their consequences. The senior decision makers in Dark Winter were largely unfamiliar with the sequence of events that would follow a bioterrorist attack. Important decisions and their implications were dependent on public health strategies and possible mechanisms to care for large numbers of sick people—issues that the national security and defense communities have not typically analyzed in the past.

“We are used to thinking about health problems as naturally occurring problems outside the framework of a malicious actor….If you’re going against someone who is using a tool that you’re not used to having him use—disease—and using it toward—quite rationally and craftily—…an entirely unreasonable and god-awful end—we are in a world we haven’t ever really been in before” (James Woolsey).

“This was very revealing to me—that there is something out there that can cause havoc in my state that I know nothing about—and, for that matter, the federal family doesn’t know a whole lot [about] either” (Frank Keating).

“My feeling here was the biggest deficiency was, how do I think about this? This is not a standard problem that I’m presented in the national security arena. I know how to think about that, I’ve been trained to think about that…a certain amount of what I think went [on] around this table was, ‘I don’t get it. I’m not in gear in terms of how to think about this problem as a decision-maker.’ So then I get very tentative in terms of what to do” (John White).

“This was unique…[you know] that you’re in for a long term problem, and it’s going to get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse” (Sam Nunn).

After a bioterrorist attack, leaders’ decisions would depend on data and expertise from the medical and public health sectors. In Dark Winter, even after the smallpox attack was recognized, decision makers were confronted with many uncertainties and wanted information that was not immediately available. (In fact, they were given more information on locations and numbers of infected people than would likely be available in reality.)

For example, it was difficult to quickly identify the locations of the original attacks; to immediately predict the likely size of the epidemic on the basis of initial cases; to know how many people were exposed; to find out how many were hospitalized and where; or to keep track of how many had been vaccinated. This lack of information, critical for leaders’ situational awareness in Dark Winter, reflects the fact that few systems exist that can provide a rapid flow of the medical and public health information needed in a public health emergency.

“What’s the worst case? To make decisions on how much risk to take…whether to use vaccines, whether to isolate people, whether to quarantine people….I’ve got to know what the worst case is” (Sam Nunn).

“You can’t respond and make decisions unless you have the crispest, most current, and the best information. And that’s what strikes me as a civil leader…that is…clearly missing” (Frank Keating).

The lack of sufficient vaccine or drugs to prevent the spread of disease severely limited management options. In Dark Winter, smallpox vaccine shortages significantly affected the response available to contain the epidemic, as well as the ability of political leaders to offer reassurance to the American people. The increasing scarcity of smallpox vaccine led to great public anxiety and flight by people desperate to get vaccinated, and it had a significant effect on the decisions taken by political leaders.

“We can’t ration….Who do you choose and who do you not choose to get vaccinated?…People are going to go where the vaccine is. And if they know that you’re going to provide the vaccine to my people, they’ll stay to get vaccinated. I think they’ll run if they think the vaccine is somewhere else” (Frank Keating).

“If we had had adequate vaccine supplies…we would have had more strategies to help deal with this thing and help control the epidemic” (Margaret Hamburg).

The US health care system lacks the surge capacity to deal with mass casualties. In Dark Winter, hospital systems across the country were flooded with demands for patient care. The demand was highest in the cities and states directly attacked, but by the time many victims became symptomatic, they were geographically dispersed, with some having traveled far from the original site of attack. The numbers of people flooding into hospitals across the country included people with common illnesses who feared they had smallpox and people who were well but worried. The challenges of distinguishing the sick from the well and rationing scarce resources, combined with shortages of health care staff, who were themselves worried about becoming infected or bringing infection home to their families, imposed a huge burden on the health care system.

“We think an enemy of the United States could attack us with smallpox or with anthrax—whatever—and we really don’t prepare for it, we have no vaccines for it—that’s astonishing. That’s like, for me, in Oklahoma, where we do have tornadoes, to be assiduously studying hurricanes, or not studying tornadoes” (Frank Keating).

“It isn’t just [a matter of] buying more vaccine. It’s a question of how we integrate these [public health and national security communities] in ways that allow us to deal with various facets of the problem” (James Woolsey).

To end a disease outbreak after a bioterrorist attack, decision makers will require ongoing expert advice from senior public health and medical leaders. The leaders in Dark Winter were confronted with rapidly diminishing supply of smallpox vaccine and an expanding smallpox epidemic. Some members advised the imposition of geographic quarantines around affected areas, but the implications of these measures (e.g., interruption of the normal flow of medicines, food and energy supplies, and other critical needs) were not clearly understood at first. In the end, it is not clear whether such draconian measures would have led to a more effective interruption of disease spread.

“A complete quarantine would isolate people so that they would not be able to be fed, and they would not have medical [care]….So we can’t have a complete quarantine. We are, in effect, asking the governors to restrict travel from their states that would be nonessential. We can’t slam down the entire society” (Sam Nunn).

Federal and state priorities may be unclear, differ, or conflict; authorities may be uncertain; and constitutional issues may arise. In Dark Winter, tensions rapidly developed between state and federal authorities in several contexts. State leaders wanted control of decisions regarding the imposition of disease-containment measures (e.g., mandatory vs. voluntary isolation and vaccination), the closure of state borders to all traffic and transportation, and when or whether to close airports. Federal officials argued that such issues were best decided on a national basis to ensure consistency and to give the President maximum control of military and public-safety assets. Leaders in states most affected by smallpox wanted immediate access to smallpox vaccine for all citizens of their states, but the federal government had to balance these requests against military and other national priorities. State leaders were opposed to federalizing the National Guard, which they were relying on to support logistical and public supply needs. A number of federal leaders argued that the National Guard should be federalized.

“My fellow governors are not going to permit you to make our states leper colonies. We’ll determine the nature and extent of the isolation of our citizens….You’re going to say that people can’t gather. That’s not your [the federal government's] function. That’s the function, if it’s the function of anybody, of state and local officials” (Frank Keating).

“Mr. President, this question got settled at Appomattox. You need to federalize the National Guard” (George Terwilliger).

“We’re going to have absolute chaos if we start having war between the federal government and the state government” (Sam Nunn).

The individual actions of US citizens will be critical to ending the spread of contagious disease; leaders must gain the trust and sustained cooperation of the American people. Dark Winter participants worried that it would not be possible to forcibly impose vaccination or travel restrictions on large groups of the population without their general cooperation. To gain that cooperation, the President and other leaders in Dark Winter recognized the importance of persuading their constituents that there was fairness in the distribution of vaccine and other scarce resources, that the disease-containment measures were for the general good of society, that all possible measures were being taken to prevent the further spread of the disease, and that the government remained firmly in control despite the expanding epidemic.

“The federal government has to have the cooperation from the American people. There is no federal force out there that can require 300,000,000 people to take steps they don’t want to take” (Sam Nunn).

 

Conclusion

In conducting the Dark Winter exercise, the intention was to inform the debate on the threat posed by biological weapons and to provoke a deeper understanding of the numerous challenges that a covert act of bioterrorism with a contagious agent would present to senior level policy makers and elected officials. Since the Dark Winter exercise, the country has endured the horrific events of 11 September, as well as anthrax attacks through the US postal system. Bioterrorism is no longer just the subject of war games and the source of “futuristic and disturbing topics for…[Congressional] committee meetings” ([33], p. 2454). Many of the challenges and difficulties faced by the Dark Winter participants, unfortunately, have been paralleled in the response to the recent anthrax attacks. The Dark Winter exercise offers instructive insights and lessons for those with responsibility for bioterrorism preparedness in the medical, public health, policy, and national security communities and, accordingly, helps shine light on possible paths forward.

• Received January 25, 2002.

• © 2002 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America

 

A History Of US Secret Human Experimentation

1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.

 

1932 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.

 

1935 The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.

 

1940 Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to

combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.

 

1942 Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.

 

1943 In response to Japan’s full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.

 

1944 U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.

 

1945 Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.

 

1945 “Program F” is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.

 

1946 Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word “experiments” to “investigations” or “observations” whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation’s veteran’s hospitals.

 

1947 Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.

 

1947 The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.

 

1950 Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.

 

1950 I n an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Franciso. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.

 

1951 Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.

 

1953 U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.

 

1953 Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.

 

1953 CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings.

 

1955 The CIA, in an experiment to test its ability to infect human populations with biological agents, releases a bacteria withdrawn from the Army’s biological warfare arsenal over Tampa Bay, Fl.

 

1955 Army Chemical Corps continues LSD research, studying its potential use as a chemical incapacitating agent. More than 1,000 Americans participate in the tests, which continue until 1958.

 

1956 U.S. military releases mosquitoes infected with Yellow Fever over Savannah, Ga and Avon Park, Fl. Following each test, Army agents posing as public health officials test victims for effects.

 

1958 LSD is tested on 95 volunteers at the Army’s Chemical Warfare Laboratories for its effect on intelligence.

 

1960 The Army Assistant Chief-of-Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorizes field testing of LSD in Europe and the Far East. Testing of the european population is code named Project THIRD CHANCE; testing of the Asian population is code named Project DERBY HAT.

 

1965 Project CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.

 

1965 Prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia are subjected to dioxin, the highly toxic chemical component of Agent Orange used in Viet Nam. The men are later studied for development of cancer, which indicates that Agent Orange had been a suspected carcinogen all along.

 

1966 CIA initiates Project MKOFTEN, a program to test the toxicological effects of certain drugs on humans and animals.

 

1966 U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.

 

1967 CIA and Department of Defense implement Project MKNAOMI, successor to MKULTRA and designed to maintain, stockpile and test biological and chemical weapons.

 

1968 CIA experiments with the possibility of poisoning drinking water by injecting chemicals into the water supply of the FDA in Washington, D.C.

 

1969 Dr. Robert MacMahan of the Department of Defense requests from congress $10 million to develop, within 5 to 10 years, a synthetic biological agent to which no natural immunity exists.

 

1970 Funding for the synthetic biological agent is obtained under H.R. 15090. The project, under the supervision of the CIA, is carried out by the Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, the army’s top secret biological weapons facility. Speculation is raised that molecular biology techniques are used to produce AIDS-like retroviruses.

 

1970 United States intensifies its development of “ethnic weapons” (Military Review, Nov., 1970), designed to selectively target and eliminate specific ethnic groups who are susceptible due to genetic differences and variations in DNA.

 

1975 The virus section of Fort Detrick’s Center for Biological Warfare Research is renamed the Fredrick Cancer Research Facilities and placed under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) . It is here that a special virus cancer program is initiated by the U.S. Navy, purportedly to develop cancer-causing viruses. It is also here that retrovirologists isolate a virus to which no immunity exists. It is later named HTLV (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus).

 

1977 Senate hearings on Health and Scientific Research confirm that 239 populated areas had been contaminated with biological agents between 1949 and 1969. Some of the areas included San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Key West, Panama City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

 

1978 Experimental Hepatitis B vaccine trials, conducted by the CDC, begin in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ads for research subjects specifically ask for promiscuous homosexual men.

 

1981 First cases of AIDS are confirmed in homosexual men in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, triggering speculation that AIDS may have been introduced via the Hepatitis B vaccine

 

1985 According to the journal Science (227:173-177), HTLV and VISNA, a fatal sheep virus, are very similar, indicating a close taxonomic and evolutionary relationship.

 

1986 According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (83:4007-4011), HIV and VISNA are highly similar and share all structural elements, except for a small segment which is nearly identical to HTLV. This leads to speculation that HTLV and VISNA may have been linked to produce a new retrovirus to which no natural immunity exists.

 

1986 A report to Congress reveals that the U.S. Government’s current generation of biological agents includes: modified viruses, naturally occurring toxins, and agents that are altered through genetic engineering to change immunological character and prevent treatment by all existing vaccines.

 

1987 Department of Defense admits that, despite a treaty banning research and development of biological agents, it continues to operate research facilities at 127 facilities and universities around the nation.

 

1990 More than 1500 six-month old black and hispanic babies in Los Angeles are given an “experimental” measles vaccine that had never been licensed for use in the United States. CDC later admits that parents were never informed that the vaccine being injected to their children was experimental.

 

1994 With a technique called “gene tracking,” Dr. Garth Nicolson at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX discovers that many returning Desert Storm veterans are infected with an altered strain of Mycoplasma incognitus, a microbe commonly used in the production of biological weapons. Incorporated into its molecular structure is 40 percent of the HIV protein coat, indicating that it had been man-made.

 

1994 Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War .

 

1995 U.S. Government admits that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research.

 

1995 Dr. Garth Nicolson, uncovers evidence that the biological agents used during the Gulf War had been manufactured in Houston, TX and Boca Raton, Fl and tested on prisoners in the Texas Department of Corrections.

 

1996 Department of Defense admits that Desert Storm soldiers were exposed to chemical agents.

 

1997 Eighty-eight members of Congress sign a letter demanding an investigation into bioweapons use & Gulf War Syndrome.

 

© 1998-2000 Health News Network

All Rights Reserved

 

http://www.healthnewsnet.com/humanexperiments.html

DID THE PENTAGON MANUFACTURE AIDS AS A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON?

 When viewed in conjunction with another US government document, the underlying foreign policy aims of NSSM 200, are cause for concern in the minds of many observers.  During 1970, the US Department of Defence applied to the US Senate appropriations committee for funding to research and develop a biological weapon that would attack the human immune system.  The request was for the development of “synthetic biological agents.”  In giving testimony to the Senate committee, Dr. Donald MacArthur, a US Army biological warfare expert, stated: “Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible to make a new infective micro-organism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms.” Dr. MacArthur then added “Most important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious diseases.”  He concluded that a feasibility research programme to this end “could be completed in approximately 5 years at a cost of $10 million.” The requested sum was granted.

 Professor Jakob Segal and his wife Lilli both believe that AIDS was laboratory manufactured at Fort Detrick, Maryland – home of America’s Chemical and Biological Warfare programme.  Segal, a Russian-born Professor of biology at Humboldt University in then East Germany stated that AIDS was the result of a US germ warfare programme.  The couple published their findings in a 1986 pamphlet “AIDS: USA Home-Made Evil. The couple set about trying to show that the AIDS virus HIV is almost identical, in some regards, to two other viruses.  These are Visna, a deadly disease that kills sheep, but is not infectious to humans, and HTLV-1 (Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus) which though not fatal is highly infectious to humans.

 Segal then went on to state that the P4 High Security laboratory at Fort Detrick, was responsible for splicing both Visna and HTLV-1 together, thus creating an artificial biological weapon that was both highly infectious and deadly to humans.  The result was HIV.  Segal maintains this virus was finally created between late 1977 and the spring of 1978.  Disparaging the then common view that AIDS had first arisen in Africa, Segal insisted that the Fort Detrick cocktail was tested on prison inmates who had volunteered to participate in experiments in exchange for their release.  Because symptoms did not show up inside six months, the convicts were released according to the prior agreement.  Since a number of them were gay, Segal claimed, they travelled to New York and unknowingly began infecting other members of New York’s gay community.  From here the first known AIDS case appeared in 1979 and soon began spreading like wildfire.

Just because the author is not sharing

The entire content of this site is subject to international copyright .

Unauthorised reproduction will be vigourously pursued to the full extent of the law.

,which is okay really,this is just an excerpt from the original article which can be found at link above.

Liberty = Personal Choice

Liberty =Personal Choice

Dale Amon (Belfast, Northern Ireland/Laramie, Wy) · 

I’ve decided to reply to the responses on my previous article “in-line”. Issues of personal choice and personal liberty are at the very heart of libertarianism. It is not a matter of whether you agree with a behavior or not. A libertarian society removes from you the “right” to use force and coercion, whether by self or by state proxy, against acts you do not like. You may either mind your own business or you may spend your own time and money to advertise and campaign to change people’s minds one at a time. If you are Bill Gates or Ted Turner and spend every last pence you have to make people stop being part of Group X and all but one person does – that one person may still freely go about their business as before and there is nothing you can do about it.

You could be an Imam convincing everyone to accept Shari’a, and if one person doesn’t you are stuffed¹. Tough. They can shoot back if you annoy them too much, and likely large numbers of others who agreed with your initial ideas will turn on you for breaking the Meta-rule of non-coercion.

There is no libertarian argument which could support the status quo of the Drug War. Drug usage – THC, Ethanol, Nicotine or stronger – are issues of personal choice. The results of those personal choices are personal responsibilities. If someone drinks themselves into a gutter, it is not the State’s responsibility to pull them out. If someone injects heroin into their veins and kills themself it is likewise not a public issue.

The minimal libertarian position is the Minarchist state. One which is responsible for Defense, Police and the Courts – killing terrorists, shooting down nuclear missiles, rescuing hostages where possible… and finding, trying and locking up snipers.

There is no room in that description for “outlawing a behavior of Group X that Group Y does not like or that Group Z thinks is unhealthy”.

In a free society, you do what you want so long as you don’t directly harm others… and the consequences of those actions are fully your own to deal with, whether it be getting laid and having a great time or morphine addiction, lung cancer and liver cirrhosis.

T’ain’t nobodies business but your own.

¹ = For some Imams in certain Medieval nations, the very ideas expressed here are a heresy. That’s why we leave the Minimal State with Defense. So we can get them first if they try to “Kill Infidels in the Name of Allah”. A liberal society assumes everyone accepts a very minimal social pact of non-coercion.

October 30th, 2002 |

* The Source is mentioned right above,I just happened to stumble upon it while browsing.I could fully agree with the opinion expressed if it wasn’t touching the sensitive “religious “” section.I don’t mind religions,in fact I do encourage them if they don’t get too deep in the brains.I do mind though,fanatism,sects,the deeper role of religions in all those war games we are witnessing at the time being.

I don’t ming Muslims

I dont mind Orthodox people

I dont mind catholics

I dont mind Protetants

I dont mind  buddhists

I dont mind Copts

They all believe in the same as i*just saying* one God,a God of love and not to a God of punishment,a God of the 7 Deadly sins,No,I do not believe in the purgatory,in hell,in sins,in a vindictive God.You can make God vindictive but he/she is not.You can make Nature vindictive when it is not. Depends on all of us.

"We forwarded in this generation,triumphantly


So bottom line,I do agree and I do disagree.with the re-posted post. It contains some strong points and a load ofweak ones. I won’t choose sides. Because i simply don’t care to.

Liberty is a personal choice and that means freedom,that means no bondage,no  mental slavery no …

Did i mention a No? really?Did I? You read that or was it just me?

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,none but ourselves can free our mind

Some songs were our own personal choices,and,since you can choose a car,a house,a job,a bank,a lifestyle,you can certainly choose a  lifestyle. None but yourself can free your mind. No,the gym isn’t included.Nor the parking lot

It’s your choice

Me?

All i.ve ever had.. redemption songs.these songs of freedom

In a manner of speaking …Anastasis

In a manner of speaking,I do not desire to see the following “email accounts”or similar to these,following my blog no matter how tiny it is.

Emails like these will be rejected,blocked and reported.

hillaryskx404trj@hotmail.com

maggiekle958pkz@hotmail.com

donawdtm@hotmail.com,

jacquelynvoo580knc@hotmail.com

excuse the inconvenience but i felt like I was being monitored,not that I am not heck i sure am   but i need no fake Hotmail accounts in a row to verify &  justify my conspiracy theories

Apologies for inconvenience and for the absence. Y’all stay safe

 

Patenting human genes is huge business

(NaturalNews) Angelina Jolie’s announcement of undergoing a double mastectomy (surgically removing both breasts) even though she had no breast cancer is not the innocent, spontaneous, “heroic choice” that has been portrayed in the mainstream media. Natural News has learned it all coincides with a well-timed for-profit corporate P.R. campaign that has been planned for months and just happens to coincide with the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on the viability of the BRCA1 patent.

This is the investigation the mainstream media refuses to touch. Here, I explain the corporate financial ties, investors, mergers, human gene patents, lawsuits, medical fear mongering and the trillions of dollars that are at stake here. If you pull back the curtain on this one, you find far more than an innocent looking woman exercising a “choice.” This is about protecting trillions in profits through the deployment of carefully-crafted public relations campaigns designed to manipulate the public opinion of women.

The signs were all there from the beginning of the scheme: Angelina Jolie’s highly polished and obviously corporate-written op-ed piece at the New York Times, the carefully-crafted talking points invoking “choice” as a politically-charged keyword, and the obvious coaching of even her husband Brad Pitt who carefully describes the entire experience using words like “stronger” and “pride” and “family.”

But the smoking gun is the fact that Angelina Jolie’s seemingly spontaneous announcement magically appeared on the cover of People Magazine this week — a magazine that is usually finalized for publication three weeks before it appears on newsstands. That cover, not surprisingly, uses the same language found in the NYT op-ed piece: “HER BRAVE CHOICE” and “This was the right thing to do.” The flowery, pro-choice language is not a coincidence.

What this proves is that Angelina’s Jolie’s announcement was a well-planned corporate P.R. campaign with carefully-crafted messages designed to influence public opinion. But what could Jolie be seeking to influence?

…how about trillions of dollars in corporate profits?

Upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision to rule on patent viability for BRCA1 gene

Angelina Jolie’s announcement and all its carefully-crafted language had four notable immediate impacts:

1) It caused women everywhere to be terrified of breast cancer through the publishing of false statistics that drove fear into the hearts of anyone with breasts. (See below for explanation.)

2) It caused women to rush out and seek BRCA1 gene testing procedures. These tests just happen to be patented by a for-profit corporation called “Myriad Genetics.” Because of this patent, BRCA1 tests can cost $3,000 – $4,000 each. The testing alone is a multi-billion-dollar market, but only if the patent is upheld in an upcoming Supreme Court decision (see below).

3) It caused the stock price of Myriad Genetics (MYGN) to skyrocket to a 52-week high. “Myriad’s stock closed up 3% Tuesday, following the publication of the New York Times op-ed,” wrote Marketwatch.com.

4) It drove public opinion to influence the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision to rule in favor of corporate ownership of human genes (see more below).

Women all over the world are being duped into supporting Angeline Jolie, having no idea that what she’s really doing is selling out women to the for-profit cancer industry. But to fully understand what’s happening, you have to dig deeper…

Myriad Genetics sees stock price skyrocket thanks to Jolie, and Obamacare will funnel billions their way

“Salt Lake City-based Myriad Genetics (MYGN) holds the patent on the test that determined the actress had an 87% chance of developing breast cancer, as well as the genes themselves,” wrote MarketWatch.com.

And that’s only the beginning. If the U.S. Supreme Court can be influenced to uphold Myriad’s patent, it could mean a trillion-dollar industry over just the next few years. Even more, Myriad Genetics is reportedly “ripe for mergers” according to the financial press, because it’s part of the super-hot human genome industry.

“The world’s largest maker of DNA testing and analysis tools, Life Technologies Corp. said that it is set to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific for a record $13.6 billion,” writes MarketWatch.com. “A race that kicked into high gear more than 26 years ago is heating up, with foreign governments and corporations joining the U.S. in funding the quest to map all the human genomes. And even as the recent flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the genomics space has spurred returns, investors still have opportunities to profit from this multibillion-dollar industry.”

The higher Myriad’s stock price goes, the more profitable a merger becomes for its current owners. So Jolie’s P.R. stunt just happened to generate unknown millions of dollars in value for the very people who claim a patent monopoly over the breast cancer genes residing in the bodies of women. Coincidence? Hardly.

Obamacare mandates taxpayers pay for BRCA gene testing: yet another government handout to wealthy corporations

But here’s what’s even more crooked about all this: You know how Obama likes to talk “free market” but actually engages in so-called “crony capitalism” by handing out money to all his corporate buddies, Wall Street insiders and deep-pocketed campaign donors? Part of Obamacare — the “Affordable Care Act” — mandates that taxpayers pay for BRCA1 genetic testing!

Myriad Genetics, in other words, stands to receive a full-scale windfall of profits mandated by government and pushed into mainstream consciousness through a campaign of “medical terror” fronted by Angelina Jolie and the New York Times. Are you starting to see how this all fits together yet?

This is all one big coordinated corporate sellout of women, and it’s all being hidden by playing the “women’s power” card and using “choice” language to more easily manipulate women. Angelina Jolie, remember, is a key spokesperson for the United Nations, an organization already caught engaged in child sex slavery and drug running. Although Jolie obviously isn’t engage in that sort of behavior, her job is to covertly influence American women into supporting a carefully-planned, plotted and executed corporate profit campaign that turns women’s bodies into profits.

Here’s why the Supreme Court decision puts trillions of dollars at stake…

Details on the upcoming Supreme Court decision

The ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation filed a lawsuit in 2009, challenging the corporate ownership of human genes. Anyone who believes in women’s rights, human rights, civil rights or even the right to eat non-GMO foods should immediately agree that corporations should NOT be able to patent human genes and then use those patents to rake in billions of dollars in profits while stifling scientific research into those genes.

A question to all women reading this: Do you believe a corporation in Utah owns your body? If not, you should be opposed to corporate ownership of human genes. It also means you should oppose Angelina Jolie’s P.R. campaign because although she’s running a brilliant public relations campaign, behind the scenes her actions are feeding potentially trillions of dollars of profits directly into the for-profit human gene patenting industry that denies human beings ownership over their own genetic code.

The ACLU explains the basics of its lawsuit against Myriad Genetics as follows:

On May 12, 2009, the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed a lawsuit charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2, are unconstitutional and invalid. On November 30, 2012, the Supreme Court agreed to hear argument on the patentability of human genes. The ACLU argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 15, 2013. We expect a decision this summer.

On behalf of researchers, genetic counselors, women patients, cancer survivors, breast cancer and women’s health groups, and scientific associations representing 150,000 geneticists, pathologists, and laboratory professionals, we have argued that human genes cannot be patented because they are classic products of nature. The suit charges that the gene patents violate the First Amendment and stifle diagnostic testing and research that could lead to cures and that they limit women’s options regarding their medical care.

Got that? If the Supreme Court rules against Myriad Genetics, it will cause a multi-billion-dollar breast cancer genetic testing industry to collapse virtually overnight. This means a huge loss for not just Myriad, but also many other human gene corporations that wish to exploit the human body — including the bodies of women — for monopolistic profits. (All patents are government-granted monopolies.) Ultimately, trillions of dollars in corporate gene patents are at stake here.

Patenting human genes is huge business

Today, about 20 percent of your genes are already patented by corporations and universities. As the ACLU explains, “A gene patent holder has the right to prevent anyone from studying, testing or even looking at a gene. As a result, scientific research and genetic testing has been delayed, limited or even shut down due to concerns about gene patents.”

This means that when corporations own patents on human genes, it stifles scientific research while granting that corporation a monopoly over the “intellectual property” encoded in your own DNA! (How criminal is that? You decide…)

What this means is that if the Supreme Court rules against Myriad, it would set a precedent that would dismantle the entire human gene patenting industry, affecting trillions of dollars in future profits.

This, I believe, is the real reason behind Angelina Jolie’s announcement. It seems designed to invoke women’s emotional reactions and create a groundswell of support for corporate-owned genes, thereby handing these corporations a Supreme Court precedent that will ensure trillions in future profits. It’s a for-profit PR stunt that tries to trick women into supporting a corporate system of patents and monopolies that claims, right now, to own portions of the bodies of every woman living today.

While most media outlets have no clue about the patent issues at stake here, the Detroit Free Press took notice, saying:

“The Hollywood star’s decision to get tested for a breast cancer gene mutation, undergo a double mastectomy and then write about it calls attention to a case now pending before the court. The justices have just weeks to decide if Myriad Genetics’ patent on the two genes that can identify an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer is legal. Critics complain that the company’s monopoly leaves them as the sole source of the $4,000 tests needed to determine each woman’s risk.”

Lying with statistics: Jolie’s 87% risk exaggeration

There’s more to this story than just the patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Angelina Jolie is also using blatantly misleading statistics to terrify women into thinking their breasts might kill them.

In the NYT op-ed piece, Jolie claims her doctor told her she has an “87% risk” of developing breast cancer. But what she didn’t tell you is that this number doesn’t apply to the entire population: it’s actually old data derived almost exclusively from families that were previously documented to have very high risks of breast cancer to begin with.

A study published on the National Human Genome Research Institute website and conducted by scientists from the National Institutes of Health reveals that breast cancer risks associated with BRCA1 genes are significantly lower than what’s being hyped up by Jolie and the mainstream media.

In fact, in a large room of 600 women, only ONE will likely have a BRCA mutation in her genetic code. The actual incidence is 0.125 to 0.25 out of 100 women, or 1 in 400 to 1 in 800. I used 600 as the average of 400 and 800.

And out of that 1 in 600 women who has the mutation, her risk of breast cancer is only 56 percent, not 78 percent as claimed by Jolie. But 13 percent of women without the BRCA mutation get breast cancer anyway, according to this scientific research, so the increased risk is just 43 out of 100 women.

So what we’re really talking about here is 1 in 600 women having a BRCA gene mutation, then less than half of those getting cancer because of it. In other words, only about 1 in 1200 women will be affected by this.

Yet thanks to people like Jolie and the fear-mongering mainstream media, women all across the nation have been terrified into believing their breasts might kill them and the best way to handle the problem is to cut them off!

This, my friends, is the essence of doomsday fear mongering. This issue affects less than one-tenth of one percent of women but is being riled up into a nationwide fear campaign that just happens to feed profits into the for-profit cancer diagnosis and treatment industry, not to mention the monopolistic human gene patenting cartels.

That’s the real story of what’s happening here. Don’t expect to read this in the New York Times.

Corporate media refuses to mention real prevention and treatment options

As part of the breast cancer fear mongering and treatment scam now being run across the mainstream media, nearly all media sources are prohibiting any mention of holistic or natural options for treatment or prevention.

Sure, the media talks about “options,” but all those options just happen to lead back to the for-profit cancer industry. As an example, read this story by ABC News, part of the lying mainstream media that misinforms women and pushes a corporate agenda:

If you do test positive for BRCA, you have options, and you don’t necessarily have to go the Jolie route. Some women choose not to have surgery. Instead, they increase cancer surveillance with imaging tests. These include regular mammograms to test for breast cancer, and regular pelvic sonograms and blood-tests to watch for ovarian cancer.

Nowhere in this article does ABC News mention ways to suppress the BRCA1 gene by, for example, eating raw cruciferous vegetables containing Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C), a potent anti-cancer nutrient that halts breast cancer in its tracks. Nowhere does ABC News mention vitamin D which prevents nearly 4 out of 5 cancers of all types, including breast cancer.

Nope, the “options” being pushed by mainstream media are nothing more than mammograms, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy — all owned and run by the for-profit cancer industry that feeds on women and exploits their bodies for profit.

Nor is their any discussion of the total scam of the “pink ribbons” cancer cure industry which is primarily focused on giving women cancer through “free mammograms.” As any scientist or physicist already knows, mammograms cause cancer because they emit ionizing radiation directly into the breast and heart tissues. Get enough mammograms done and sooner or later they will detect breast cancer because they caused it! To date, 1.3 million women have been harmed by mammography.

Thanks, Angelina, for keeping the wool pulled over the eyes of women everywhere while selling out to for-profit, monopolistic, corporate interests that incessantly seek to exploit women for profit.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/040365_Angelina_Jolie_gene_patents_Supreme_Court_decision.html#ixzz2TZhotw5Z