When can a single word hamper a major project? When it’s a terrifying term like “bioterrorism.”
After years struggling with the FBI’s forensics lab at Quantico, the District is trying to build a $250 million facility of its own somewhere in Washington, setting aside local dollars and petitioning the federal government for contributions. The lab would be the primary location for the Metropolitan Police Department’s evidence and DNA investigations, and would include a laboratory for identifying biological agents used in a terrorist attack.
But nailing down a site has been difficult, city officials say, because the lab was known for yearsas the “Bioterrorism and Forensics Laboratory.”
Whether accurate or overblown, the connotation was that D.C. scientists would be working with deadly pathogens — anthrax, mousepox, plague. Testifying before a Senate committee in 2004, Mayor Anthony Williams said the lab is “essential for assessing, detecting and addressing bioterrorism attacks.”
The message hasn’t changed, but the name is now the “Consolidated Laboratory Facility.”
“One of the problems I had originally was I was calling it the bioterrorism lab, which isn’t good when you’re going to communities,” Williams told a House subcommittee last week.
Ed Reiskin, deputy mayor for public safety, said the bioterrorism aspect, a secure Level-3 lab, would be a minuscule program within the overall facility. But it nonetheless gave the heebie-jeebies to the D.C. Council and virtually anyone outside the know.
Now a site has been selected, officials say, and progress is finally made being on a deal with the council member who represents the ward containing chosen location.
The design could be made public within weeks. Officials declined to reveal the site, citing ongoing negotiations.
Funding for forensics lab
» District has already received $13 million from the federal government
» City is asking feds for $25 million more in fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009
