House lawmakers on Wednesday praised the Pentagon’s openness on the shipment of potentially live anthrax spores to laboratories in at least 19 states and four foreign countries ahead of their first formal classified briefing on the issue.
Pentagon officials briefed the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on the shipment of suspect samples to 68 laboratories in 19 states and the District of Columbia, and also to facilities in Britain, South Korea, Australia and Canada. The samples came from at least four batches at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah that were thought to be inert. Dugway is one of four military labs that manufactures inert samples of anthrax for research labs and military use.
“The Department of Defense has been very transparent and upfront,” said Rep. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat. Still, he said, lawmakers would be seeking more information about how it happened.
“This is something you’ve got to take really seriously. Something did not go right here and we all have to find out what it was that did not go right,” said Armed Services Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.
The samples have been shipped to U.S. labs for research for the past 10 years, and lawmakers will be looking at whether it would be better for researchers to work with them at a more central location, said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the subcommittee chairman.
The Pentagon, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is testing all 400 batches of anthrax spores at the four military labs. Officials said last week that as that 10-day testing process completes, it’s likely more suspect samples will emerge.
In addition, the Pentagon and CDC are investigating the irradiation and testing process that was used to render the main batches inert. The goal is to discover how at least four of those batches, which were then used to produce smaller samples for shipment, could have survived the process.
Though 31 personnel who would have come in close contact with the samples are now on the antibiotic Cipro, the Pentagon said there’s no risk to the public, and has created a website where people can go for updated information.
