4 Pentagon Labs Face Inquiry on Handling of Deadly Germs
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating four Defense Department labs for mishandling deadly germs used in bioterrorism research, a spokesman said Friday.
The mistakes involve anthrax, plague and viruses that cause encephalitis, which are studied by the military to defend against their potential use as biological weapons. There is no evidence that anyone has been harmed by the errors or that there is any risk to the public, officials say. But bioterrorism experts say that there should be zero tolerance because the organisms are so dangerous, and that even seemingly small mistakes, like flaws in record-keeping, could have calamitous results.
Because of the C.D.C. findings, the secretary of the Army on Sept. 2 ordered the four labs to suspend their work with certain dangerous microbes classified as “select agents” because of the risks that they pose. The suspension was first reported by USA Today. The laboratories are the Dugway Proving Ground Life Sciences Test Facility in Utah, and three sites in Maryland: the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the Naval Medical Research Center. They, along with five other labs, have been ordered to conduct safety reviews of all their procedures.
Concerns about the military labs surfaced in May, when it was discovered that the Dugway lab had, during the past decade, mistakenly shipped live anthrax — the bacteria were supposed to have been killed — to numerous labs in the United States and seven other countries.
The Dugway incident led the C.D.C. to conduct spot checks at other Defense Department labs, said a spokesman for the agency, Jason McDonald. Six inspectors were sent to the Edgewood facility from Aug. 17 through 19.
“Inspectors found some labeling issues,” Mr. McDonald said. He said questions were raised about whether certain specimens labeled killed and harmless might actually contain live organisms. For instance, the inspectors found two vials of plague bacteria outside the safe containment area designated for live organisms, and when they asked for documentation to determine whether the bacteria were live or inactivated, “two documents provided showed discrepant results for the same product,” Mr. McDonald said in an email.
Questions were also raised about whether active encephalitis viruses might have been shipped as if they were harmless, but a preliminary investigation suggests that was not the case, Mr. McDonald said. But he added that there were “preliminary indications” that other specimens of dangerous organisms may have been shipped without proper authorization.
“C.D.C. is investigating those transfers to ensure that there was no risk to those that handled this material or to the public,” Mr. McDonald said.
The C.D.C. was not granting interviews with the scientists who conducted the inspections because the investigation is still going on, Mr. McDonald said.
In an email, he said the agencies’ responses “demonstrate how seriously both organizations take incidents involving select agents. We accept there will always be some risk in the laboratory work C.D.C. and others do to protect Americans, but our goal is to eliminate unnecessary risk and reduce unavoidable risk. That is why labs in the select agent program have numerous, redundant systems to ensure there are many layers of protection between the work done in labs and the general public.”
When asked for comment, the Pentagon provided only its statement from Sept. 2.
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Russia to US: talk to us on Syria or risk 'unintended incidents'
Reuters-17 hours ago
But Russia supports the government of Assad in Syria, while the ... to be operated by Russians in Syria," said one of the Western sources, ...
Syria civil war: The Russians are coming to President Assad's aid ...
Opinion-The Independent-Sep 10, 2015
Opinion-The Independent-Sep 10, 2015
US voices concern to Russia over latest military moves in Syria
Opinion-The Express Tribune-Sep 5, 2015
Opinion-The Express Tribune-Sep 5, 2015
By Dan Williams
(Reuters) - Moscow is sending an advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Syria, two Western officials and a Russian source said, as part of what the West believes is stepped-up military support for embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
The Western officials said the SA-22 system would be operated by Russian troops, rather than Syrians. The system was on its way to Syria but had not yet arrived.
"This system is the advanced version used by Russia and it's meant to be operated by Russians in Syria," said one of the sources, a Western diplomat who is regularly briefed on U.S., Israeli and other intelligence assessments.
Two U.S. officials separately confirmed the information. The second U.S. official said the United States had indications that, although the entire system had not arrived, some control system components for the SA-22 had been positioned at an airfield near Latakia, an Assad stronghold.
The second U.S. official said the system may be part of a Russian effort to bolster defenses at the airfield.
The Russian source, who is close to the Russian navy, said the delivery would not be the first time Moscow had sent the SA-22 system, known as Pantsir-S1 in Russian, to Syria. It had been sent in 2013, the source said.
"There are plans now to send a new set," the source said, without detailing how far along the process was.
However, the Western diplomat said the version of the SA-22 on its way to Syria was newer than previous missile systems deployed there.
Syrian officials could not be reached for comment.
The United States has been leading a campaign of air strikes in Syrian air space for a year, joined by aircraft from European and regional allies including Britain, France, Jordan and Turkey. U.S. forces operating in the area are concerned about the potential introduction of the weapon, the diplomat said.
U.S. officials say they believe Moscow has been sending troops and equipment to Syria, although they say Russia's intentions are not clear.
Lebanese sources have told Reuters that Russian troops have begun participating in combat operations on behalf of the Assad government. Moscow has not commented on those reports.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was sending military equipment to Syria to help the Assad government combat Islamic State fighters, and had sent experts to help train the Syrian army to use it.
However, the dispatch of advanced anti-aircraft missiles would appear to undermine that justification, since neither Islamic State nor any other Syrian rebel group possesses any aircraft.
Lavrov also said coordination was needed between Russia's military and the Pentagon to avoid "unintended incidents" around Syria. Russia was conducting pre-planned naval drills in the eastern Mediterranean, he said.
This year has seen momentum shift against Assad's government in Syria's 4-year-old civil war, which has killed 250,000 people and driven around half of Syria's 23 million people from their homes.
An ally of Damascus since the Cold War, Moscow maintains its only Mediterranean naval base at Tartous on the Syrian coast, and protecting it would be a strategic objective.
Recent months have also seen talk of a new role for outside forces in Syria, with NATO-member Turkey proposing the creation of a "safe zone" free from both Islamic State and government forces near its Syrian border.
Even if Russians operated the missiles and kept them out of the hands of the Syrian army, the arrival of such an advanced anti-aircraft system could also unsettle Israel, which in the past has bombed sophisticated arms it suspected were being handed to Assad's Lebanese guerrilla allies, Hezbollah.
"In the Middle East you never know what will happen. If the Russians end up handing it (SA-22) over to the Syrian military I don't think the Israelis would intervene but they would go bananas if they see it heading towards Hezbollah in Lebanon," the diplomatic source said.
An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the missile system. A senior Israeli defense official briefing reporters on Thursday said Israel was in contact with Moscow and would continue its policy of stopping advanced weapons reaching Hezbollah.
"We have open relations with the Russians who have come to save Assad in the civil war. Along with this, we will not allow our sovereignty to be compromised or the transfer of advanced or chemical weapons (to Hezbollah). We are following the developments and keeping open channels with Moscow."
(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Luke Baker and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Peter Graff)
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· · · ·
Over the last few months a series of diplomatic meetings from Moscow to Washington raised hopes for a serious new push toward a political solution to the vicious war in
Syria
that has killed more than 250,000 people and forced thousands more to flee to Europe. That optimistic idea has been put in doubt by Russia's recent moves to significantly bolster military support for Syria's ruthless dictator,
Bashar Assad
, whose hold on his country is weakening.
Russia
has long been a major enabler of Assad, protecting him from criticism and sanctions at the
United Nations Security Council
and providing weapons for his army. But the latest assistance may be expanding Russian involvement in the conflict to a new and more dangerous level.
Russia has sent a military advance team to Syria and transported prefabricated housing units for hundreds of military personnel to an airfield near Latakia, the Assad family's ancestral home, The Times' Michael Gordon and Eric Schmitt have reported. Russia also sent a portable air-traffic station and filed requests to make military flights over neighboring countries through September.
The Americans say Russia's intentions are unclear. But they are so concerned that Secretary of State
John Kerry
called the foreign minister,
Sergey Lavrov
, twice this month and warned of a possible "confrontation" with the United States, if the buildup led to Russian offensive operations in support of Assad's forces that might hit American trainers or allies.
The United States is carrying out airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State, which is trying to establish a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, as well as struggling to train and arm moderate opposition groups that could secure territory taken from the extremists.
Russian officials add to the tensions and growing suspicions when they play down or lie about what they are really up to, as they did in Ukraine. In the case of Syria, they initially said the shipments carried only humanitarian aid; later, they admitted deploying military advisers and hardware, but insisted it was all part of a longstanding military agreement with the Assad government. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also said the Kremlin was weighing its options in terms of intensifying the fight against extremist groups like the Islamic State.
Russia is obviously concerned about the fate of Assad and his regime, which is struggling to sustain an army after four years of war and is suffering such serious battlefield defeats that the state may not survive. The relationship with Syria dates to Soviet times and is one of Russia's last levers of influence in the Middle East. Russia operates a small naval base at Tartus on the Mediterranean and is keen to preserve it.
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, may also be using the buildup to strengthen Russia's hand in any political outcome in Syria and to constrain US military options there. The constructive way to have an impact is for Putin to drop his opposition to Washington's and its allies' insistence that Assad be replaced as part of a negotiated political settlement that includes a transition to a new government.
The United States has asked countries on the flight path between Russia and Syria to close their airspace to Russian flights, unless Moscow can prove they aren't being used to militarily resupply the Assad regime. Bulgaria has done so, but Greece, another NATO ally, and Iraq, which is depending on the United States to save it from the Islamic State, so far have not. World leaders should use the U.N. General Assembly meeting this month to make clear the dangers a Russian buildup would pose for efforts to end the fighting.
For the United States, Russia and many other countries, including Iran (Assad's other major ally), defeating the Islamic State, ministering to the millions of Syrians forced from their homes and salvaging what is left of the Syrian state should be shared goals. None can be achieved without a political solution that installs a more inclusive and competent government in Damascus.
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The Obama administration and the US intelligence community have concluded that Russia is set to start flying combat missions from a new air base inside Syria, but there’s disagreement inside the US government on what to do about it.
The options are to try to confront Russia inside Syria or, as some in the White House are advocating, cooperate with Russia there on the fight against the Islamic State. The State Department had already begun pushing back against the Russian moves, for example by asking Bulgaria and Greece to deny overflight permissions to Syria-bound Russian transport planes.
But State made those moves on its own, and when the president found out, he was upset with the department for failing to go through the inter-agency process.
For some in the White House, the priority is to enlist more countries to fight against the Islamic State, and they fear making the relationship with Russia any more heated. They are seriously considering accepting the Russian buildup as a fait accompli, and then working with Moscow to coordinate US and Russian strikes in Northern Syria, where the US-led coalition operates every day.
For many in the administration, the idea of acquiescing to Russian participation in the fighting is akin to admitting that the drive to oust Assad has failed. Plus, they fear Russia will attack Syrian opposition groups fighting against Assad, using the war against the Islamic State as a cover.
“The Russians’ intentions are to keep Assad in power, not to fight ISIL,” one official said. “They’ve shown their cards now.”
Two US officials told me the intelligence community has collected evidence that Russia plans to deploy Mikoyan MiG 31 and Sukhoi Su-25 fighter planes in the coming days and weeks. The military equipment that has already arrived includes air-traffic control towers, aircraft maintenance supplies and housing units for hundreds of personnel.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last Saturday to urge him to halt the Russian military buildup, but the Russian told Kerry his military was doing nothing wrong and Russia’s support for Syria would continue. That response was seen inside the administration as a rebuke of Kerry’s efforts to reach out to Moscow to restart the Syrian political process.
This is a turn of events from the situation this summer. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Obama and according to Obama, Putin was moving away from a weakened Assad.
“I think they get a sense that the Assad regime is losing a grip over greater and greater swaths of territory inside of Syria [to Sunni jihadist militias],” Obama told The New York Times. “That offers us an opportunity to have a serious conversation with them.”
But since then, Putin has been moving away from a serious conversation about a diplomatic solution.
“Russia’s support for the Assad regime is not helpful at all, it’s counterproductive, and it’s against some of the things they have said about trying to bring about a solution,” Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told me Wednesday.
Putin is planning to focus on “terrorism” in his speech this month at the UN General Assembly. Russia will also host a ministerial-level meeting on the sidelines about fighting extremism, which it defines as including all the groups fighting the Assad regime, including the US-backed rebels.
There is concern inside the administration that the US has no real leverage to fight back. If Obama decides not to accept the Russian air force presence in Syria, he would have several options, all of which have drawbacks or limitations.
The US could impose new sanctions on Russia, though the current punishments related to Ukraine haven’t changed Putin’s calculus. The US might warn Russia that its base is fair game for the opposition to attack, but that could spur Putin to double down on the deployment. The US could try to stop the flow of Russian arms, but that would mean pressuring countries such as Iraq to stand up to Putin and Iran, which they might not agree to.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday he would try to impose sanctions on Russia from the congressional side if the administration doesn’t move in that direction.
“This is a chance for us to slap Russia hard, because what they are doing is making America less safe,” he said. “The Russians are just slapping President Obama and Secretary Kerry in the face.”
The White House’s concerns about escalating tensions with Russia inside Syria are legitimate, but cooperating with Russian forces on the ground or in the air would undermine whatever remaining credibility the US has with the Syrian opposition and the Gulf States that support it.
The US may not be able to stop Russia’s entry into fighting the Syrian civil war, but at a minimum America shouldn’t be seen as colluding with Moscow.
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· · ·
WASHINGTON - The United States and Israel are weeks away from reaching a draft agreement on a co-production of Israel's air defense system called David's Sling that the two countries jointly developed, the top US missile defense officer told lawmakers on Thursday.
US Navy Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, said discussions and negotiations continued with Israel on the David's Sling system, which passed a series of intercept tests in April and is expected to be operational next year.
Known in Hebrew as Magic Wand, David's Sling is being developed and manufactured jointly by Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd and Raytheon Co, a top US arms maker.
Robert Scher, assistant defense secretary for strategy, plans and capabilities, said the US government had provided more than $3 billion for missile defense to Israel for David's Sling and other missile defense programs since 2001.
Syring said a draft agreement on co-production of David's Sling should be reached with weeks, with a final agreement likely in several months, but gave no further details.
After that agreement was finalized, US and Israeli officials would discuss co-production of Israel's Arrow ballistic missile defense system, Syring told the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.
Designed to shoot down rockets with ranges of 100 to 200 km (63 to 125 miles), aircraft or low-flying cruise missiles, David's Sling will fill the operational gap between Israel's Iron Dome short-range rocket interceptor and the Arrow ballistic missile interceptor, both already in service.
US Navy Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, said discussions and negotiations continued with Israel on the David's Sling system, which passed a series of intercept tests in April and is expected to be operational next year.
Known in Hebrew as Magic Wand, David's Sling is being developed and manufactured jointly by Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd and Raytheon Co, a top US arms maker.
Robert Scher, assistant defense secretary for strategy, plans and capabilities, said the US government had provided more than $3 billion for missile defense to Israel for David's Sling and other missile defense programs since 2001.
Syring said a draft agreement on co-production of David's Sling should be reached with weeks, with a final agreement likely in several months, but gave no further details.
After that agreement was finalized, US and Israeli officials would discuss co-production of Israel's Arrow ballistic missile defense system, Syring told the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.
Designed to shoot down rockets with ranges of 100 to 200 km (63 to 125 miles), aircraft or low-flying cruise missiles, David's Sling will fill the operational gap between Israel's Iron Dome short-range rocket interceptor and the Arrow ballistic missile interceptor, both already in service.
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The first weapons systems have arrived the Russian base in Syria, Western military and intelligence sources said on Saturday, adding that these new weapons are "defensive by nature." These weapons, they claim, are to be used for base security as opposed to offensive military capabilities, as part of what the West believes is stepped-up military support for embattled President Bashar Assad.
The equipment consists of a half dozen howitzer artillery pieces and a control system for surface to air missiles, sources said. There are now about 200 Russian naval infantrymen at the base who would make up the base protection force. Enough housing has been erected to house 1500 personnel, and more is expected to be built as the the force grows.
However, Western sources are still unclear as to the purpose of establishing the Russian base in Syria, as Russia remains elusive on their plans for using the base in the future.
Still, there is a consensus among the sources, including those from the Israeli military, that Russia together with Iran have enhanced their presence in Syria in a desperate attempt to prevent the total collapse of the Assad regime.
The regime has suffered serious losses as the struggle for power continues in the unstable region. The Syrian army now controls only 25% of what used to be Syria before the civil war began four and half years ago. The area still under the regime's control includes Damascus and the coastal strip where the majority of the Alawites sect is concentrated and the roads connecting them.
Sources also estimate that Russia is trying to increase its control in the region, and plan to enlarge its presence at the strategic Tartus port, located off the coast of Syria, which is controlled by the Russia navy in the Mediterranean.
Reuters contributed to this report.
The equipment consists of a half dozen howitzer artillery pieces and a control system for surface to air missiles, sources said. There are now about 200 Russian naval infantrymen at the base who would make up the base protection force. Enough housing has been erected to house 1500 personnel, and more is expected to be built as the the force grows.
However, Western sources are still unclear as to the purpose of establishing the Russian base in Syria, as Russia remains elusive on their plans for using the base in the future.
Still, there is a consensus among the sources, including those from the Israeli military, that Russia together with Iran have enhanced their presence in Syria in a desperate attempt to prevent the total collapse of the Assad regime.
The regime has suffered serious losses as the struggle for power continues in the unstable region. The Syrian army now controls only 25% of what used to be Syria before the civil war began four and half years ago. The area still under the regime's control includes Damascus and the coastal strip where the majority of the Alawites sect is concentrated and the roads connecting them.
Sources also estimate that Russia is trying to increase its control in the region, and plan to enlarge its presence at the strategic Tartus port, located off the coast of Syria, which is controlled by the Russia navy in the Mediterranean.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and the United States on Friday set an agenda for improving relations, putting a priority on more easily attainable agreements while leaving aside difficult issues such as the U.S. trade embargo and naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba said.
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Germany's foreign minister has warned Russia against bolstering its support for the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Sweden's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador on September 11 after Moscow threatened retaliatory measures if the Scandinavian country joined NATO.
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Supporters and critics alike said Mr. Obama must detail how the United States and other world powers intend to enforce and monitor the nuclear agreement with Iran.
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Spy Chief's 'Unusual' Contact With Military Official Raises Concerns About ...
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September 12, 2015, 1:40 PM (IDT)
Russia has issued an alert for Cyprus to divert aircraft from normal flight paths during the military exercises, including missile fire, to be conducted off the Syrian coast next week. Russia is also reported in Moscow to have sent NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen) to the US Federal Aviation Administration about the Russian Navy exercise, including “rocket test firings” between the Syrian port of Tartus and Cyprus, about 100 kilometers away.
September 12, 2015, 5:38 AM (IDT)
Russia called on Friday for military-to-military cooperation with the United States to avert "unintended incidents" as it stages navy exercises off the coast of Syria.
A source close to the Russian navy said in Moscow that a squadron of five Russian ships equipped with guided missiles had set off to conduct maneuvers in Syrian waters.
"They will train to repulse an attack from the air and to defend the coast, which means firing artillery and testing short-range air defense systems," the source said, adding that the exercise had been agreed with the Syrian government.
Russia has given notice of several rounds of navy drills with rocket firing tests in the sea off Syria from Sept. 8 to Oct. 7.
A source close to the Russian navy said in Moscow that a squadron of five Russian ships equipped with guided missiles had set off to conduct maneuvers in Syrian waters.
"They will train to repulse an attack from the air and to defend the coast, which means firing artillery and testing short-range air defense systems," the source said, adding that the exercise had been agreed with the Syrian government.
Russia has given notice of several rounds of navy drills with rocket firing tests in the sea off Syria from Sept. 8 to Oct. 7.
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On Sept. 11, 2001, a mild, sunny, morning in New York City and Washington, D.C., Al-Qaeda terrorists
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