Bioterrorism

Bioterrorism consultant's anthrax claims challenged

2013-05-22 15:07:00

WASHINGTON — As an example of the ease with which terrorists could produce anthrax, former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig has repeatedly cited the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo. The cult gained infamy in 1995 by unleashing the nerve agent sarin in...

Spotlighting a terrorism risk, and profiting

2013-05-19 00:00:00

WASHINGTON — Over the last decade, former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig, a prominent lawyer, presidential advisor and biowarfare consultant to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, has urged the government to counter what he...

BioWatch technology couldn't detect lethal germs, tests found

2012-10-22 08:44:00

WASHINGTON — For two years, the nationwide BioWatch system, intended to protect Americans against a biological attack, operated with defective components that left it unable to detect lethal germs, according to scientists with direct knowledge of...

BioWatch documents demanded

2012-11-15 00:00:00

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Department and other federal officials responsible for BioWatch, the nationwide system for detecting deadly biological attacks, have withheld key documents sought by a congressional committee, according to the panel's...

Early warnings on BioWatch

2012-08-23 00:00:00

WASHINGTON — Scientists who helped pioneer BioWatch, the government's system for detecting a biological attack on the U.S., knew from the start that it was prone to false alarms, records show. Between 2003, when the nationwide network of air...

BioWatch upgrade apparently postponed

2012-09-08 00:00:00

WASHINGTON — Amid concerns about cost and reliability, the federal Department of Homeland Security has quietly postponed plans to buy technology that officials have long claimed could provide a life-saving upgrade of BioWatch, the nation's system...

The biodefender that cries wolf

2012-07-08 00:00:00

DENVER — As Chris Lindley drove to work that morning in August 2008, a call set his heart pounding. The Democratic National Convention was being held in Denver, and Barack Obama was to accept his party's presidential nomination before a crowd of...

Congress members voice doubts about BioWatch

2012-09-14 00:00:00

WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee and a senior Republican colleague voiced grave doubts Thursday about the viability of BioWatch, the nation's system for detecting biological attacks that has been plagued by false...

Is Homeland Security spending paying off?

2011-08-28 00:00:00

On the edge of the Nebraska sand hills is Lake McConaughy, a 22-mile-long reservoir that in summer becomes a magnet for Winnebagos, fishermen and kite sailors. But officials here in Keith County, population 8,370, imagined this scene: an Al Qaeda...

Lawmaker says U.S. 'dodged a bullet' in TB case

2007-06-06 11:21:00

The globe-trotting groom with a highly infectious strain of tuberculosis, whose travels last month caused an international health scare, told Congress today that he had no idea he was contagious. "I don't want this, and I wouldn't have wanted to give...

2nd Man Exposed to Anthrax

2001-10-09 00:00:00

A second Florida man has been exposed to the rare and extremely deadly anthrax bacterium, and U.S. officials said Monday that they were vigorously investigating the incident as a potential criminal act. One law enforcement source said they are...

U.S. Anthrax Battle Lacking in Expertise

2001-10-28 00:00:00

At a laboratory in northern Arizona, microbiologist Paul Keim toiled over the pedigree of the anthrax spores that killed three people and shook the U.S. capital to its roots. At Ft. Detrick, Md., Army germ warfare specialists struggled with another...

Family and friends walk with Carol Olsen, center, to court in 2003 where her husband Ken Olsen was convicted of possession of a biological agent under a law intended for terrorists.

2004-04-15 20:00:06