Army: Virus Vials Missing From Facility
By Wyatt Earp | April 23, 2009
Oh. Crap.
You know, as a Philadelphia police detective, I cannot walk into our Criminal Justice Center without passing through the security checkpoint and showing my shield and/or ID. And this is our main court facility. It’s not as if I don’t stand out with my shield, gun, and handcuffs.
So, following that logic, HOW THE FRAK DOES SOMEONE JUST WALK OFF AN ARMY BASE WITH THREE VIALS OF A HARMFUL VIRUS???
WASHINGTON – Missing vials of a potentially dangerous virus have prompted an Army investigation into the disappearance from a lab in Maryland.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command agents have been visiting Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, to investigate the disappearance of the vials. Christopher Grey, spokesman for the command, said this latest investigation has found “no evidence of criminal activity.”
So, like my mom used to say, “It just got up and walked away?”
The vials contained samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a virus that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. In 97 percent of cases, humans with the virus suffer flu-like symptoms, but it can be deadly in about 1 out of 100 cases, according to Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the Army’s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. There is an effective vaccine for the disease and there hasn’t been an outbreak in the United States since 1971.
The vials had been at the research institute’s facility at Fort Detrick, home of the Army’s top biological research facility, for more than a decade. The three missing vials were among thousands of vials that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired in 2004. When another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the retired scientist’s biological samples, he discovered that the three vials of the virus were missing. The original scientist’s records about his vials dated back to the days of paper-and-pen inventories. (H/T – CNN)
Here’s a crazy idea: Maybe the Obama administration can give The Pentagon a ringy dingy and tell the Army to get their collective heads out of their asses and do a complete audit of this facility, post haste!
Who knows what else could be missing from there?
Topics: WTF? | 8 Comments »
Didn’t a bunch of horses just die mysteriously down in Florida before a big Polo game?
More then likely the vials were destroyed following research, and somehow the paper work got messed up. Either that, or they had six vials, but someone wrote down they had nine, so they never had the three to begin with. I think that is most likely.
However, the possibility that someone took the vials for nefarious schemes, is plenty scary.
Marvin – I’ll feel better when we get one of those explanations from someone at Fort Detrick.
Once upon a time, even before the Clinton cutbacks, I took a position unnamed that made me the “Security Manager” on a floating haze gray thing.
The CO had has the present job holder inventory a library of very classified stuff. In this case, it was many items, and…on microfiche. Some of it was missing, but he had to go, so I got to do the detailed investigation. Using paper and pencil records, I had in my hands no missing items, but 546 frames of stuff with signed paperwork saying it had been destroyed, with two attesting signatures. It took about 3 months of two of us, in between all we had to do to actually sit and sight audit all the items (me personally, with the same CPO as my second set of eyes to cross check every sheet and confirm), using the many change documents from the initial issue to the ship (thank goodness it was only 5 years old). Disciplinary reports were shipped off to the commands where people had transferred, and mast held for the one still aboard for not doing their duty, yet signing to it. Inside baseball: One guy had his CO toss it out and blast my CO for sending it along. The subject of the report made flag rank, because someone liked him when he was still just in the middle paygrades.
Later, I was the guy with the technical knowledge to investigate some “stuff” in the post-John Walker days, my boss was the senior guy to the man in question. Again, signatures, but things hadn’t been destroyed as they were reported to the CO, and to an agency in DC, which was the requirement. Good news: All was there and left in the vault. Bad news: The chain of command had signed and went back to work. A quick walk about would have revealed something amiss. Three levels of leadership missed it.
Then, we have the real world stuff like John Walker and several others.
The problem: Supervisors who play fast and loose with their time, instead of treating their work with the priority required, regardless of how much it impacts their personal life. That can be the direct supervision, or those “at the gate” that day. Then you also have people who get a by, because “they’re a good guy and have worked here a long time.”
Then you have what I found: People, hustling though their work, and pencil whipping the “good enough (in their eyes)” method into place, so as to get out the door, or are overwhelmed by something else, and mis-manage priorities, but the “stuff” is still there when the investigation really tears the circumstances apart.
Not excuses, just real world circumstances from the real world.
One good thing about this ( and yes it is scary ) is that it probably predates obambi and thus if during bush years we can blame the “left wing” extremists. Also how soon before some jihadi suicidal maniac gets himself infected
on purpose with something with a long incubation period and walks around shaking everyones hand smiling and saying I love America? I am of the old school, civilizations should destroy themselves, or others, thru kinetic energy weapons, nuclear weapons, fire or blunt force trauma. When the bugs start getting passed around I get queasy.
It’s just a matter of time Jon…. That is the poor mans spoiler weapon of choice. Scares the crap outa me too…
After all the work that the United States did to rid the world of smallpox, the Russians weaponized it in mass quantities… You think they know where all of it is?
I remember reading about those horses! I think it should be looked into.
Check with the Family Circus; NotMe may have done it.
I spent some time at Ft. Detrich. My youngest brother and my son-in-law both spent over 6 years there. I can tell you that although they try and put up a front of having such great security, this place is probably as secure as a crack house on skid row.
The security there is a boondogle extraordinaire. They might as well have kids watching the place.
Joe