CNN -Monday, October 6, 2003
WASHINGTON (CNN) --The Defense Department sold equipment to the public that can be used for making biological warfare agents, according to a draft report by the General Accounting Office. The Defense Department agency responsible for the sale of excess property to the public, the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, halted the sale of such items September 19 while the practice is reviewed.
"Many items needed to establish a laboratory for making biological warfare agents were being sold on the Internet to the public from DoD's excess property inventory for pennies on the dollar, making them both easy and economical to obtain," the GAO draft report said.
"As requested, GAO established a fictitious company and purchased over the
Internet key excess DoD biological equipment items and related protective
clothing necessary to produce and disseminate biological warfare agents."
The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.
A congressional source said the GAO front corporation was able to buy
evaporator, incubator and centrifuge equipment that can be used to produce biological
warfare agents.
It also bought 300 to 400 protective suits required for the production of
biological agents, the source said.
The fictitious GAO company spent "a little over $4,000" for equipment that
the Defense Department originally bought for some $46,000, according to the
source and the report.
"That's less than 10 cents on the dollar," the source said.
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printed from Controversy about Pentagon "Online Biolab" on 2004-06-03 17:42:01