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Old 10-08-2002, 02:15 PM
thedrifter thedrifter is offline
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Default Project 112

PRESS ADVISORY from the United States Department of Defense

No. 173-P
PRESS ADVISORY October 8, 2002

Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) William
Winkenwerder, Jr., will hold a news conference to release 28
detailed fact sheets on 27 Cold War-era chemical and biological
warfare tests identified as Project 112.

The briefing will take place tomorrow, Oct. 9, 2002, at 1 p.m.
EDT in the DoD Briefing Room, Pentagon 2E781. These documents
will supplement information already posted on the World Wide Web
at
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil/

Point of contact is Jim Turner at (703) 697-5135.

[Web version: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct...02_p173-02.html]

-- Press Advisories: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/press.html
-- DoD News: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html
-- Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html#e-mail
-- Today in DoD: http://www.defenselink.mil/today/

Sempers,

Roger
__________________
IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND
SSgt. Roger A.
One Proud Marine
1961-1977
68/69
Once A Marine............Always A Marine.............

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  #2  
Old 10-09-2002, 07:15 AM
thedrifter thedrifter is offline
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Cool Chemical Weapons Tests by US in 60s

Wed Oct 9,12:02 AM ET
By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer

The United States held open-air biological and chemical weapons tests in at least four states ? Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland and Florida ? during the 1960s in an effort to develop defenses against such weapons, according to Pentagon (news - web sites) documents.



A series of tests in Alaska from 1965-67 used artillery shells and bombs filled with the nerve agents sarin and VX, the records show.

The Defense Department planned to release summaries of 28 chemical and biological weapons tests at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. The Associated Press obtained the summaries Tuesday.

The documents did not say whether any civilians had been exposed to the poisons. Military personnel exposed to weapons agents would have worn protective gear, the Pentagon says.

The Pentagon previously acknowledged that it had conducted biological and chemical tests ? including a few on U.S. soil ? but the latest documents give the most detailed picture so far of the testing program inside the United States.

The tests were part of Project 112, a military program in the 1960s and 1970s to test chemical and biological weapons and defenses against them. Parts of the testing program done on Navy ships were called Project SHAD, or Shipboard Hazard and Defense.

The tests were directed from the Deseret Test Center, part of a biological and chemical weapons complex in the Utah desert.

Some of those involved in the tests say they now suffer health problems linked to their exposure to dangerous chemicals and germs. They are pressing the Veterans Affairs Department to compensate them and the Defense Department to release more information about the tests.

In response to pressure from veterans and Congress, the Pentagon began releasing details of the tests last year. Earlier this year, the Defense Department acknowledged for the first time that some of the 1960s tests used real chemical and biological weapons, not just benign stand-ins.

"The Cold War era experiments of Project SHAD, which we are now learning used live toxins and chemical poisons on American servicemen on American soil, must be aggressively investigated in as open and transparent a manner as possible," said the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. "Our focus must be on quickly identifying those veterans who were involved, assessing whether they suffered any negative health consequences and, if warranted, providing them with adequate health care and compensation for their service."

The Defense Department has identified nearly 3,000 soldiers involved in tests disclosed earlier, but the VA has sent letters to fewer than half of them. VA and Pentagon officials acknowledged at a July hearing that finding the soldiers has been difficult.

The tests described in the latest Pentagon documents include:

_ Devil Hole I, designed to test how sarin gas would disperse after being released in artillery shells and rockets in aspen and spruce forests. The tests occurred in the summer of 1965 at the Gerstle River test site near Fort Greeley, Alaska, the documents said. Sarin is a powerful nerve gas that causes a choking, thrashing death. It killed 12 people in a Tokyo subway attack in 1995 and the Bush administration says it is part of Iraq's chemical arsenal.

_ Devil Hole II, which tested how the nerve agent VX behaved when dispersed with artillery shells. The test at the Gerstle River site in Alaska also included mannequins in military uniforms and military trucks. VX is one of the deadliest nerve agents known and is persistent in the environment because it is a sticky liquid that evaporates slowly. Iraq has acknowledged making tons of VX.

_ Big Tom, a 1965 test that included spraying bacteria over the Hawaiian island of Oahu to simulate a biological attack on an island compound, and to develop tactics for such an attack. The test used Bacillus globigii, a bacterium believed at the time to be harmless. Researchers later discovered the bacteria could cause infections in people with weakened immune systems.

___

On the Net:

Descriptions of some of the tests:
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil/curren...ad_intro.shtml



Sempers,

Roger
__________________
IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND
SSgt. Roger A.
One Proud Marine
1961-1977
68/69
Once A Marine............Always A Marine.............

http://www.geocities.com/thedrifter001/
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  #3  
Old 10-12-2002, 02:53 PM
sfc_darrel sfc_darrel is offline
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Default California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Florida, Utah, & Canada

DOD RELEASES DESERET TEST CENTER/PROJECT 112/PROJECT SHAD FACT SHEETS

The Department of Defense today released another 28 detailed fact sheets on 27 Cold War-era chemical and biological warfare tests identified as Project 112. Project 112 was a comprehensive program initiated in 1962 out of concern for our ability to protect and defend against these potential threats.

This is in addition to the 12 fact sheets for 10 tests released in September 2001 and January and May this year. Release of the information is part of an on-going effort to provide information needed by the Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to some veterans' claims that tests conducted in the 1960s and early 1970s may have affected their health. The new fact sheets cover
tests performed both at sea and on land. A DoD investigative team found that actual chemical and biological warfare agents and simulants for these agents were used in some of these tests.

Equipment and Terrain Testing

>From 1962 to 1973, the Deseret Test Center, headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, conducted a series of chemical and biological warfare vulnerability tests in support of Project
112. The Deseret Test Center planned 134 tests with 46 confirmed to be conducted and 62 canceled.

Currently, DoD investigators are searching for final reports on five tests, an additional four tests are pending review, and the status of 26
other planned tests is still under investigation.

The purpose of the tests done under Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense was to identify U.S. warships' vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical or biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to respond to such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability. The purpose of the land-based tests was to learn more about how chemical or biological agents behave
under a variety of climatic, environmental and use conditions.

Today's release:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2...0021009112.pdf
includes fact sheets about two tests conducted off the coast of California, two tests conducted in the coastal waters of Hawaii, one test conducted in Puerto Rico, and one test conducted on Baker Island as part of Project SHAD. The remainders are land-based tests conducted in Alaska (11), Florida (one), Hawaii (three), Maryland (one), Utah (three), Canada (one), and one test done jointly in the U.K. and Canada. Of the 28 fact sheets released today, 12 detail the use of simulants and 16 detail the use of live chemical or biological agents in the tests.

Veterans' Concerns

The Department of Defense began investigating the shipboard hazard and defense tests in September 2000, after the Department of Veterans Affairs asked the DoD for information needed to clarify claims information from servicemembers who believed they might have been exposed to harmful substances during their participation in tests. The VA claims experts needed to know what substances veterans may have been exposed to and who might have been exposed. DoD agreed to deliver that information when it could be found.

An investigative team located and searched classified records to identify which ships and units were involved in the tests, when the tests took place, and to what substances their crews and
other personnel may have been exposed. This required declassification of test-related ship and location information, without release of information that remains classified for valid
operational security reasons.

As DoD's investigators continued their examination of the facts associated with these tests, it became clear that an investigation of all the tests conducted by the Deseret Test Center was necessary. Consequently, early this year the
investigation of shipboard hazard and defense tests was expanded to include all tests conducted by the Deseret Test Center.

Health and Safety

While some may be concerned about a possible connection between an exposure in the 1960s or 1970s and a later illness, DoD investigators have not identified a link to these tests and adverse health consequences. Documents show that these were comprehensive tests that carefully considered the health and safety of the personnel involved in conducting the tests and protecting the environment. The DoD investigation into Deseret
Test Center tests continues, and DoD is committed to releasing as much information as possible on all tests conducted.

Veterans who believe they were involved in Deseret Test Center tests and desire medical evaluations should call the VA's Helpline at (800) 749-8387. Veterans who have DoD related questions, who have information to contribute, or who are DoD beneficiaries and have medical concerns or questions, should call DoD's Deployment Health Support Directorate's contact center at (800) 497-6261. All Deseret Test Center fact sheets
are available on the DeploymentLINK Web site at
http://deploymentlink.osd.mil/curren...d_intro.shtml.
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